I always thought the whole tree of liberty quote was over the top. Now I'm thinking that tree is getting mighty thirsty. It's getting to a flashpoint. Take people's guns, take their first amendment rights, then take their vote away from them. Eventually people are going to react like a cornered dog.

I can't even describe how I feel.

I am stunned by how far the VA DEMs have attacked our rights and abused their new power. Especially under the "leadership" of a dickhead like Northam.

There is lots more - dozens and dozens of proposed VA laws that attack us from every direction

xxxxxxxxxxxx


edited to add: "dickhead" isn't too profane is it ? just checking

This disgusting bill passed through the Senate Committee with every democrat voting for it. Un-friggin-believable. And Democrats claim to be making Virginia safer???

https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2020/sb624

Geriatric prisoners; conditional release. (SB624)
Introduced By
Sen. Lionell Spruill (D-Chesapeake)

Description
Conditional release of geriatric prisoners. Allows any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who (i) is 55 years of age or older and has served at least 15 years of the sentence imposed or (ii) is 50 years of age or older and has served at least 20 years of the sentence imposed, to petition the Parole Board for conditional release.

These people need to be removed from office. Now.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
I can't even describe how I feel.

I am stunned by how far the VA DEMs have attacked our rights and abused their new power.

To them it isn't an abuse of power. It's a reclaiming of expected authority all Democrats belive is their birthright, conferred solely by party affliation.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
This disgusting bill passed through the Senate Committee with every democrat voting for it. Un-friggin-believable. And Democrats claim to be making Virginia safer???

https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2020/sb624

Geriatric prisoners; conditional release. (SB624)
Introduced By
Sen. Lionell Spruill (D-Chesapeake)

Description
Conditional release of geriatric prisoners. Allows any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who (i) is 55 years of age or older and has served at least 15 years of the sentence imposed or (ii) is 50 years of age or older and has served at least 20 years of the sentence imposed, to petition the Parole Board for conditional release.

Laws for thee but not for me. The demoncrats know they have their armed guards and they only care about getting more votes from the people they release. https://www.nationalreview.com...e-than-22000-felons/

We can eat cake for all they care.

quote:

Originally posted by Flashlightboy:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
I can't even describe how I feel.

I am stunned by how far the VA DEMs have attacked our rights and abused their new power.

To them it isn't an abuse of power. It's a reclaiming of expected authority all Democrats belive is their birthright, conferred solely by party affliation.

Add in a generous helping of foreign enemies and their dirty money.

Virginia revamped discretionary parole laws in the 1990's because crime rates were out of control. Many prisons were built but a funny thing happened. Crime rates began to fall and Virginia actually built a prison and did not have enough inmates to send to it. They hired a few people to go around the prison and flush toilets and perform other maintenance tasks for a few years. They finally closed some older prisons so they could finally open the new prison.

So now they want to reverse the parole laws which will allow hardened criminals to return to the streets.

Crime rates will rise.

AAR: Lobby Day 2020;

I was there from start to finish, not a single problem was witnessed. No left opposition at all, (one member of our group said we walked past a single guy who was trying to argue, no one paid any attention to his rant and he left).

I walked every off-gov facility location, as well as inside the Omni and many business, like a common chain coffee shop that seems to encourage disrespect to my culture and heritage; All were perfectly inviting and appreciative of the boon in sales.

My group did not go inside the state capitol grounds, but walked the entire perimeter, and side streets, we hiked into downtown Richmond from Oregon Hill, just in case we had to emergency egress under bad conditions; we intentionally isolated our transportation from the masses in a non-common/not easily accessed area.

The streets we could access, to be counted among the free, was a maze, and very constrained, a bit confusing, we contantly ran into blocked/fenced choke points. Regardless, many business on those streets were open, they were treated to friendly, appreciative customers and I suspect, made an incredible daily income.

I was there with a switched on crew; verbalizing potential threats; scanning, although there were very few called and none materialized.

Everyone on the streets were friendly, shaking hands with LEOs, (some were slightly stressed, others completely casual, all I spoke to professional. One, working a fence line, mentioned he was down from New Jersey).

People were sharing hand warmers, snacks, water, giving directions. All races, colors, straight/not, religions, different flags. It was an exemplary showing of good people from all walks of life, from suits to coveralls. ❤️

Being around people in full war kit doesn’t raise any worry in me, the time we did spend looking at long guns, plate carriers, drop rigs, etc. was mostly to joke how they had no idea how to set up their kit. There were serious guys there to sheepdog others in full gear; I was glad to see them posted up. if the media only shows up-armed footage, it’s a lie, know that those people, the fake and real deal were less that 25% attendance.

