Northam: “That’s something I’m working [on] with our secretary of public safety”

Having survived a myriad of scandals, including his wearing blackface while in med school, Virginia governor Ralph Northam (D) is extremely happy with the results of this week’s election.

He’s so happy, in fact, that he is reportedly “looking into” ways to confiscate guns from Virginia residents.

Northam apparently sees the election results as a mandate.

The Washington Post reports:

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) used a Cabinet meeting Wednesday to showcase all he expects to get done with a state government under Democratic control for the first time in a generation. Northam, still buoyant after his party wrested control of the General Assembly from Republicans on Tuesday, assembled his team in a ceremonial meeting room in the State Capitol, instead of the workaday Patrick Henry Building, where they typically meet. “Virginia spoke and we’re going to listen and we’re going to take action,” said Northam, who is halfway through is four-year term.

Riding high, Northam’s agenda items on which to “take action” not only include gun control, but also include the confiscation of “assault weapons” (whatever those are).

WaPo continues:

Regarding gun control, he referred to eight “common-sense” bills he proposed for the special legislative session he convened in July, in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Virginia Beach on May 31. Republicans who controlled the General Assembly shut down that session after 90 minutes — sending all of the bills to the crime commission and promising to reconvene after the election. Northam mentioned universal background checks, banning the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, restoring the law that limits purchases to one gun a month, and a red flag law that would empower a court to temporarily remove a gun from a person deemed to be a risk to himself or others. “We will at least start with those,” he said. . . . . Asked whether he supports confiscating assault weapons from gun owners, Northam demurred. “That’s something I’m working [on] with our secretary of public safety,” he said. “I’ll work with the gun violence activists, and we’ll work [on] that. I don’t have a definitive plan today.”

It’s important to note here that Northam avoided questions about other issues like right to work and allowing teachers and public sector employees to unionize by dismissing them as “hypotheticals.”

Asked whether he would consider a repeal, he said: “That’s a hypothetical question. I deal with what’s put on my desk. But what I would say is that, while we’re the Number One state in the country in which to do business, I want to do everything that I can to support our workers as well.” He mentioned raising the minimum wage — he could not be pinned down on a dollar amount he’d find reasonable — and bolstering workforce training. Asked whether he would support allowing teachers or other public-sector workers to unionize, Northam said: “Again, you’re asking hypotheticals, and if something like that gets to my desk, I’ll certainly look at it.”

These are to his credit; however, his failure to similarly call the state’s unconstitutional confiscation of legally-purchased firearms from law-abiding citizens a “hypothetical” is telling.



