As Virginians Brace for an All-Out Assault on Their Gun Rights, an Appeal From the Left for a Little Sanity

Thinking of sending something along these lines to Spanberger etc. in the wake of the blue wave this election week. Would welcome any thoughts.

An Open Letter to Governor-Elect Spanberger and the General Assembly

As a DC resident, a Virginia lawyer, and a staunch liberal, I want to congratulate Governor-Elect Spanberger and every candidate who helped make this week’s blue wave possible. Voters across the Commonwealth rejected extremism and rewarded competence, compassion, and stability. It’s a moment of pride for all of us who believe that good governance, not grievance, is how we move the country forward.

I also write as a responsible gun owner who knows what it is like to live under complicated and confusing gun laws. DC’s gun regulations are a patchwork of contradictory rules and pointless restrictions that have done very little to address the city’s serious gun violence problem. That experience gives me a unique view of what works, what doesn’t, and how easily good intentions can translate into bad policy.

Virginia has already shown that smart, balanced policy can enhance safety without eroding rights. Programs like the state’s tax rebate for gun safes and systems for reporting lost or stolen firearms promote accountability while respecting responsible ownership. These are laws that work — they foster a culture of safety and shared responsibility instead of resentment or confusion.

If we want to tackle gun violence at its roots, we need to be honest about what those roots are. The leading predictors of gun violence are poverty, despair, and lack of opportunity, not the appearance of particular types of guns. A newly unified Democratic government in Richmond has a once-in-a-generation chance to confront those causes directly: through better healthcare access, affordable housing, childcare, career training, agricultural investment, and addiction treatment. Every dollar spent there will do more to prevent violence than a dozen symbolic firearm restrictions. This isn’t just an opinion — it’s borne out by decades of research and by the lived experience of communities where inequality fuels violence far more than hardware ever has.

Governor-Elect Spanberger’s website commits to “keep firearms out of the hands of kids or those who pose a threat to themselves or others.” Those are laudable (if challenging) goals. But the call for bans on “assault-style weapons” — like the bans proposed in past years — is a distraction at best and counterproductive at worst.

It’s attractive to imagine that saving lives is as easy as banning a list of attachments, but that’s not how it works. The “assault” features targeted by these bans have nothing to do with public safety: the original list was cribbed together by a 1989 ATF working group to help a Republican president justify trade restrictions. States that have implemented assault weapon bans have not seen any corresponding decrease in gun violence. On the contrary, making guns “compliant” with these nonsensical laws means removing attachments that make guns safer to use. As long as we live under a Constitution that is understood to confer an individual right to self-defense, we WANT gun owners to have guns that are accurate and reliable—not to be hamstrung by meaningless restrictions.

Assault weapon bans do nothing to reduce gun violence because the overwhelming majority of gun crime is committed using handguns. During the 1994–2004 federal assault-weapons ban, violent crime did not decline in any meaningful way. Criminals simply substituted other guns, and overall lethality stayed the same. The worst school shooting in history — right here at Virginia Tech — was committed with handguns using standard-capacity magazines. The lesson from that tragedy isn’t that we should regulate guns based on appearance; it’s that we must identify and support people in crisis before they ever pick up a weapon. Expanding access to mental health care, investing in education that resists extremism, and maintaining robust social safety nets (all core planks of the Democratic platform) will prevent far more deaths than banning certain shapes of steel and polymer. Besides, a lunatic who wants to commit a spree shooting can simply attach whatever gun accessories he chooses.

This election gives Democrats in Richmond the rare gift of unified government. That victory is both a mandate and a test. Every hour spent on symbolic legislation is an hour not spent improving schools, expanding healthcare, or strengthening the social safety net. If we want to maintain this momentum into 2026 and 2028 — if we want to truly rein in Trumpism at the ballot box — we have to show voters that Democratic leadership delivers results that matter in their everyday lives. Symbolic bans might feel good in the short term, but they cost us credibility with the very voters we need to keep Virginia and the country blue.

Poorly drafted gun laws don’t just frustrate law-abiding owners; they invite unequal enforcement. History shows that ambiguous or sweeping restrictions are often enforced most aggressively against marginalized groups: the very Virginians Democrats have pledged to protect. Every new way of making ordinary people into accidental criminals is another opportunity for injustice.

Many rural and working-class Virginians share Democratic values on healthcare, wages, education, and opportunity. Many would vote blue tomorrow if not for the persistent perception — true or false — that Democrats want to turn them into criminals over the way their guns happen to look. Republicans count on that fear; it’s one of the last ways they can still win statewide. Let’s stop helping them.

Governor-Elect Spanberger, members of the General Assembly: you have the power to make Virginia a model for the nation — a state that proves Democrats can govern pragmatically, protect public safety, and honor fundamental rights at the same time. Bring responsible gun owners into the conversation as allies, not adversaries. If we succeed in that, Virginia will not only be safer; it will be stronger and more united for generations to come.

— lawblawg in Open Letter Draft for comment

 

[h/t Rob Romano]