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Tyranny at the Door in Virginia

The gun grabbers are at it again, this time in Virginia. Sadly, it didn’t just happen overnight; it’s been building for years.

It began when Ralph “Blackface” Northam became the governor of Virginia in 2017, then advanced another step when the Democratic Party took control of the Virginia General Assembly last year. In part, these events transpired because of the efforts by Michael Bloomberg and George Soros to put Virginia in their crosshairs by dumping millions of dollars into state and local elections. With Northam at the helm and a general assembly ready to back his every wish, gun control legislation began pouring into the capital.

Earlier this week, the state senate judiciary committee, voting along straight party lines, passed bills that would require background checks on all private transfers of firearms, let owners keep their banned firearms only if they register with the Virginia State Police, and ban suppressors and any magazines over 10 rounds. The committee also passed red-flag legislation.

Most observers are of the opinion that this legislation will be jammed through on the state senate floor next week. Mind you, all of this, Democrats claim, is “common-sense gun control” meant to deter criminals. That’s a lie. It’s yet another attempt by the gun-grabbers on the Left to disarm private citizens.

The good news is that Virginians are not taking the Democrats’ efforts lying down. Across the state, the grassroots have come alive. To date, 124 counties, cities, and localities have declared themselves sanctuaries for the Second Amendment (consider there are 95 counties and 41 independent cities total in the entire state). These jurisdictions have made it clear they will refuse to enforce any anti-Second Amendment legislation coming from Richmond.

The response of Northam and Attorney General Mark “I’m also into blackface” Herring is to insist that any laws passed regarding gun control will be enforced. Really? By whom? The sheriffs? Not likely. County police? Probably not. State troopers and the national guard? Not likely, either.

Besides, do you really think many Virginians are just going to hand over their guns? The only thing they will be handing over is rounds fired in the direction of anyone seeking to confiscate their rifles and pistols.

The problem that Northam, Herring, and the rest of the statists in the Democratic Party have is that they’re in defiance of natural law and the purpose of republican government. The chief purpose of government in a republic is to protect the property and rights of citizens who have come together in voluntary association. As James Madison taught us, there are rights in property and property in rights—meaning that property is not just physical things, but also anything that is unique to an individual, from ideas and thoughts to the rights inherent in every man and woman.

As every created human being has God-given rights, he or she also has a God-given right to protect those rights. That is why the defense of individual property and other unique rights is also a right that government cannot take away.

This is why America’s Founders wanted people to be armed: not just for the purpose of constituting a “well-regulated militia,” not just guns for hunting, but a well-armed people as a last recourse against tyranny, both foreign and domestic. Yes, domestic. (And for those who wonder if I fully trust my government, of course I don’t. Don’t be ridiculous. Government is a necessary evil because men are not angels. But trust? Not a chance.) So as self-defense is a natural right, gun rights for self-defense are also a natural right.

And while the statists want to bastardize the meaning of the rule of law, insisting that any “law” they pass must be obeyed, man-made laws that are in defiance of natural law and rights don’t fully compel our respect. They are tools meant to try and conform people to the worldview of a ruling class that typically has nothing to do with respecting rights and everything to do with oppression. History is replete with such examples; the Nuremberg Laws and apartheid are two examples of such warped and twisted “laws.”

Anything passed by the Virginia legislature and signed by Northam will go to the courts, and in all likelihood sent to the Supreme Court where it will all be ruled unconstitutional. But now the mask is off: the would-be tyrants in Virginia, aren’t interested in securing our rights as they have been elected to do. They’re not terribly interested in the Bill of Rights, either, or the original intent of the Founders. One can only hope that they overplay their hand on the gun control issue so badly that Virginians reject them wholesale at the ballot box next time around.

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About Ned Ryun

Ned Ryun is a former presidential writer for George W. Bush and the founder and CEO of American Majority. You can find him on Twitter @nedryun.

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