I carried my normal edc and a pack with comfort items/fluids, both a full IFAC and a second mass casualty kit with multiple tourniquets, chest seals, Israeli bandages, clotting agent, etc. Thankfully not needed.

The area was absolutely spotless as we were leaving.

We emphatically proved we are not the bad side of this, now let’s see what move the ones who are try to make.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
I can't even describe how I feel.

I am stunned by how far the VA DEMs have attacked our rights and abused their new power. Especially under the "leadership" of a dickhead like Northam.

There is lots more - dozens and dozens of proposed VA laws that attack us from every direction

Living in CA most of my life, I saw how the DEMs year after year, passed a few laws here, a few laws there, taking decades to get to the present clusterfuck of commie law in that state.

The big mistake I see in VA is that Northam and his leftist jackals are trying to become CA in one year, without incrementally trying to change law. To try and instantly cram a huge commie agenda in a short period of time, and I truly think it will bite 'em in the ass. Look at Beto O'Rourke's campaign to confiscate semi autos, it backfired on him. IMO, Trump is correct, that this will all blow up in their faces in the 2020 election cycle.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
This disgusting bill passed through the Senate Committee with every democrat voting for it. Un-friggin-believable. And Democrats claim to be making Virginia safer???

https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2020/sb624

Geriatric prisoners; conditional release. (SB624)
Introduced By
Sen. Lionell Spruill (D-Chesapeake)

Description
Conditional release of geriatric prisoners. Allows any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who (i) is 55 years of age or older and has served at least 15 years of the sentence imposed or (ii) is 50 years of age or older and has served at least 20 years of the sentence imposed, to petition the Parole Board for conditional release.

this one is simple,

the state would rather release them instead of having them in the prison health system,

quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
AAR: Lobby Day 2020;



Being around people in full war kit doesn’t raise any worry in me, the time we did spend looking at long guns, plate carriers, drop rigs, etc. was mostly to joke how they had no idea how to set up their kit.
.
.

I sent a friend the VCDL link to pictures of the event, and some I took myself,
he was unable to attend,

US Army Reserves guy, spent time in the Sandbox, and Croatia

he commented that some folks needed to get a lesson or 3 on how to wear the gear,

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:

quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
AAR: Lobby Day 2020;



Being around people in full war kit doesn’t raise any worry in me, the time we did spend looking at long guns, plate carriers, drop rigs, etc. was mostly to joke how they had no idea how to set up their kit.
.
.

I sent a friend the VCDL link to pictures of the event, and some I took myself,
he was unable to attend,

US Army Reserves guy, spent time in the Sandbox, and Croatia

he commented that some folks needed to get a lesson or 3 on how to wear the gear,

I understand some people wanted to show off toys. I tried to be fairly discreet. After the fact it’s no it deal, at the time we had no idea what we were walking into.

One big thing I noticed lacking: EMS, nothing all day, never saw a single ambulance, first aid station or any rescue/medical personnel.
Nothing.

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
This disgusting bill passed through the Senate Committee with every democrat voting for it. Un-friggin-believable. And Democrats claim to be making Virginia safer???

https://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2020/sb624

Geriatric prisoners; conditional release. (SB624)
Introduced By
Sen. Lionell Spruill (D-Chesapeake)

Description
Conditional release of geriatric prisoners. Allows any person serving a sentence imposed upon a conviction for a felony offense, other than a Class 1 felony, who (i) is 55 years of age or older and has served at least 15 years of the sentence imposed or (ii) is 50 years of age or older and has served at least 20 years of the sentence imposed, to petition the Parole Board for conditional release.

this one is simple,

the state would rather release them instead of having them in the prison health system,

You are exactly right.However these are hardened criminals who will wreck havoc on society and will most likely be re incarcerated in short order,with many victims left to pick up the pieces of their lives.

quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
One big thing I noticed lacking: EMS, nothing all day, never saw a single ambulance, first aid station or any rescue/medical personnel.
Nothing.

There wasn't much for sure. I did see a small utility vehicle type 1st aid/ambulance mostly on 9th st.

