Protests in VA Worked; "Assault Weapon" Ban Shelved

WTOP: Virginia lawmakers reject assault weapons ban

Lots of people with opinions said that the protests in Richmond, Virginia, over gun control didn't work. These Internet pundits naysayed the whole thing and claimed the 15-20k people that showed up to peacefully protests did so for naught because the bills kept moving through the legislature.

Of course the bills would continue to move through the legislature. A lot of these bills were virtue signalling or a willingness to show donors (Bloomberg) that these tyrants were serious. We had several proposals last year in Nevada that went nowhere or were stopped.

The strategy of gun control is an incremental strategy. Virginia will end up with a private gun sale ban and red flag laws this year. The headline is that the "assault weapons" ban has been shelved until next year; the state is punting for a study from the crime commission. The crime commission, if their study is honest, will find that "assault weapons" are rarely used in crimes, despite their high profile use in mass shootings. Handguns have been and always will be the murderer's gun of choice.

Hoplopaths in the Dominion State will try again for an AWB next year, hopefully when they can get more support. Moderate Democrats wouldn't approve the bill in the Senate, so it's dead for now, but the proposal is going to be a zombie one (or a vampire; you choose the metaphor). 

The protests did work, along with the Second Amendment Sanctuary stuff. For the Kool-Aid drinkers, they'll maintain faith in their tyrannical ideas right up until the bullet enters their skull or the rope drops, but for others, like the moderates, they can be scared by pissed off citizens with guns.

Protests work because they remind the powers that be that the populace is armed and will use their guns. It's an implied threat without being violent or breaking the law. No, the protests didn't make the hoplopaths give up entirely, but it did stop one of the worst bills for now and buy everyone time. 

The time bought should be used to buy guns and ammo, train, and organize. Maybe a year from now there will be more resistance to gun control making it even less viable to pass it. At least another year gives people time to prepare.