The group moms demand action for gun sense in America flood the general assembly building holding what’s called a stroller jam.
With their kids in tow, these women lobby for legislation protecting domestic violence victims like Lisette Johnson, a Midlothian mother herself, who was shot several times by her husband in 2009, before he took his own life.
In order to cause a jam, doesn’t that imply you have reasonable numbers? They must not have, because that bill was tabled in the House [Originally this mentioned it was defeated in the Senate. This was in error.] Looking at the bill, I’m actually rather surprised sexual battery is a misdemeanor. It’s worth noting that Virginia’s definition of “family or household member” for the purposes of “domestic violence” is far broader than under the federal Lautenberg definition, and it’s relatively easy under Virginia law to convict a severe abuser or serial abuser of felony domestic violence, which would be federally prohibiting.
But it’s interesting that Moms Demand are taking the “tough on crime” approach. What’s the end game? Probably to make gun ownership a legal tightrope. There are no minor mistakes in this issue already, and my guess is their aim is to make it worse. Walk the tightrope. It’s a felony if you make any mistakes.
To me, this highlights the importance of women in the politics of gun rights.
In the Obama era, the left has been very effective at turning politics into a game of demographics and appeals to emotion. MDA is the perfect example. Remember the email to Bloomberg’s #1 guy in MAIG, Mike Glaze? This is the memo that likely spawned MDA:
Other powerful combinations are Mothers and their Children who together focus on elected officials. Think of the power of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and you see where I am headed.
I’ve also seen CSGV tag tweets with #waronwomen. And of course the body of the tweet had absolutely nothing to do with women’s rights.
They’re trying very hard to capitalize on the emotional power of the mother & children angle and also make gun control into a “women’s rights” issue. That’s BS and we can counter it.
I think women demanding the right to defend themselves can also stir up powerful emotional reactions. Think of the young woman who testified in the CO legislature about being raped on campus when CO was debating the bill to outlaw campus carry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2-HjB6h6bI
How many people can watch that testimony and not want to punch Bloomberg and Hudak in the face? If you watch that without being moved, you don’t have a soul (I’m looking at you Feinstein). It blows their “war on women” scam to pieces. I’d love to see a squared away pro-2a woman arguing with the talking heads on TV rather than Gottlieb and LaPierre.
I’m wondering what the requirements are for misdemeanor stalking. Disagreement in the comments section of a blog?
It looked like it had to put the person in reasonable fear of bodily injury, which seems light a tough standard, but I have no idea how it’s implemented in practice.
And as far as your last paragraph about their end game, I think its also about taking 2A rights away from anyone they can. Starting with the low-hanging fruit.
No one is eager to stand up for the rights of domestic abusers or stalkers. No one likes a drunk driver either… Coming soon to a blue state near you: DUI as a prohibiting offense.
With their kids in tow, these women lobby for legislation protecting domestic violence victims like Lisette Johnson, a Midlothian mother herself, who was shot several times by her husband in 2009, before he took his own life
So if he used a knife, they’d be cool?
Or push for knife bans?
I can’t help but read it as being a pretext for their existing desire to ban guns, not a way to “help victims”.
This is an artifact of Terry McAuliffe being governor. He seems sofar to be fairly cagey about his political stances, given that he’s forced to work with the GOP. But you can bet he’s really hoping for MDA and other similar lefty groups to make enough noise to give him some political cover for more destructive policies.
And then there are the scandals that began before he even took office. Why didn’t we just go all the way and elect Blagojevich…
Isn’t a simple misdemeanor domestic violence conviction already disabling under the Lautenberg amendment?
I understand the MDA “stroller jam” consisted of two strollers and a handful of people. Apparently even the closets were too big to jam.