There were enough Baofengs and Yaesu's there to pave a street. Plenty of chatter to let folks know what was happening.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I always thought the whole tree of liberty quote was over the top. Now I'm thinking that tree is getting mighty thirsty. < snip >

If it comes to that, you and your spouse can fort up here.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:
This disgusting bill passed through the Senate Committee with every democrat voting for it. Un-friggin-believable.
< snip >

It has less to do with freeing elderly prisoners than it does with shifting the cost of their long-term medical care back to the fed.gov, since most are going to be on Medicaid.

quote:

Originally posted by matthew03:
One big thing I noticed lacking: EMS, nothing all day, never saw a single ambulance, first aid station or any rescue/medical personnel.
Nothing.

I saw those little, basically a side by side with a little box one the back, EMS vehicles I guess you could call them.
I was on Broad Street when some kind of a emergency must have happened. A huge North Chesterfield EMS vehicle rolled in. 6 axles backed down a street. I thought they covered it well.
As I was carrying a couple tourniquets and some Israeli bandages all day long, I won't waste my time doing that again.

The Majority Of Virginia Homicides Come From Only Two Metro Areas

https://www.zerohedge.com/poli...only-two-metro-areas

In most times and places, crime tends to be a highly localized phenomenon. I have covered this for Mises.org at the national level, pointing out that homicide rates in, say, the Mountain West and New England are far lower than homicide rates in the Great Lakes region or the South. Gun-control laws clearly don't explain these differences, since many places with rock-bottom homicide rates such as Idaho and Maine also have few controls on private gun ownership.

Thus, discussion of the "US homicide rate" tells us precious little about general trends since US homicide rates are kept relatively high by only a small number of cities. Baltimore city, for example, has a homicide ten times higher than the nation overall, and seventeen times larger than the Baltimore suburbs. In 2018, Baltimore reported more than three hundred homicides while similarly sized Denver reported about 67. These are huge differences.

Clearly, speaking generally of homicides as a problem in the United States or even in the State of Maryland tells us little about conditions experienced by most of the population in these places.

Given the very low homicide rates that prevail throughout most of the US, it is clear that enormous swaths of the US population are able to obtain, own, and use firearms freely without turning their cities and towns into war zones.

Given the recent drive for more gun control in the state of Virginia, it may be helpful to look and see whether homicides are a general problem for Virginians or limited to only certain parts of the state.
Regional Differences in Homicides in Virginia

In 2018, the homicide rate in Virginia was 4.6 per 100,000. That's below the national rate of 5 per 100,000, but is well above that of many states such as Iowa, Utah, and Minnesota.

But, of course, homicides are not spread evenly across Virginia. As with many other states, homicide rates are far higher in some cities and metro areas than in others.

For example, according to the FBI's 2018 crime statistics, the homicide rate in the city of Richmond (i.e., not the overall Richmond metro area) was nearly five times higher, with 22.9 homicides per 100,000 people. But among cities with more than 10,000 people, the highest rate was found in Petersburg, which in 2018 had a homicide rate nearly ten times that of the state overall, with 45 homicides per 100,000. Other especially violent cities (proportionally speaking) were Danville, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Newport News, and Hampton. These can be contrasted with some large cities with very few homicides, including Charlottesville and Virginia Beach.



And, of course, the FBI report lists more than one hundred Virginia cities—ranging in size from 300 to 44,000 residents—with zero homicides.

What would homicide rates look like in Virginia without some of these cities?

Well, according to the FBI's report, there were 391 total homicides in Virginia in 2018. Of those, 122 were in the Virginia Beach-Norfolk metro area, and 100 were in the Richmond metro area. These two metros alone contributed more than half (57 percent) of all the state's homicides. Combined, these two metros (which amount to only 2.9 million of the state's 8.5 million residents) had more homicides than all the rest of the state.



By removing just these two metro areas from Virginia, the homicide rate for the remainder of the state would be reduced from 4.6 per 100,000 to 3 per 100,000.

Since Democrats won a majority in both houses of the state legislature last election day, legislators have begun to push through new restrictions on gun ownership in Virginia. Proposals include limiting the number of guns bought per month, a ban on "assault" weapons, and so-called red flag laws.

Supporters insist the laws are necessary for the safety of residents statewide. But it is unclear that the issue of homicides in Virginia ought to be addressed by statewide policies.

