A Joint Statement from the Virginia Left Regarding Recent Gun Control Measures

We, the undersigned, representing several groups of the anti-capitalist movement in Virginia, wish to make clear that we completely reject any attempt by the new Democrat majority state government to pass and enforce any new “gun control” laws. Liberals see the issue of guns and violence in abstraction. For them, taking away guns will end violence. However, as socialists, we understand that violence exists within the systems of exploitation and oppression inherent in the capitalist system. History shows us that these laws will do nothing to address the root causes of violence in our communities. They will, however, do a number of other things.

They will accelerate the process of disarming the working class and will intensify the monopoly on violence enjoyed by an oppressive capitalist state which does not, and cannot, represent us. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who is funding the anti-gun group Moms Demand Action, admitted as much, boasting “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world.” While militarized police and politicians (both liberal and conservative) in the United States target working people by likening them to a wartime enemy, they also add fuel to the fires of war abroad by selling tens of billions of dollars worth of arms to some of the most repressive regimes on earth. They promote “gun control” at home while people overseas are brutalized with guns, bombs, and tear gas canisters which read “Made in the USA.” The only control they are truly interested in is the control of the global working class.

They will give the police yet another way to incarcerate working people. Working people of color will be especially targeted, as seen with the 1967 NRA backed Mulford Act, while the wealthy, who have the resources to jump through as many hoops as necessary, will easily keep their guns. Much like the War on Drugs, the war on gun rights will fall heaviest on working people of color, the very group which cannot depend on the police for protection. It will serve as simply another way of funneling our brothers and sisters into prison. The fact that there has not been a single word on gun control for the police that regularly terrorize communities of color speaks volumes.

Moreover, we do not object to the strategic use of weapons. As revolutionaries we understand that defense against and destruction of oppression often requires the use of arms, just as the slave system was destroyed through the Union victory in the Civil War, the Nazis were defeated in WWII, and the capitalist state will only be replaced by a workers’ revolution. In short: the revolutionary Virginia Left is for gun control — the control of all guns by a militant and organized working class.

Signed:

Communist League of Richmond

facebook.com/CommunistLeagueRichmond

Disrupt the Elite Virginia

facebook.com/disruptVA

New River Workers Power

facebook.com/NRWorkersPower

Roanoke Peoples’ Power Network

facebook.com/RoanokePeoplesPower

Tidewater Solidarity Collective

facebook.com/solidarity757

Socialist Resurgence of the Shenandoah Valley

facebook.com/shenandoahvalleyreds

New Afrikan Independence Movement

facebook.com/vanaip

ASH Anti-Fascists of the Seven Hills

facebook.com/AntifaSevenHills

Socialist Rifle Association – DC Metro

sra-dc.org

Shenandoah Socialist Collective

facebook.com/shenandoahsc