Pro-Gun Legislation Passes VA House While Subcommittee to Hear Firearm-Related Bills
NRA-ILA:
The Virginia House of Delegates passed two pro-gun bills: House Bill 25 and House Bill 754. HB 25 passed in the state House by an 81 to 17 vote and HB 754 passed by a 74 to 22 vote. Both bills will now go to the Virginia Senate for its consideration.
HB 25, sponsored by Delegate Mark Cole (R-88), seeks to prohibit the Clerk of the Court from disclosing information contained on a concealed handgun permit application or on an order issuing a concealed handgun permit. Read more
NRA News: Virginia Senate Votes to Repeal One Gun-A-Month
Cam Edwards talks to State Senator Charles Carrico (R-VA)
Reuters Lets Anti-Gun Zealot Get Last Word
Reporting on the “Virginia Senate votes to repeal limit on gun purchases,” Reuters seems to have taken the sour grapes approach to reporting. This included the final passages coming from the Virginia Center for Public Safety, including this quote from Lori Hass:
“The Senate today pandered to special interest groups and has just opened the door to begin illegal gun trafficking again in Virginia.”
Well it makes for a compelling kicker, is it accurate even? This isn’t the special interest if the vast majority of voters pushed for this. But apparently anytime an anti-gun type doesn’t like a ruling, they blame the “special interest” and unfortunately the media gives this added weight by supporting this line of thinking.
NPR Offers Biased Take on Virginia Gun Laws
How does National Public Radio see the new lifted restrictions on firearm sales in Virginia? Basically the way they report on it, it will only open the flood gates to criminals. The story offered this introduction to an interview between host Robert Siegel and newspaper reporter Bill Sizemore:
Twenty years ago, Virginia had a not-so-flattering reputation as a haven for illegal gun runners. Traffickers would buy batches of guns legally in the state, and sell them on the black market. With the Virginia guns turning up at crime scenes up and down the Eastern seaboard, the state legislature decided it was time to act — a law was passed to limit gun purchases to one a month. But gun rights activists have fought to overturn it, and on Monday, the Virginia Senate approved legislation to repeal it.
Is a “reputation” really what this is about? This type of reporting doesn’t offer all the facts, including that gun sales are up and crime is down. But that would get in the way of this reporting.
But the interview also included an interesting exchange:
SIEGEL: Now, Virginia is a state where there’s a great deal of gun ownership and I assume the Republican legislators and the governor figure the public opinion is on their side with these moves.
SIZEMORE: I think they do. Virginia certainly is a big gun-owning state, particularly in the more rural areas where hunting is a, you know, longstanding tradition. You know, in the more urban areas where crime has been a problem, I think you find more support for gun control, but at the moment, the gun enthusiasts certainly seem to have the upper hand.
Let’s review: Siegel makes it clear that it is “public opinion,” but Sizemore by responds by trying to suggest that there is support for gun control, yet “gun enthusiasts” have the “upper hand.” Isn’t this a naïve way to look at it this issue? Clearly the support for gun control isn’t strong enough, but once again the anti-gun types try to pass this off as if it is the voice of a few radicals.
At least the host notes there is “public opinion,” but too bad the media can’t see it that way.
Daily Beast Offers “Scary” Reporting on Virginia Gun Laws
How does the left-leaning The Daily Beast cover gun laws in Virginia – try under the “Scary” moniker. The piece, which basically quotes reporting by The Washington Post, offers this passage:
However, a Senate committee has killed two other gun-rights proposals that would have prevented colleges from banning firearms on campus—a particularly outrageous proposal given the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech—though a House committee is still considering whether to allow faculty members to carry guns on campus.
How this outrageous exactly? Is that even fair reporting? While the bias is thick already, we’d like to ask what will stop a gunman from ILLEGALLY carrying a gun on a campus? Is it strong language, a sign, or a even a law? Let’s see how those work out.
