After the 1996 Assault Weapon Ban sunset, anti-gunners swore up and down that the drop in the homicide rate was because of the law and it would only go up from there.
They missed that it was going down before the ban went into effect, and they gloss over how it kept going down afterward. They’ve largely tried various ways to justify the ban otherwise, since then, with varying degrees of success with the general public.
Still, every anti-gunner has such a law on their wishlist, and while state lawmakers can’t push it on the federal level, where the rest of us get some kind of say in the matter via our own representation, they can foist it on the people of their states just fine.
Case in point, Virginia.
Yeah, we all know what’s happening there, but it’s nice to see the local media at least willing to run an op-ed calling the proposal out for what it is.
Virginia’s General Assembly is once again preparing to push for a sweeping ban on the most commonly owned rifles in America. House Bill 217, filed in this year’s legislative session, is a loaded bill for gun control activists. It would not only criminalize the sale of modern sporting rifles (erroneously labeled “assault style” firearms by gun control advocates) but also outlaw commonly owned magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Its sponsors claim this will improve public safety. As both a constitutional and empirical public safety matter, they are wrong.
What separates this moment from past failed efforts is the fact that our new Gov. Abigail Spanberger has pledged not just to sign such bans but to champion them. Unlike her predecessor, Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who repeatedly blocked unconstitutional firearm restrictions, Governor Spanberger has made clear that her administration views the Second Amendment not as a civil right but as a policy obstacle to overcome.
Her vow to sign rifle and magazine bans places her squarely at odds with the U.S. Supreme Court’s clear holdings that firearms in common use for lawful purposes cannot be banned, and that Second Amendment restrictions must be evaluated through the lens of historical tradition, not political preference.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that the Second Amendment protects a right to keep and possess firearms that are commonly used, or typically possessed, for lawful purposes. Justice Elena Kagan, in Smith & Wesson Brands v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos, wrote in her unanimous decision that AR-15-style rifles are “widely legal and bought by many ordinary citizens” and are “the most popular rifle in the country.” In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), the Supreme Court reinforced that constitutional rights are not subject to means-end balancing tests, meaning that the court cannot override your rights by claiming an arbitrary benefit will follow. H.B. 217 ignores both rulings. It invents irrelevant definitions untethered to function, bans arms owned by tens of millions of Americans, and selectively restricts standard magazine capacity, of which there are an estimated 700 million. A bill so disconnected from constitutional reality is not good governance. It is an unconstitutional prohibition dressed up to score political points.
The author, Sidney “Russ” Beasley, also goes on to note just how rare homicide by rifle is in Virginia. Even if it were constitutional, which isn’t not, a ban on so-called assault weapons might impact only a tiny fraction of the total number of murders in the Old Dominion State.
And that’s if we’re giving the law the benefit of the doubt. It’s much more likely that most, if not all of those murders committed with an evil black rifle would then be committed with a handgun instead. Those involving more traditional rifles wouldn’t be impacted in the least.
On every level, it’s just a terrible idea.
So why are Virginia Democrats pushing it? Because they know that it’ll take a good while before the Supreme Court issues a ruling one way or another on these bans, which means they can put it in place for a little while, at least. They can also hopefully, in their minds, contribute toward demonizing not just these kinds of firearms, but those who want them.
The reality is that these kinds of lawmakers don’t like guns. They don’t trust you with any kind of gun, and while they’re focusing on so-called assault weapons now, it’s only a matter of time before they start focusing on something else later. Considering how they keep trying to expand the definition of “assault weapon” each year, that shouldn’t exactly be a revelation for any of you.
That’s what this is about. It’s not about making Virginia safer for anyone.
But the hope is that they can put it in place before the Supreme Court decides to rule on any such ban. They really hope the Court won’t issue a ruling, of course, but they’re not willing to wait and see because they might just dissuade people from buying such a firearm for a period of time, which they’ll take.
All because they just aren’t comfortable with an armed population.
I wonder why that is.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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