Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has never been a friend to the Second Amendment. That was true even before he used gun control to deflect from his blackface scandal. Of course, the media didn’t really love him until the deflection started.

When Democrats got control of the legislature in 2018, though, the state began dismantling all the positive steps forward toward gun rights the state had achieved in recent years. Of course, that might make a lot of them one-term legislators, but they did it anyway.

And, apparently, they weren’t done.

Earlier this month, Northam signed several bills into law requiring universal background checks, a 30-day waiting period between handgun purchases and more severe punishment for allowing a child access to loaded and unsecured firearms. The governor proposed amendments to two bills that were sent back to the General Assembly. One of the bills will give localities the authority to regulate firearms in public buildings, parks, recreation centers and during permitted events. The amendment clarifies an exemption for colleges and universities. An amendment to the senate bill addressing safety for victims of domestic violence requires that anyone subject to a protective order will be prohibited from possessing a firearm and requires the individual to turn their guns over within 24 hours of being served. Failure to comply will result in contempt of court charges. With the exception of an all-out ban on assault style weapons and high capacity magazines, the final passage of these policies completes the group of eight public safety bills Northam proposed during the 2019 special legislative session. The General Assembly will revisit an assault rifle ban in 2021.

In other words, Northam isn’t content with the massive infringement he and his allies in the legislature have already made on Virginian’s gun rights, but they’re still going to push for even more next year.

I guess he really enjoyed all the attention from the Lobby Day protests in Richmond earlier this year because that’s what he’s about to get once again. And he should.

It should be remembered that protective orders aren’t findings of guilt. Further, those who will comply with such a law aren’t the ones anyone needs to worry about with a gun. They’re the ones that never planned on using a gun to hurt anyone in the first place. The ones you need to worry about aren’t going to comply.

To be fair, some won’t comply because they just don’t want to for whatever reason. Those aren’t really a threat either. No, the threat comes from those who are holding onto their guns because they’re planning to use them to hurt whoever took out the order.

Then, of course, there’s the fact that many of the people we’re talking about are physically stronger than the women who took out a protective order against them. They don’t actually need a gun to kill them.

Of course, let’s not also forget the clusterflop the state just made of concealed carry. If you’re traveling and will be at any publicly-owned facility in the state, check and make sure you won’t be breaking the law there. You shouldn’t have to, but that’s Northam’s Virginia.