PA Bill Number: HR541
Title: Recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Description: A Resolution recognizing the month of October 2024 as "Domestic Violence Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.
Last Action: Referred to STATE GOVERNMENT
Last Action Date: Sep 27, 2024
Warner's inconsistency on national concealed carry ignores the facts :: 05/25/2017
As a constituent of Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., I’m very disappointed in him for choosing to align with extreme anti-gun groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action by wholly opposing S.446 — better known as the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017.
Like many other Americans, I own a firearm and possess a concealed handgun permit, or CHP. Citing my desire to learn safe, responsible handling of firearms, I acquired both over the last three years to better protect myself. I know that I can’t be wholly dependent upon the police, a neighbor or significant other to protect myself. As a single, professional woman, I feel safe and empowered knowing that I can defend myself in the event my life was in jeopardy. However, that Second Amendment right recognized in Virginia ends when I cross into the District of Columbia, Maryland, and other nearby states that prohibit concealed carry. Under current law, if I were to carry my firearm into one of those states, I would be rendered a criminal under their draconian statues that do little to stop actual crime. That is why I and millions of other gun owners support this legislation, which would permit us to safely and responsibly carry inside and outside of our home states.
Warner’s opposition to the bill is particularly troubling because our state is one of only 19 states that currently recognizes the valid permits of every other state in the country. Oddly enough, Warner has no issue with gun owners from Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York exercising their right to self-defense when they come to Virginia. Yet he fails to apply this principle to his own law-abiding constituents desiring to exercise that same right in those states.
Warner even suggests expanding CHP rights would encourage more “gun violence.” How laughable.
Contrary to popular belief, CHP holders are more law-abiding than previously believed. Per Dr. John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center, CHP holders are more law-abiding than police officers. By comparing crime reports and revocations of CHP permits in Florida and Texas, he found that permit holders are less likely to commit crimes than police officers. Lott found similar results across the country. Given this, Warner is either obfuscating the facts, or is eager to have billionaire gun control activist Michael Bloomberg continue to line his coffers with donor money.
Although Warner’s position is largely out-of-touch with the majority of the country, true gun safety measures are making a comeback across the country. From Georgia to North Dakota, from Maine to Texas, governors across the country have signed into law more than two dozen measures so far this year expanding freedom and our Second Amendment rights. A record number of Americans — 14.5 million — have concealed carry permits — a 215 percent increase over the last decade. Here in Virginia, nearly 7 percent of adults (426,280) have a valid CHP.
Does Warner also suffer from déjà vu? When his cohort, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D), stripped Virginians of their CHP rights in December 2015, gun owners from across the state and other CHP holders threatened to take their businesses elsewhere if gun rights were dissolved here in the state. After Virginia gun owners and other supporters expressed their anger over this move, Gov. Terry McAuliffe was forced to broker a deal with state lawmakers that not only restored CHP reciprocity in our state, but added three more states — Colorado, Georgia, and New Hampshire — into the fold. Warner clearly underestimates the power and pull Virginia gun owners have in this state.
Virginians realize personal safety cannot be best left to law enforcement in the most dire of times. We have a natural desire to protect ourselves, wherever we may be — in our homes and neighborhoods or out traveling.
The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 seeks to address and put an end to the confusing patchwork of state laws. All states should give the same faith and credit to concealed carry permits that they give to driver’s licenses. In opposing this national reciprocity bill, Warner is doing himself and the state of Virginia a disservice by opposing a bill that promotes true gun safety.
Gabriella Hoffman is a media consultant based in Virginia. She is a gun owner and a Virginia Concealed Handgun Permit carrier. She can be reached at gabriella@gabriellahoffman.com.
