Get a new gun for Christmas and want to sell an old one off?
Have a friend that wants to buy a shotgun off of you?
Your brother-in-law wants to pay you back for the pistol you gifted him?
Well, pump the breaks before collecting your cash.
Thanks to the Democratic-controlled Virginia General Assembly, you can no longer sell your personally owned firearms to anyone without the buyer clearing a background check — administered only by federally licensed dealers.
Now, thanks to the stunning bravery of Governor Ralph Northam and the newly Democrat-run General Assembly, collecting $100 from your best friend in exchange for your old Smith & Wesson, without the two of you receiving the green light from the government, will result in a Class 1 misdemeanor.
If your mom slips you a $20 for lunch because you gifted her a handgun — and does not clear a background check first — you both could face a fine as high as $2,500, or even a year in jail.
Despite mountains of evidence indicating that these newly introduced universal background checks won’t stop real criminals, Democrats in power are convinced they have just saved Virginia.
Coming on the heels of the tragic shooting in Virginia Beach that claimed 12 lives, Ralph Northam & Company said it is policies like these that will prevent “Virginia Beach” from happening a second time.
While this elitist ideology, primarily concerned with controlling the public and banning anything they aren’t familiar with, consumes the Democratic party, the Heritage foundation unequivocally contradicts their belief that background checks prevent mass shootings:
“Studies show that universal background checks are largely ineffective when it comes to preventing mass shootings. In 19 of the most recent high-profile cases, the shooters bought their firearms legally and passed all the required background checks. In fact, it is unlikely that even a single recent mass public shooter would have been prevented from obtaining a firearm if universal background checks were implemented. Mass shootings do not happen because of a lack of background checks.
In addition, most people imprisoned for firearm-related crimes access their firearms illegally through theft, the underground market, family members, or friends. A 2016 study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh showed that lawful gun owners carried out less than a fifth of all firearm-related crimes.”
But actually solving the problem at hand and saving lives was never the concern of Northam and his merry band of liberal legislators. It was Ralph Northam, himself, who confessed that none of his gun control proposals would have stopped the devastation which unfolded in Virginia Beach.
Using policy to virtual signal has been a trend in the Northam administration, however. Most recently, the Governor imposed a midnight curfew on the Commonwealth, citing it was purely about “messaging,” and he did the same with your gun rights. To that, one would argue the 2nd Amendment, or any foundational rights for that matter, are too important to be used for the purpose of mending a disgraced Governor’s shattered political image.
As with most of Democratic gun control demands, which they ironically dub “common sense policies,” this new law does little to keep guns out of the hands of criminals — and instead imposes hurdles on law-abiding citizens wishing to purchase a firearm.
If a criminal is willing to break the law and shoot others, it is not hard to believe they will break the law that says they need a background check first. Or, as we have learned, they may still pass the background check anyways.
As the saying goes, “the only thing stopping a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.” If that’s the case — and it is — then why are we making it harder for the “good guy” to go about their business, while the “bad guys” will still possess firearms nonetheless?
The reason: Democratic incompetence.
These talking points may be cliché, and these ideas may sound repetitive, but sometimes it’s necessary to shout “FIRE” repeatedly to alert people of the flames closing in.
Buckle up, because in the upcoming General Assembly session, the Democrats are coming back for more — for they have not infringed enough upon your 2nd Amendment rights. Expect to see an assault weapon ban on the table in 2021, and when they cannot define what constitutes an “assault weapon,” we will likely see Democrats outlaw anything that simply looks scary.