Gun Control in Virginia

By: Gustavus
Published On: 4/29/2007 7:07:16 PM

Given the lack of backbone among national Democrats I think it is clear that if Virginians are to have any protection from deranged folks with automatic weapons it will have to come from the Virginia state government.  Without the support of Gov. Kaine the chances of new Virginia laws in this area are about zero.  So what is Kaine's position on guns?

Unfortunately, he doesn't seem likely to risk any of his political capital on that.  A search of his official web site on the word "gun" doesn't return a single hit that even discusses gun control, or the proliferation of guns in Virginia.  The strongest statements by him that I can find in newspapers imply that he might be willing to support laws making it more difficult for those officially ruled mentally ill to purchase guns (see e.g. this article in the Washington Post.)  According to Media Matters when Kaine was asked if he was "concerned" about the fact that the Virginia Tech gunman had access to a gun that at one time would have been outlawed by the federal assault weapons ban, he replied "Dealing with families is first. The careful and independent assessment of what occurred is second. Once that is done, there will be ample time to discuss whether there need to be any changes made to policy here or elsewhere."

This doesn't sound like a man anxious to take on gun control.


Comments



Just wait (Quizzical - 4/29/2007 11:21:26 PM)
Didn't you just start a thread two days ago about this?  Anyway, be patient, this issue is not going away.  For one thing, there's that commission that is going to do a report, and for another, there are likely going to be civil suits against the university.  Here's a blog entry that talks about that:
http://legalblogwatc...