Senator Dick Black asked that The Bull Elephant be the first to publish his latest op-ed and call to action, “I am calling on all law-abiding gun owners to stand up for your rights and contact your representatives today to stop the erosion of our rights and freedoms given to us by the Founding Fathers. They fought to grant us these rights and now we need to fight to keep them.”[read_more]
The Governor’s Gun Grab
Senator Dick Black
December 15, 2014
Gun Grabber Gov. Terry McAuliffe
Gun control is high on Governor Terry McAuliffe’s agenda. This Monday, he announced a broad package of bills designed to restrict the gun rights of law-abiding Virginians. His first anti-gun action took place last session, and he has plans to continue his agenda in the 2015 session. On March 19, 2014, the Governor signaled his determination to crack down on gun rights. His first veto was a minor bill clarifying the right to carry guns in unlocked glove compartments. Though it simply clarified existing law, the Governor still vetoed the bill. This was just the first attack Governor McAuliffe had planned.
LEGISLATION COMING TO RESTRICT LAW-ABIDING GUN OWNERS: McAuliffe heavily courted billionaire New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg during his campaign for Governor. In return for his promise to wage a campaign against law-abiding gun owners, Bloomberg dumped over a million dollars into the race.
Governor McAuliffe never hid his disdain for gun rights. The Politico reported that “McAuliffe is unapologetic about his support for stricter gun laws, including an assault weapons ban, universal background checks, limiting the size of magazines and preventing people from buying more than one gun a month.” It went on to say that “He would unquestionably be a close Bloomberg ally should he win.”
Republicans won’t let liberal New York billionaires run our state and we will fight for our freedoms.
Governor McAuliffe’s Democrats have introduced bills to honor their commitment to New York Mayor Bloomberg. One bill limits the number of guns Virginians can purchase each month. Republicans have fought this unconstitutional restriction on the 2nd Amendment before and we will do it again. We argued that if government can limit how often we exercise our 2nd Amendment rights, they could also limit how often we exercise our 1st Amendment rights. Republicans won that argument and repealed the Democrats’ “one-gun-a-month” rule. We will push back against any bills that seek to erode our freedoms.
NO JOB–NO GUN BILL: Democrats will introduce a bill to deny people’s 2nd Amendment rights if they can’t pay child support. There’s no logical connection between paying child support and owning a gun. The only purpose of the bill is to deny constitutional rights as a form of punishment. That’s a dangerous precedent, and Republicans must block it.
CLINGING TO OUR GUNS AND BIBLES: Democrats want to control people who “cling to their guns and their Bibles.” Some Democrats dislike our Bibles as much as they dislike our guns. Republicans believe that gun controls deprive citizens of fundamental liberties enshrined in the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions. The Bill of Rights belongs to the People, and we must never yield our constitutional rights.
DEMOCRATS WANT US DEFENSELESS: Without guns, citizens are at the mercy of criminals—like the violent looters terrorizing Ferguson residents. The Ferguson mob didn’t just happen; it was carefully planned and lavishly funded by big-government liberals who bused in people to cause chaos. This well-funded, carefully planned power move bused in several hundred out-of town rioters and had to feed and house them for three months in Ferguson, Missouri. Much of these violent protests were funded by wealthy liberals who spent millions to sustain this small army for three months. They want residents to be unprotected, disarmed, and fearful so the people will turn to the government to save them from the violence and the government’s solution is always to take away our freedom in order to protect us from ourselves.
On December 13th, a jihadist took 20 people hostage in Sidney, Australia. The hostages were helpless because Australia prohibits its citizens from owning firearms and they were at the mercy of a gun-wielding radical. This is another grim reminder why Virginians must never allow themselves to be disarmed. We must zealously guard our Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
Senator Dick Black
THE 2015 LEGISLATIVE SESSION WILL SET THE TONE for the remainder of Governor McAuliffe’s term in office. I am calling on all law-abiding gun owners to stand up for your rights and contact your representatives today to stop the erosion of our rights and freedoms given to us by the Founding Fathers. They fought to grant us these rights and now we need to fight to keep them.
[NOTE: In 2003, Senator Black sponsored the Virginia Firearms Preemption Act, which rolled back 40 years of anti-gun legislation in a single stroke. He has been endorsed by NRA and VCDL in every race he’s run since 1997. Colonel Black credits a Winchester M-14 rifle for saving his life during a nighttime gun battle in the jungles of Vietnam..]
