Category: Gun rights
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Was Richmond’s Gun BuyBack Program a Success?
by Jon Baliles By most accounts, the city’s gun buyback event on August 20th was a success. The city spent $67,500 in gift cards to 160 people who turned in 475 firearms, and then had to shut down even though there were more people in line. Organizers with the Robby Poblete Foundation said they are…
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Rent-A-Cops in the Schools Now?
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The Halifax County School Board is planning to hire a private firm to provide security at all county schools, in addition to school resource officers (SRO). That is the world brought to us by a gun-crazy society with its no-compromise embrace of the Second Amendment, aided by a compliant Supreme Court. As…
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Despite Tighter Gun Laws, Firearm Violence Up in 2021
by James A. Bacon What role has the availability of guns played in the surge in violent crimes in Virginia over the past two years? The graph above summarizes the data from the 2021 Crime in Virginia report. Over the two-year period, the number of firearm-related crimes increased 10.9%, while the use of all other…
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6,000 Violent Crimes in Virginia Involved Guns Last Year
by James A. Bacon After a spate of mass shootings, gun control has moved to the top of the Democratic Party agenda. Here in Virginia, we got a reminder this morning of the omnipresent threat that gun-wielding thugs pose to public safety. Police arrested two illegal immigrants who were allegedly plotting to shoot up a…
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Virginia’s Plan to Attack Gun Violence — Will It Survive?
by David Toscano It has been [a month] since the shootings in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, took 31 lives and once again crystallized the need for more effective measures to combat these outrages. It is not clear whether Congress can summon the will for even the most minor of reforms, but our leaders…
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Thinking About Gun Control
by Bill O’Keefe After each mass shooting there is an outcry for Congress to do something. In 2021, there were almost 21,000 murders involving guns and almost 700 mass shootings (those involving four or more victims). There has been no responsible action at the Federal level because Congress seems more interested in political food fights…
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A Proposal to Mitigate Gun Violence
by Dick Hall-Sizemore In an interesting development, one of the so-called “progressive” Virginia prosecutors has identified a direct link between someone committing misdemeanor offenses and later committing violent felony offenses. The misdemeanor offenses that are predictors are gun offenses. After tracking violent case histories, Ramin Fatehi, the commonwealth’s attorney for Norfolk, as reported by WAVY…
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Instant Background Checks for Gun Purchases – What is Checked and Who Populates the Databases?
by James C. Sherlock The FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) is much discussed and little understood by the general public. In an effort to help, this article will inform readers about the NICS Indices, what information is kept there and how it gets there. The information here about the NICS is quoted or…
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Gun Control Debate Survives Invasion and War
by James C. Sherlock The gun control debate survives invasion. Ukraine. A user survey survey last week in Ukrainian government e-portal Diia (1,726,452 participants in a pre-war population of 40 million) showed most Ukrainians express a desire to freely own weapons for personal use. 59% are in favor of the free carrying of weapons; 22%…
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A Gun Owner’s Suggestion for Virginia Gun Laws
By James C. Sherlock I was a career military man. I am a conservative and a gun owner. As a younger man, I won competitive awards for marksmanship with both rifle and pistol. I own a semi-automatic Glock for home protection. I train regularly and at almost 77 can still hit what I aim at.…
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A Continuation of the Gun Debate
by Dick Hall-Sizemore James Sherlock yesterday brought up a case in which a man in Virginia Beach had pleaded guilty to possessing a machine gun; in his case, it was a modified Glock. The maximum sentence for the offense is 10 years. There was a robust discussion, primarily on the Second Amendment in general and…
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Norfolk Shoot-Out on Granby Street
by Kerry Dougherty In March of 2021, the Virginia Beach oceanfront was the scene of a shooting spree that left two people dead. Last weekend, Norfolk’s Granby Street experienced something similar. These shootings shock the senses, especially when innocent people are among the victims. At least one of the Granby Street victims was a bystander,…
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Three More Proposals to Reduce Gun Violence in Virginia
by James C. Sherlock There was extensive commentary on my post yesterday that recommended expanded use of stop and frisk in an attempt to reduce gun violence. Given the demonstrated interest in the subject, I offer three suggestions that go further. Increase federal prosecutions. Federal laws, penalties, detention hearings and prosecutions are a far more formidable deterrent to…
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Terry McAuliffe — Call Him Crazy
by Kerry Dougherty Call me crazy, but I think it should be easier to vote than it should be to buy a gun. — Terry McAuliffe (@TerryMcAuliffe) July 6, 2021 OK, Terry, you asked for it. We’re going to call you crazy because the notion that it’s easier to buy a gun in Virginia than…
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Chase Aide Pulls Gun in Self Defense
by James A. Bacon Sometimes Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, goes out looking for trouble. Sometimes trouble comes looking for Amanda Chase. Yesterday the Washington Post published an account of an incident in which Chase’s aide brandished an AR-15 pistol at a man whom Chase said threatened them during a road rage incident. My immediate reaction…