What the Virginia Elections Mean

Virginia – -(AmmoLand.com)- By now, you know the results of the elections for the Virginia state legislature. In essence, Michael Bloomberg now owns the lawmaking process in that state – lock, stock, and barrel. Those in Virginia will now see an extreme anti-Second Amendment agenda that doesn’t actually address the real problems we face in terms of public safety.

Then again, that was never Bloomberg’s intention. The real goal has always been to eliminate the Second Amendment as a right – and turn gun ownership into a privilege, as is the case in New York City. Hundreds of thousands – if not millions – of Virginians are slated to be punished for crimes and acts of madness they did not commit.

Just as we saw in the 2018 midterms, Andrew Cuomo’s campaign of abuses against the National Rifle Association has had an effect. NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre needs to be supported in that fight against the Cuomo regime, if for no other reason than the simple fact that if Cuomo succeeds against the NRA, no other pro-Second Amendment group will be safe from similar assaults.

Now, while Cuomo’s abuses are the major reason for the present situation involving the NRA, this present situation it is the fault of LaPierre and former NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox in the sense that they did not act after there were at least two clear warnings that such abuses were very possible occurrences. It was strategic incompetence on their part not to determine potential vulnerabilities to abuses of government power after Cuomo said Second Amendment supporters had “no place” in New York in 2014 or when Lois Lerner’s abuses of Tea Party groups became public knowledge the previous year. Despite years of warning, they were seemingly caught by surprise when Cuomo began his abuse of power in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

Cuomo is aided by some Second Amendment supporters who put their hatred of Wayne LaPierre over the defense of the Second Amendment – largely over past disagreements. Dubious claims of financial mismanagement (no, the suits and consideration of buying a mansion in Texas don’t count – especially when the NRA didn’t buy the mansion) and the nasty breakup of the NRA/Ackerman-McQueen relationship aside, Second Amendment supporters must unite to stop Cuomo’s abuses against the NRA.

The reason is self-preservation. If Cuomo wins, other states with anti-Second Amendment extremists in positions like governor and attorney general will use similar leverage against banks. It will be very simple: Cut off gun companies and pro-Second Amendment groups, or face probes under vague “reputational risk” regulations. Does anyone seriously think Gun Owners of America or the Firearms Policy Coalition will be able to successfully fight a Cuomo-style campaign of financial blacklisting?

The 2020 election could very well be the last stand for Second Amendment supporters, especially if Elizabeth Warren wins. Warren has already vowed to sic the IRS on the NRA. In addition, she is threatening to also pressure Wells Fargo, which has resisted efforts to join in on corporate gun control and financial blacklisting, via federal investigation. Even without any formal charges, the intention will be to use the very process of the investigation as punishment for defying the injustices sought by the likes of Bloomberg, Feinstein, and others.

The Virginia legislative elections, when viewed with the elections in Kentucky and Louisiana, show without a doubt that the primary guardian of our Second Amendment rights are the First Amendment rights of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to peaceably assemble, and the right to petition for the redress of grievances. Andrew Cuomo has successfully been muzzling those rights – effectively denying Second Amendment supporters the right to even make the argument. Imagine what he – or others could so with new “campaign reform” laws like those Warren is pushing.

Of course, that is not the only reason. The loss of suburban support for the Second Amendment is a huge factor as well, and this, too was self-inflicted to a degree – usually by Second Amendment supporters who did not think about how their approach to the issue came across to fellow Americans.  A soccer mom frightened that her children could be caught up in the next mass shooting is not going to respond well to threats of defying laws or angry rhetoric aimed at “gun grabbers,” particularly when the media’s double standards are in effect.

While defeating Cuomo’s abuses will be a matter for professionals in the area of litigation, Second Amendment supporters can work to turn things around in the suburbs. With the right techniques, we can use our First Amendment rights to secure the Second Amendment.

About Harold Hutchison

Writer Harold Hutchison has more than a dozen years of experience covering military affairs, international events, U.S. politics and Second Amendment issues. Harold was consulting senior editor at Soldier of Fortune magazine and is the author of the novel Strike Group Reagan. He has also written for the Daily Caller, National Review, Patriot Post, Strategypage.com, and other national websites.