On May 31, DeWayne Craddock shot and killed 12 people at Virginia Beach. Armed with two handguns, he went on a rampage after recently resigning from his position in city government. So far, we know he was not fired or forced out. He was reportedly not a pleasure to be around and was written up for workplace issues by one of his victims, Kate Nixon, who worked as a supervisor. Nixon, who is survived by her husband Jason and her three daughters, said there was another man who gave her even a worse vibe, prompting her husband to suggest she conceal carry her firearm at work. She refused, not wanting to violate the gun-free policy the city had with government workers.

In the wake of this tragic shooting, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has called on a special session to debate gun control. Northam has apparently survived a recent public relations fiasco where he admitted to wearing blackface for a dance competition in Texas; he dressed as Michael Jackson. This was revealed when his yearbook from his medical school days contained a racist photo of two men, one wearing blackface and another in full Ku Klux Klan regalia.

The date is set: July 9. Here’s the agenda Democrats want to pass courtesy of our friends at the NRA-ILA:

A June 7 press release from Northam’s office made clear that the governor is seeking to enact the following severe firearms restrictions upon law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to stop criminals:

·Criminalization of the private transfer of firearms; ·A ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms; ·A ban on firearm suppressors; ·Firearms rationing (described by the governor’s office as “one-gun-a-month law,” as opposed to Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month law that was repealed in 2012); ·Procedures to confiscate firearms from otherwise law-abiding individuals without due process; ·Mandatory firearm storage requirements; ·Mandatory lost or stolen firearm reporting; and ·A weakened Virginia firearms preemption statute that would empower local governments to create a complicated patchwork of gun laws.

All 140 House of Delegate seats will be up in November. Now, I’ll admit there may be one item that I’m okay with: the mandatory reporting of lost or stolen guns for example, but overall, these action items are no different than the ones peddled by Everytown and the anti-gun Left. Oh right, that’s exactly what this is, which is why every Republican should oppose this gun ban push.

Banning semi-automatics is a gun ban. Anyone who knows the terminology knows this. It’s not just scary files. It’s handguns, as well. Yes, anti-gun liberals, a Beretta 9mm (the gun used by Bruce Willis in Die Hard) is semi-automatic, as is the Sig-Sauer P226 or a 1911. They’re all self-reloading firearms. It’s simple. One bullet per trigger pull is semi-automatic. They’re legal. They’ve been legal for decades. It’s not scary. Automatic firearms are heavily regulated and no new sales have been conducted on firearms post-1986 because, well, they’re banned. Firearms reporter for the Washington Free Beacon, Stephen Gutowski, should be everyone’s go-to on this stuff, by the way.

Fully-automatic firearms that were registered under the National Firearms Act before 1986 were grandfathered in & are still legal. — Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) October 2, 2017

Oh, and because Craddock has suppressed handguns, suppressors (not silencers!* This isn’t GoldenEye 007), those have to go to because, if you check in on the anti-gunners on Twitter who are totally insane, a suppressor makes these firearms undetectable and more deadly. Wrong on both counts again. This isn’t Men In Black; it’s an accessory that’s also heavily regulated under the National Firearms Act by the ATF. You need to pass a background check, pay the NFA tax stamp, and your name is added into a federal database.

So, at its core, the main course is gun confiscation without due process, a gun ban, and a prohibition on private sales, which are already small, to begin with, and mostly relate to inheritances (i.e. fathers passing on their firearms to their sons, daughters, etc.).

All 140 House of Delegates seats are up in November. The VA GOP has slim majorities in Richmond, very slim. We could lose control of one or both houses. One way to increase those odds is to side with Democrats. I said there’s one time that may be rational. It could be true, but as we’ve seen in times past—if you give the Left an inch, they’ll take several thousand miles. We cannot cede any ground here. This is the platform for the long-term goal of destroying gun rights in Thomas Jefferson’s backyard and that of the National Rifle Association. They’re taking it to us, folks. It’s time to fix bayonets and stop this push again.

Virginia Republicans did torpedo similar items in February. They have to do so again or risk their base staying home, betrayed by those who say they’re in Richmond to protect their interests and their rights. Democrats will toss around the term “common sense.” In their world, common sense is a gun ban. It’s the abolition of the Second Amendment. Supporting our Second Amendment freedom and our rights won’t be why Virginia Republicans lose the upcoming elections should that happen. It will be because they turned their backs on their base, their supporters, and freedom. Don’t make that mistake. Hold the line; endure the attacks from the anti-gun loons that will probably descend en masse. We’ve all survived their idiocy before and triumphed.

This anti-gun push is just the start of a larger game to destroy the Second Amendment. We all know this. It’s pretty…black and white.

Oh, and the VA Beach police chief said no gun control law could've prevented the shooting, so yeah--it's a crusade to shred the Bill of Rights.

*Yes, I know the ATF calls them that as well; they’re wrong too. It doesn’t “silence” the gunshot. And yes, shocker—even the government can be wrong.