Virginia Dems Hope to Override Youngkin’s Gun Control Vetoes

Virginia lawmakers sent a pile of gun control bills to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk. 

In the past, Youngkin could be rather cagey about where he’d stand on gun bills, but with what was presented to him, he didn’t need to bother. It was all rather extreme, and the governor had no issues vetoing all of them.

However, anti-gun Democrats in the legislature aren’t done. They’re hoping to override the vetoes.

Democrats in Virginia’s House of Delegates in a reconvene session Wednesday strategically selected 13 of 157 vetoes by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin in an attempt to override, despite the near certainty that their slim majority wouldn’t have the necessary votes.

The 13 bills allowed Democrats to speak on increasing gun control, expanding voting rights and raising the state’s minimum wage. 

Democratic Delegate Dan Helmer lambasted Youngkin’s veto of a bill banning the possession of semi-automatic firearms, often referred to as assault weapons. 

“These firearms were designed for the battlefield, not for our streets,” the veteran said. “They are too terrified of Donald Trump to act.” 

Republican Delegate Nick Freitas, a Green Beret combat veteran, defended the veto. 

“The only people in this room terrified of something are apparently our Democrat colleagues, of our own law-abiding citizens,” Freitas said. “The reason why we have the Second Amendment is not because the founders got back from an especially rigorous hunting trip. The reason why we have the Second Amendment is because our founders recognize that free citizens have to have the means to be able to provide for their own security.” 

As the original piece notes, Democrats only have a slim majority as things currently stand, which means this is not going to happen no matter how much they push for it.

So why do it?

My guess is that they’re convinced that enough Virginians actually want an assault weapon ban or other bits of gun control being pushed that they can make this a campaign talking point in the next election. They might not be able to go after Youngkin–Virginia doesn’t let governors serve consecutive terms–but there are enough Republicans in the legislature that they may believe this will work.

I’m not sure they’re reading the room particularly well, though.

Much of the anti-gun base for these lawmakers revolves around Northern Virginia, which means mostly around the Washington, D.C. area. These are largely federal workers or contractors who support the federal bureaucracy. 

Those would be the same people who may face losing their jobs as a result. Many will likely move away for new jobs, leaving the total numbers there lower than they have been. How much lower? That remains to be seen.

Still, banking on the status quo to hold seems kind of stupid under the circumstances, and wasting taxpayer money by trying to override vetos on stuff that only barely passed in the first place seems especially stupid.

Especially when none of these proposals will actually make anyone safer. Most violent crimes aren’t committed with AR-15s. While they do show up in mass shootings, Virginians should still remember the Virginia Tech shooting. It’s the deadliest school shooting in modern American history, and that was with a couple of handguns, too, and happened during a time when the state limited gun purchases to just one per month.

So no, none of these measures will do anything, and they’re trying to override the vetoes just to make a campaign point. Nothing else.