Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring had harsh words for former Virginia Governor now Sen. Tim Kaine on Tuesday.
Speaking to the Roanoke Times, Herring lamented what he called inaction on the part of the General Assembly and Congress since the massacre in Blacksburg in 2007.
“Twelve years ago, after the horrific shooting at Virginia Tech, politicians in Washington and Richmond said the right things: ‘We’ll remember, we’ll never forget, we have to do something,’” Herring said.
“And yet 12 years later, nothing has changed.”
Herring seems to have forgotten quite a bit of significant legislation that passed after the massacre.
Congress appropriated more than $1 billion to improve and fix the National Instant Check System in 2008 in order to keep people from falling through the cracks. Congress made additional changes to improve background checks in 2018.
In Virginia, legislators made significant changes to the way involuntary mental health commitments are reported, extended the time those who are a danger to themselves or others can be held involuntarily.
Legislators also ensured that parents of college students who need psychiatric help are notified, and added questions about mental health to the state’s firearms background check consent form.
Another bill, which passed unanimously, added information about involuntary commitments to psychiatric facilities to the state’s criminal records database, blocking such people from purchasing firearms.
A significant number of bills — most of which stem from the Virginia Tech Review Panel’s report — passed the legislature and were signed into law by Gov. Kaine.
Presumably Herring’s upset with politicians includes himself. In the six legislation sessions in which Herring served following the shooting, his record shows an astonishing lack of concern for gun control.
During the 2008 session of the General Assembly, then-Senator Herring introduced more than a dozen bills on topics ranging from taxes to voting machines, but not one of them had anything to do with gun control.
Nor did any of the bills he signed on to as co-paton.
He didn’t introduce or co-sponsor any gun bills in 2009.
In 2013, Herring signed on as a co-patron of a bill from Sen. Henry Marsh that would have required all gun buyers at gun shows, not just those from licensed dealers, to have a completed background check before completion.
Here’s hoping his memory improves before the Special Session on July 9.