Northam Sets Aside $250K In Corrections Budget For Jailing Gun Owners Who Don’t Comply With Gun Control Laws

Underneath Gov. Northam, Virginia is increasingly growing to infringe on Americans' rights to bear arms, leading to a rise in Second Amendment sanctuaries, which now number more than 100 across the state.

The Daily Caller has more details on Northam's budget increase to deal with non-complying gun owners:

As if Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s wholesale attack on law-abiding gun owners wasn’t enough, the disgraced public official and his Michael Bloomberg-bought allies in the General Assembly now want the state’s hard-working taxpayers to foot the bill for their unconstitutional schemes. The budget bill (HB30) includes an appropriation of a quarter million dollars to carry out a host of gun control measures that Northam and his anti-gun allies hope to enact.

 

The $250,000 is appropriated to the Corrections Special Reserve Fund in order to provide for the “increase in the operating cost of adult correctional facilities resulting from the enactment” of Northam’s gun control measures. Among the enumerated laws that this allocation is meant to fund is a ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms, the criminalization of private firearms transfers, and gun confiscation orders issued without due process.

 

Aside from the insult of forcing law-abiding Virginia taxpayers to pay for the diminution of their rights, the gun control allocation is a severe waste of resources. Northam’s Bloomberg-backed gun control measures will not make Virginia safer.

 

In additional to being unconstitutional, a ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms will not reduce violent crime.

 

Long guns of any description are rarely used in violent crime. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data breaks down homicides by weapon type. In 2018, the FBI reported that there were five times as many individuals listed as killed with “knives or cutting instruments,” than with rifles of any kind. The data also showed that rifles were listed as being used in less homicides than “blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.)” or “personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.).”

Townhall also shared some insight on the situation in Virginia with regards to gun ownership:

Virginia is the birthplace of America’s independence and the state that gave us such towering patriots as Patrick Henry, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. Today, however, the Commonwealth is home to a governor and legislative majority that proposes to do what the British Crown never could: disarm the citizenry by force. 

When reporting on parts of Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's proposals for gun control first broke over the summer, the barely believable extremism could easily have been mistaken as fake news.  Now, after the November election which gave Democrat Northam majorities in both houses of the state legislature, it is clear the former practicing physician is deadly serious in targeting not only gun owners and retailers but even self-defense experts. 

His objectives are sweeping, and include among other measures, bans on so-called “assault weapons,” high capacity magazines, and suppressors; universal background checks; handgun purchasing limits; a “red flag” law; and a ban on any self-defense classes that conceivably could be construed as hostile to government interests. 

“Assault rifles” would be redefined to that of the discredited 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban; a cosmetically driven definition that makes illegal common sporting rifles enjoyed by millions of law-abiding Americans, simply because they “look mean.”  Shotguns and pistols with similar accessory feature likewise would be banned under the proposed legislation. Furthermore, the bills would also ban sound suppressors, a crucial safety device for home defense, along with magazines that have a capacity greater than the arbitrary 10 rounds long favored by gun control advocates.

The legislation filed in June, expanded this fall, and now being readied for the new legislature to be sworn in next month contains stiff penalties for violations. Possession, sale, or transfer of a banned firearm would be a Class 6 felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and/or a $2,500 fine. The possession, sale or transfer of banned high capacity magazines would carry a similar fine and up to 12-months in prison.