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Karen Mallard, a Virginia Beach school teacher who is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Scott Taylor (VA-2), is now being investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) after sawing apart an AR-15 rifle. After posting her disassembly video to Facebook, the act has garnered hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of comments – mainly because was she did is a federal crime.

Mallard, a progressive Democrat, is currently running on a platform of gun control. According to her, “Our job is to teach children. It’s not to protect them from gun violence. That is the government’s job, and they’re failing at it.” Of course, progressives always believe responsibility should be untied from the family and levied to the state.

In the video, cutely named “krafts with Karen,” she explains that she was unhappy when her husband purchased an AR-15, “a while back.” Mallard added that after the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, spurred on by the outcries for stricter gun control, she and her husband agreed they did not want the AR-15 in their home, “or anyone else’s house.”

“So, today, we’re going to destroy it,” Mallard said in the video as she takes a power saw to the rifle.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUpHiY1njkE]

In a report from 13 News Now, Mallard explained, “We need just common sense gun laws, and these military-style assault weapons are the ones being used in mass shootings, and we need to get rid of the bump stocks, we need to get rid of those magazines.”

Angered by Mallard’s political grandstanding, many have accused her of breaking federal law. Currently, it is illegal to alter a firearm that, according to the Sawed-Off Shotgun and Sawed-Off Rifle Act, has been “modified to an overall length of less than 26 inches.”

Master Police Officer Tonya Pierce, spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Police Department, confirmed that the AR-15 rifle was in the possession of area police. She also explained that the ATF is now investigating the situation.

Under Virginia law, “possession or use of a ‘sawed-off’ shotgun or ‘sawed-off’ rifle in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of a crime of violence is a Class 2 felony.” Considering Mallard now may face criminal charges, so much more letting the state have the responsibility.

A top Democrat in the Virginia House of Delegates has claimed that new measures to ensure school safety and student security will “distract” the legislature from what their “primary goal is.” According to House Minority Leader David Toscano (D-Charlottesville), the main objective of the political left now is to strip law-abiding Virginians of their right to own firearms.

In a short clip from WAVY, Toscano opined on the newly formed Select Committee on School Safety, of which he is a member. Created in light of, “recent tragedies involving unimaginable violence in our nation’s schools,” Speaker of the House Kirk Cox (R-Colonial Heights) formed the fist select committee in 155 years to review state and local policy regarding safety in Virginia schools.

In the halls of the legislature on Thursday, Toscano said:

“School safety is a legitimate issue, it just can’t distract from what our primary goal is…and that is to get some reasonable common sense gun safety measures passed.”

It is quite interesting that Toscano would say this. Usually, progressives never show their hand so boldly.

He is, of course, absolutely correct.

Just like the Obama-Holder implementation of the Promise Program, which unquestionably led to the incident at the high school in Broward County, Florida, the safety of students, in the eyes of the left, is not the real objective. The actual physical security of school students is not their primary role – they do not have time for that, guns must be confiscated.

The Second Amendment is seen as a bit of nuisance from members on the left. They claim that the Constitution is a “living document” and can be changed haphazardly. Charlottesville’s representative in the House is acting like another fragile snowflake who is sickened by the sight of something more powerful than a slingshot.

Applause must be given to Toscano, though. At least he’s telling the people what he really thinks – student safety is a distraction.

Longtime readers will know of my love affair with nuclear power, and despite the aversion to cost and the arrival of earthquakes in Virginia, nuclear power still gives you the best bang for the buck — not only when it comes to consistent power sources, but clean energy sources as well.

Michael Shellenberger at TEDxBerlin in November 2017 gave an amazing talk regarding the viability of nuclear power and the contrast between Germany — considered the powerhouse of green energy — and their carbon impact vs. France, whose carbon impact is not only much less than Germany, but whose reliance on “dirty” energy is a fraction of Germany’s — whose reliance on “dirty” energy is up to 40% of their total energy output and twice as expensive as France’s energy rates.

The reason why?  France overtly relies on nuclear power for its clean, cheap energy.

This is a 20 minute talk, but good to run on background as you are moving through your day — or worth a cup of coffee this evening.  Shellenberger even deconstructs the Chernobyl and Fukushima events and puts them into context.

In short, nuclear energy is the way to go.  Surprisingly, it is not entirely embraced by our friends in the energy industry, mostly due to the immense cost of building nuclear power plants in the United States.

Still, if one is truly concerned with the environment, or truly willing to make the switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy?  Nuclear power — at least until we resolve the energy capture question — deserves deeper consideration.

Nuclear power is not only the safest means of making power, it has also saved 1.8 million lives by not generating the pollution other energy sources create.  Surely, that is worth a conversation.