Virginia flirted with being a blue state for a bit, but now it looks like they’ve rolled back to red. As a result, one would imagine that guns should be nice and safe, at least for a bit.

However, violent crime is still an issue, which means lawmakers are going to have to try and deal with it.

That means new laws, and it seems guns are going to be a part of it from both sides this year.

The second week of Virginia’s legislative session kicks off Monday and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares has a long list of bills that he wants to see state lawmakers pass to help reduce crime in Virginia, including a bill that he says will punish criminals by increasing mandatory minimums for certain firearm related offenses, including the use of a firearm on school property.

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Virginia Democrats have gun reforms they want to pass as well:

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• State Senator Joseph Morrissey introduced a bill that would ban the sale of an assault firearm and large capacity ammunition feeding devices as defined by Senate Bill 918.
• State Senator Chap Peterson introduced a bill requiring any firearm industry member that sells, manufactures, distributes, and markets firearms to comply with a standard of responsible conduct as defined by the bill. The bill creates civil liability if a person suffers harm because of a firearm industry member’s violation of the provisions in the bill.

That’s far from a comprehensive list. Check out the link to see everything Democrats have in mind. We’ve addressed all these at some time or another, and nothing they’re proposing will solve the crime issue.

But hey, at least the Republican attorney general wants to go after criminals. That’s something we should rally behind, right?

Not really.

Miyares is falling into the same trap Virginia Democrats are in. He’s looking at guns as the problem, not the people. Why increase mandatory minimums for committing certain crimes with a gun unless you think the gun is the actual issue rather than the crime itself?

Does anyone really think a homicide is somehow worse because the victim was shot once compared to being stabbed 47 times and bleeding out?

Yet, guess which one is used in statistics to try and justify gun control?

Miyares is doing exactly the same thing as those who want to restrict guns, citing “gun violence” while ignoring the fact that we’ve got a sky-high homicide rate compared to other developed nations with just “knife homicides.”

So why blame the guns?

Further, Miyares’ plan only works if you believe mandatory minimums will create some degree of deterrence. However, criminals never seem to believe they’ll get caught, which is hilarious since so many of them aren’t that bright. Still, they’re not deterred because they don’t think they’ll get caught and have to do the time.

Now, if it’s just about removing these violent individuals from society for longer, then so be it, but that’s really not the issue we’re dealing with just now.

At the end of the day, the problem is that all of these proposals – and don’t get me wrong, the Democrats’ bills are far worse than what Miyares wants – is that they’re predicated on guns being the problem. We need to end that kind of thinking.