Gun control has emerged as a major issue for Virginia voters in this year’s all-important elections, in which every one of the General Assembly’s 140 seats is up for grabs.
According to the polls referred to in this WaPo article:
Virginians...broadly support several gun control measures favored by Democrats, with majorities supporting statewide bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines as well as limiting handgun purchases to one a month. Decisive majorities support expanding background checks and “red flag” laws allowing authorities to seize weapons from someone deemed a danger, the poll found.
Better watch out, GOP flip floppers! Nov. 5th is coming!
Since Republicans hold only razor-thin majorities in both houses, this polling has got Republicans running in suburban districts so spooked that some of them are flip flopping on gun control.
Mary Margaret Kastelberg is one of them. MMK has brought her position closer to that of her Democratic opponent Rod Willett, who’s been in favor of gun control all along (Rod’s a tippety-top candidate whom you can learn about and support here). The following press release shows her post-polling view:
MMK’s post-polling position on GVP
But, can we believe the Damascus conversion story (to bring in yet another religious metaphor) of a candidate from the very party that shut down a special legislative session on gun violence prevention? This had been called for by the Governor in the wake of the Virginia Beach massacre. The GOP closed it down after 90 minutes and without passing a single bill. The NRA heartily rewarded it for carrying its water when, less than two months later, it donated $200K to the leadership. This is larger than the NRA’s eight previous years of cash donations combined. MMK has received
$362,500 from the VA GOP leadership — over half of what she’s raised. She’s bought and paid for by the Guns Over People leadership and they’re waterboys for the NRA.
Since the shutdown, there have been more than 300 gun violence incidents in Virginia.
Rod Willett (D, VA-HD73) is endorsed by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Everytown for Gun Safety, and the Giffords campaign. Donate HERE.
But the evidence that the lady is two-faced is more direct than that. As lowkell at Blue Virginia reports audio secretly recorded at a meet and greet in suburban Richmond reveals MMK’s true colors — and true blue isn’t one of them. The clip (scroll to end) begins with a question by an elderly woman concerning assault weapons; she asks if keeping these weapons off the streets wouldn’t lower the number of victims? Taking a position (and a rather cruel one) opposite to that of her press release, Kastelberg responds “well you would hope, but do you want to take rights away from folks who are law-abiding citizens?” Lowkell’s source reports that the temperature in the room dropped at that point.
At 6:05, MMK is asked about the repeal of Virginia’s one-gun-a-month law, orchestrated by the GOP in 2012. The repeal of this law has made Virginia a major source of the guns used in crimes up and down the East Coast (the linked article is well worth the read) and, according to the cited polling, the majority of Virginians think that being able to buy 12 handguns a year is enough. MMK gives a lame answer: enforcing current interstate commerce laws is sufficient. Jeez...someone should tell the FBI!
Flipping both chambers of the Virginia General Assembly is quite literally a life-and-death matter, not only for Virginians, but for all who are on wrong end of the guns that are coming from here.
Rod Willett has vowed to:
- establish universal background checks (not just at gunshows, as his opponent advocates)
- advocate for legislation that keeps guns from domestic abusers
- support red flag laws
- fight for bipartisan gun safety laws in the House of Delegates
Please support Rod Willett in his effort to win this seat. The forces against us are powerful, but we are fighting hard and we can win with your help. Thank you.
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