Let's Rein In Out–of–Control Gun Control Advocates

Gun control is a powder keg of an issue anyway, but selecting an individual as spokesman that reasonable people agree should never be allowed to own a gun, only makes the effort more prone to misfire.

And that’s exactly what happened in Virginia. Democrats are convinced the next election is always going to be the one where “gun control” pays off. Except it doesn’t: Election after election after election this favorite issue is a dud at the ballot box. Bitter clingers always manage to out-vote eager grabbers. The problem is particularly acute in off–year, nonpresidential elections. Making gun control’s appearance in Virginia’s legislative races even more puzzling. The Democratic base is composed of a significant number of voters that aren’t ideologically motivated. Their participation is reward–based and presidential elections promise high caliber booty for the winners: Free daycare, free healthcare, free phones, free college and free citizenship. Off–year Democratic voters are ideologically motivated — that’s why they’re voting in the first place. Highlighting gun control, appealing to Democrats that are already going to vote, is only firing blanks if it motivates Republicans who may not have voted if they didn’t fear losing Second Amendment rights.

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This is why gun control failed again in Virginia. Longtime Clinton family friend and current Gov. Terry McAuliffe desperately needed to win an open–seat race in the Richmond area to gain control of the senate. McAuliffe’s legacy freebie was supposed to be Medicare expansion, but convincing the base to embrace scheduling a doctor visit and putting Election Day on their calendar was proving to be a daunting prospect. He needed an issue with more immediacy. Then it happened. A comely, blonde reporter for a Roanoke TV station was murdered on the air by a disgruntled, grievance–collecting, homosexual black man. Normally a death toll of two, plus the shooter, would not be enough to generate nationwide media coverage or qualify as a “mass shooting.” Shootings with a smaller death toll leave families to grieve their tremendous loss in obscurity, like presidential candidates whose poll numbers don’t measure up. But that would be to underestimate Democrat ability to exploit tragedy, especially when the shooting came with its own video. Timing was also attractive. A shooting in August is just in time for the fall campaign effort and since the shooter wasn’t wearing a turban and didn’t have a prayer rug in his car, no one downplayed the cold–blooded murder as a routine instance of “workplace violence.” This is where Andy Parker becomes part of the story. Parker is the father of slain reporter Alison Parker and to put it mildly, he proved to be a loose cannon in the battery of anti–gunners. Choosing a man who publicly threatens violence against opponents proved to be an unnecessary distraction for a peaceful anti-gun-violence campaign. Everytown for Gun Safety — the Michael Bloomberg front group with the end–justifies–the–means slogan of “Whatever it Takes —recruited Parker to be the front man for the pro–Democrat campaign. Parker taped a commercial used in two crucial open seat races. Speaking as the father of a slain daughter he concluded with, “Politicians' condolences aren’t enough. It’s time for them to act.” So far so good — no one could realistically object to a father in this situation trying to promote even an ineffective solution as part of his attempt to cope with loss. Unfortunately, Parker seemed to believe this sympathy gave him license to discard even a thin veneer of civility when it came to Republican opponents. On the Facebook page of his own senator, the Washington Post reports Parker wrote, “You didn’t even have the decency to reach out and offer a lame condolence after my daughter Alison Bailey was murdered in your district. When you see me again, you best walk the other way lest I beat your little a** with my bare hands.” Parker followed that blast with, “I’m going to be your worst nightmare you little bastard.” Then on a conference call with the media, Parker sneered, “The Virginia General Assembly is full of cowards, but Delegate Lingamfelter is in a league of his own.” And in yet another Facebook sniper attack, he attacked Prince William Senate Candidate Hal Parrish, “Hope you like my ad, you coward.” The question quickly evolved from, Do we need more gun–buyer background checks, or do we need more gun spokesman background checks? The weekend before the election Parker issued a grudging, Trump–like apology to unspecified individuals saying he “spoke regrettably.” But his regret was nothing in comparison to the group that spent $2.2 million on his ad only to have the effort defeated by an accidental discharge from the spokesman.