The Patriot Post® · Virginia Is for Gun Lovers

Just last month, Virginia Democrat Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his attorney general, Mark R. Herring, decided they would void concealed carry reciprocity agreements with a couple dozen states. You know, because guns are to blame for murder, and because leftists will use any excuse to undermine our Second Amendment rights. In a major reversal this week, however, McAuliffe announced a deal with the Republican legislature to rescind that order. “In exchange,” The Washington Post reports, “Republicans softened their stances on issues that have long been non-starters in the GOP-controlled General Assembly. Under the deal, the state would take guns away from anyone who was under a two-year protective order for domestic-violence offenses. And State Police would have to attend all gun shows to provide background checks for private sellers if they requested the service.”

But it wasn’t Republicans who caved, as the Post would have us believe. Republicans have veto-proof majorities in both houses and were moving to override the AG’s order and expand reciprocity — indeed, the move accomplishes the expansion. The domestic violence change is one most Republicans wanted anyway, and there are already background checks for the vast majority of gun show purchases. In other words, McAuliffe knew he was, er, outgunned and he surrendered to secure what he could spin as “concessions.”