The new push for gun control in the state has been pushed largely by advocates claiming the new measures are necessary to prevent shootings like the 2019 Virginia Beach mass shooting. It is unclear why any of the proposed rules would address the factors behind the Virginia Beach shooting given that the shooter had no criminal record. Moreover, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of homicides in the state are ordinary homicides tied to specific areas and municipalities—and the conditions therein.

If policymakers wish to address these issues, it is not at all clear why general statewide legislation would provide any solutions. After all, as we have discovered in a great many local governments, policies tends to focus on nonviolent crime, with most resources devoted to petty drug enforcement or similar infractions. In Baltimore, for example, the police department assigns less than three percent of its police force to homicide investigations. Yet, this sort of neglect by city personnel has been shown to be a key factor in fostering an environment of lawlessness.

Moreover, since we have no data on how often firearms are used to deter crime, it is impossible to know what the likely effect of additional prohibitions on legal gun ownership will be.

Not surprisingly, however, state lawmakers have taken the easy way out. Rather than address the serious and unexciting steps necessary to truly address violence at the local level, policymakers have opted to do the politically expedient thing and pass statewide laws designed to pander to specific interest groups. Whether or not these laws have the desired effect, of course, is politically unimportant. Some politicians have decided that it is "worth it" to burden much of the state's population—millions of whom own firearms without ever using them for violent ends—with a wide array of new regulations that could render many residents criminals for owning devices which had been purchased legally in the recent past.

Ralph Northam is demonizing gun owners to distract from his racist past

https://www.washingtonexaminer...from-his-racist-past

Ralph Northam, Virginia’s Democratic governor, declared a public emergency despite knowing there were no grounds for doing so. The governor, who recently overcame his history of racism to hang on to his current elected office, did this in his typically cynical fashion. He invoked the 2017 Charlottesville rally organized by neo-Nazis and suggested that a gathering by law-abiding gun owners in opposition to his gun control proposals would turn out similarly.

In asserting that militia and hate groups had threatened violent acts at the rally, Northam was deliberately stoking irrational fears about what would happen Monday when gun owners converged on Richmond to protest his anti-Second Amendment agenda. When nothing bad happened at the rally, of course, Northam even had the gall to pat himself on the back for it. Such are the delusions of a man whose main goal at this point is to build a legacy comprising something other than the racist costumes on his yearbook page and the racist nickname he went by during the 1980s when he was already a full-grown adult.

Northam thinks he can change the subject by denigrating and antagonizing gun owners. After all, there is no public safety purpose to most of his gun proposals, which Monday’s rally was staged to oppose. For example, why are they trying to limit the number of outdoor gun ranges in the state? Does someone think that criminals are using them to become too accurate?

Why exactly are Virginia Democrats trying to bring back an unconstitutional “one-gun-a-month” purchase limit? And why did Northam’s Democratic minions in the state legislature, even as they advanced proven-ineffective gun control proposals, vote against a measure imposing additional penalties on those using guns to commit crimes? The unflattering truth is that Virginia Democrats want to be soft on violent criminals but, at the same time, signal their virtue by going hard on law-abiding gun owners.

What is being missed here is that Virginia is and has been a nice and relatively safe place to live and also a prime example of a state where gun rights are respected. Its desirability has even attracted enough wealthy liberals to Northern Virginia to change its politics. Somehow, gun-friendly Virginia, where open carry is commonplace and concealed carry permits are “shall-issue,” has not only failed to become Dodge City but, in fact, became one of the lowest-crime states in America as both violent and property crime in its cities declined during a period of statewide gun liberalization.

The fact that California, Illinois, and Texas have comparable rates of gun crime year-over-year, despite operating under radically different gun laws, should serve as the tipoff to a broader statistical reality. State gun control policies and rates of gun ownership do not correlate statistically with levels of state gun homicides or other gun crimes. If you want to understand why Maryland has so many more shootings per capita than Idaho, or Alaska than Massachusetts, you need to look beyond gun policy.

And that stands to reason because there is no way to tie the policies that Virginia Democrats are trying to enact to the prevention of gun crimes such as the ones Northam is constantly trying to exploit with his insincere rhetoric.

Northam desperately wants to build a legacy for himself that doesn’t involve his poor personal decisions about dressing up like a Klansman or wearing blackface. To that end, he is attempting to impose an ideologically predetermined solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Virginia voters should protect their rights while they still have them, and gun owners in other states should take note of what happens when they let Democrats win elections.