is how Creigh Deeds voted.

Good for Creigh! WTF is Stolle's problem?!? The man is so petty and small.  He probably voted this way coz the VT Tech panel didn't seek his mighty Crime Commission ass out.  No wonder his legislative aide hung up on a female constituent calling to request his support.  Wagner and Stolle have no class or scruples.  

...was it you?  No offense, but I wouldn't be quite as surprised to find out the Republicans in Virginia Beach's GA delegation have taken to hanging up on you when you call. ;-)

it wasn't me. It was one of the women from the HR Women's Legislative Roundtable.  And for the record, no VB legislator has ever hung up me. They actually rather talk to me than engage me in an email discussion (i.e., leave no paper trail.)   I'm not the Dem bitch from hell that you think I am, SD.  

Ooops... almost forgot to add the smiley... ;) There you go... it's all good.

Keep giving 'em hell.

If no Republicans supported it?

so much for us "taking back" the Senate. And here I thought the grown ups were in charge again.
Silly me.

Thanks for doing the right thing, especially because it was the politically difficult thing in your district!

Since it pretty much ended any chance he has of becoming Governor of Virginia

As you can see, Americans want to make handgun laws MORE strict by a 16:1 margin (66%-4%).  Presumably, closing the "gun show loophole" is part of what the "more strict" 66% majority wants.  Looks like you might be in the 4% or possibly the 28%.

See, e.g., Lake, Snell, Perry & Assc. poll, May 15-21, 2001: 92% of registered voters favor background checks for all handgun purchases. Margin of error +/- 3.1%. See also, ABC News/Washington Post poll, Aug. 30-Sept. 2, 1999: 90% support requiring background checks on people buying guns at gun shows. Margin of error +/- 3.

Source

Since when is fighting for something supported by 92% of people considered to be bad politics?  

This would include me.  And yes, I am a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment.  We don't need to "protect" the purchase of guns by mentally impaired people.  

I seem to recall there was this former mayor of Richmond, who started a cooperative effort with the Federal Government called Project Exile that aimed to help reduce gun violence in Richmond by stiffening penalties for crimes illegal firearm possession and for crimes committed while in possession of a firearm.  It aimed to bring together both sides, and succeed to some extent (the NRA supported it, but every other pro-gun organization in America organized against it).  Still, it passed and it worked.  Nice guy by the name of Tim Kaine came up with that one.

Trying to keep guns out of the hands of criminals isn't seen as a black mark by most Virginians, as long as you're thoughtful and responsible about it.

Thought I would add my personal report, as I was there. And this time I brought my videocamera.

#1. Creigh Deeds did what he had to do. He knows he has to go through a democratic primary and if he had voted "no," he would have had a tough time getting through that. This was a smart move, and it was also the right thing to do.  
    That said, I think Creigh really was trying to seek some sort of compromise. His amendment to the bill answered all the complaints lodged against it. The Republicans were having none of that, of course; the complained and nitpicked their way through it ad nauseum.

#2. To Stolle's complaints that nobody had had time to see the new language, Senator Marsh allowed 10 minutes for the committee to read and discuss. He also allowed one speaker from both side to address the amendment.

#3. Immediately, SENATOR EDWARDS came down from to confer with the representatives from the NRA and VCDL. As you may guess, these men were extremely unhappy. They were standing quite close to me--perhaps they didn't see me?--and I could hear a lot of what they said (when I download my video, I'll have to see if I got the conversation as well.) Edwards was pretty much advising them on what to say and what to object to.

#4. People, please understand, it's not just that Edwards voted no. It's not just that he voted against the governor, the Va Tech Review Panel, the Va Tech families and against the wishes of the vast majority of people who send their kids to Virginia colleges and universities. He was in bed with the gun lobby the entire way. That man has his nose so far up that particular crack, it's amazing to me that he could dislodge it long enough to go vote.

#5. I wish you could have seen him on Monday. Wearing his Va Tech colors and smiling at the Va Tech students. And all the while, he was planning to vote NO. He had no interest in the compromise; he immediately set out to help the NRA and GOA and the VCDL and the rest of the gun lobby to derail this law.

#6. But I have another reason to single out Edwards for my anger. The Republicans voted party line. Cuccinelli--you will remember that on Monday he kept his head down and eyes averted as one of the Va Tech parents (from his district) pleaded with them to pass this bill. Cuccinelli doesn't need to fear the NRA. There is nothing the NRA can do to Cuccinelli. The Cooch voted party line, just as the rest of them did--even those who had voted for it in previous years--because they WOULD NOT hand the governor a victory. They would rather go through a hundred Va Techs than give the governor what he wants. Screw the parents, screw all of us--we are all just collateral damage in their ultimate goal of screwing the governor.

#7. And Edwards? Edwards was with the Republicans every step of the way. He is even more responsible than they and he is even more reprehensible. He handed the Republicans a Democratic defeat. As a democrat, that's the thing I really can never forgive him for. What the hell did we work so hard for last fall? To have traitors like Edwards spit in the governor's face?

I am puzzled by the resistance of gun-rights advocates to a "well-regulated militia". We need regulations to protect the right of "oridinary citizens" to own guns, and at the same time protect our safety from those who buy to do us harm.  

What is wrong with taking responsible control of hand gun sales at gun shows?  We are supplying terrorists with easy access to the same guns that may be used against us, to say nothing of the mentally ill.  

George Washington further stated, "It is at all times difficult to draw with precision the line between those rights which must be surrendered, and those which may be preserved ...." See Letter from George Washington to the President of Congress (Sept. 17, 1787) in 1 Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution 305 (John P. Kaminski et al. eds., 1983).

Let us do the difficult!