Two from the War on Guns

In Virginia, the Senate has passed a bill that would eliminate the one gun a month law. Typically, a Senator on the opposing side, that is the gun grabbers, took to the Fairfax Newsto express her outrage. But then there is this little item in the report:

She said that evidence is mounting that Virginia is already falling into favor again with drug and gun cartels. In December, ten residents of Manassas, Virginia were arrested in a “three-year investigation of interconnected cocaine and firearm distributors.” In June, The Virginian-Pilot reported, “five men funneled guns from Virginia’s Eastern Shore to New Jersey and put them in the hands of gang members, murderers and drug dealers.”

Over the last several years, more than 60 people have been arrested in connection with bulk firearms distributio (sic), Favola said.

So, here Senator Favola is admitting that the law, on the books for the last 18 years, does not work to stop gun runners from getting guns, or from selling them to felons. What it does do is prevent legal collectors and peaceable armed citizens from acquiring guns in quantities exceeding one a month, and prevents legitimate businesses from selling more guns.

We often talk about something called "unintended consequences." Unintended consequences are things that result from passing a law for other reasons. In many cases, unintended consequences can be predicted if one assumes that people who do not want to be bound by the law will adapt and find a way around the law. Because of the ability to predict unintended consequences, I don't believe they are unintended. I don't believe that our politicians are that stupid.  In this case, I think the law does precisely what it was intended to do. But that infringes on the rights of peaceable armed citizens. So, to deflect attention away from the fact they are deliberately infringing on peoples rights, they instead natter on about gun traffickers. Nonsense! Virginia should repeal this law as a total failure.

Meanwhile, there are laws on the books to deal with illegal arms traffickers, that don't burden peaceable armed citizens in any way.

In North Carolina, Grass Roots North Carolina is preparing to sue the City of Winston-Salem to force them to comply with the State law passed in July of last year. The Winston-Salem Journal reports approvingly, and no wonder. They had an editorial back in January praising the City Council for passing the new ordinance. But as I note in that post, the Journal gets it wrong on all counts.  Now, it looks like a court will decide.  What a waste of money in difficult times.

A hat tip to David Codrea over at the War on Guns for pointing to both articles.