In what may be a preview of the 2020 national elections, voters in Virginia are preparing for the off-year legislative elections and emerging as a top issue is gun control versus gun rights, according to WAMU News.
Noting that Republicans “have controlled the House of Delegates for two decades and the State Senate for five years,” WAMU reported that demographics are changing “as Virginia shifts blue, particularly in the growing northern suburbs.”
Those “northern suburbs” are where many people who work in the nation’s capital call home. Perhaps their politics are for expanded government because that’s where their paychecks come from. While that is a matter of speculation, one important fact is that Old Dominion residents have not recovered from the mass government workplace shooting earlier this year in Virginia Beach.
The killer was identified as DeWayne Craddock, who had worked for the city and was a public utilities engineer. He was killed in a gun battle with police, but he had purchased his guns legally over the past couple of years. The shooting occurred in a “gun free” environment.
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In recent months, Democrats have been emboldened by the massive turnout at demonstrations around the country last year following the school shooting in Parkland, Fla. They are no longer fearful of talking about gun control. At the Democratic debate earlier in the week, gun control was one of the issues discussed and one Democrat, former Congressman “Beto” O’Rourke, doubled down on his rhetoric about taking so-called “assault weapons” from their owners, and punishing those who do not comply. A decade ago, such a remark would have been a political kiss of death.
Gun owners, on the other hand, cannot seem to muster anywhere near the crowds when it comes to protecting their Second Amendment rights. While they engage in rhetoric on social media, it’s been a long time since 10,000 or more gun owners showed up at any venue other than a convention of the National Rifle Association.
If 50,000 angry gun owners set up shop on Capitol Hill to meet members of Congress, that would make an impression. If they coordinated that with appearances of crowds at state capitols around the country, it would be tantamount to a shot across the bow. If they voted as a single bloc, as they did in 1994—more than 50 members of Congress who voted for the Clinton semi-auto ban and the Brady Handgun Act were thrown out of office—gun control efforts just might be stopped in their tracks, or slowed considerably.
An opportunity is looming for gun owners to do something. The “Rally for 2A Rights” is scheduled Saturday, Nov. 2 in Washington, D.C. Organizers have put together a list of speakers that appears to still be growing. This event will bring activists from across the country to gather from 1 to 4 p.m., regardless of weather conditions. Organizers even have their own Facebook page.
By no small coincidence, the Virginia election comes the following Tuesday, Nov. 5. The importance of this rally’s timing cannot be over emphasized.
People will be watching Virginia to determine if gun control is a help or hindrance for Democrats seeking to flip the legislature to their majority rule.
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