AP and WaPo See End of “One-Gun-A-Month” as Opening Haven for Gun Runners
Review the Second Amendment of the Constitution and it says nothing along the lines of “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Buy Just One Gun A Month,” and yet that law has been on the books in Virginia for a while. Now that it is on the verge of being repealed, The Associated Press via The Washington Post noted this week:
A law Virginia passed a generation ago to end the states’ reputation as a haven for gun runners is on the verge of being repealed.
The story later offered this passage:
The bills to abolish the one-handgun-per-month law would end one of the legacy laws of former Gov. Doug Wilder. The Democratic governor pushed for it after Virginia became a prime supplier of guns used in crimes in major East Coast cities.
What isn’t noted is whether this was ever actually proven to be true, or did the story note that gun crime had not fallen as a result of the one-gun-per-month restriction, which only seemed to effect law-abiding citizens in Virginia –but of course those are facts that get in the way of anti-gun bias in reporting.
Gun Safety “Daunting” Claims WDBJ
How does WEDJ7.com see the issue of control gun? In a word: “daunting.” This is how the news site reported the issue in a piece on Virginia gun control. The story began with this passage:
The Virginia Center for Public Safety plans a vigil for victims of gun violence Monday at the state Capitol. Members also will seek the ear of state legislators to encourage them to toughen the state’s gun laws.
Their task is daunting. Republicans took control of the Senate and strengthened their majority in the House of Delegates in last fall’s election, improving the chances of a conservative agenda that will include a number of bills favored by gun-rights supporters.
This is a disgraceful example of mainstream media bias. It not only plays politics, blaming Republicans for the gun laws, but implies that gun violence is a political issue in the process!
NRA News: Virginia Republicans to Push Pro-Gun Laws
Cam Edwards talks to Dave Adams from the Virginia Shooting Sports Association
USA Today: Gun reciprocity shoots holes in states’ rights
This week USA Today offered an editorial titled, “Gun reciprocity shoots holes in states’ rights,” and noted:
Different states have different rules for carrying concealed handguns, and for good reason. Rules that make sense in largely rural Western states such as Montana or Wyoming can make much less sense in more urban states such as New York and New Jersey, where legislators have made it harder to get a carry permit than it is out West.
There are several problems with this line of thinking,not the least bit of which is why should those in urban states have their Second Amendment rights reduced? Didn’t the Supreme Court rule that communities cannot restrict those rights? Shouldn’t hunters, sport shooters and gun collectors be able to obtain the same firearms as those in other states? Again, restrictive laws only punish the law-abiding and don’t do the least bit to deter criminals.
But there is one other point we’d like to bring out front and center. Recently New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg attempted to chart the course of legislation in Virginia, and in the past his group Mayors Against Illegal Guns attempted to prove that gun shows in other states allow for straw purchases. Where is the media outrage at these facts?
This is the problem with the anti-gun line. It calls for states’ rights when it suits the issue, but throws it out the window when it is the least bit inconvenient!
NY Daily News Blames Virginia for NYC’s Gun Problem
This week The New York Daily News essentially acted as a puppet for New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and suggested that Virginia’s gun laws are a problem. In a story titled, “Bloomberg’s anti-gun candidates win in VA. But control measures could be repealed,” the paper reported:
All six anti-gun Virginia State Senate candidates backed by Mayor Bloomberg won — but it still may soon be easier for firearms to travel from Old Dominion to the city’s streets.
The story added:
Virginia already exports more guns than any other state to New York City — and that flood of firearms may become a tsunami, one of Bloomberg’s top advisers said.
Where is the source on this beyond Bloomberg’s own advisors? And why isn’t it noted that New York City has extremely strict gun laws. Even if Virginia dries up as a source – which we frankly don’t believe it to be – won’t criminals turn elsewhere?
And while thousands of people protest the power of the so-called one percent where is the outrage that a lone billionaire in New York City can help determine elections in another state? Should the whole country adopt New York City’s strict gun control policies just because it is what Bloomberg, a billionaire, wants and demands? How is this fair to the 99 percent we ask?
