Virginia governor requests 18-officer team to enforce gun ban

Gov. Ralph Northam, D-Va., appearing on WTOP Radio on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019 (Video screenshot)

A civil war is developing in Virginia, where counties and municipalities are backing a "gun sanctuary" movement in response to Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam's support of gun-control proposals by the legislature, which recently was taken over by the Democrats.

Now, Northam is asking for a $4.8 million, 18-officer team to enforce his proposed plan to confiscate commonly owned firearms categorized by lawmakers as "assault weapons," reports Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard.

Northam's request appears to be in response to the adoption of Second Amendment "sanctuary" resolutions by 91% of Virginia counties. The counties vow to not support any state law requiring the confiscation of weapons, arguing they violate the Second Amendment.

Northam had declared there would be a "war on guns" after Democrats took the majority in the legislature.

The resolutions are being promoted by the Virginia Citizens Defense League and Gun Owners of America.

GOA spokesman Erich Pratt said gun owners want to know if the $4 million will be used "for the gun confiscation."

The Democrats' proposals prompted gun owners to flood town and county meetings to demand that local lawmakers approve the sanctuary resolutions. And thousands of gun owners are expected to take part in a "lobby day" at the legislature.

The lobbying arm of the National Rifle Association has warned that Northam is setting the stage to jail gun owners, the Daily Caller reported.

The Institute for Legislative Action said that if Northam's "wholesale attack on law-abiding gun owners wasn't enough, the disgraced public official and his Michael Bloomberg-bought allies in the general assembly now want the state’s hard-working taxpayers to foot the bill for their unconstitutional schemes."

The budget bill, HB30, ILA said, includes an appropriation of $250,000 "to carry out a host of gun control measures that Northam and his anti-gun allies hope to enact."

The money, states the bill, is to be appropriated to the Corrections Special Reserve Fund to provide for the "increase in the operating cost of adult correctional facilities resulting from the enactment" of Northam’s gun-control measures.

It would fund, ILA said, a ban on "commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, the criminalization of private firearms transfers, and gun confiscation orders issued without due process."

ILA contended the bill would be unconstitutional and won't make the state any safer.

"Long guns of any description are rarely used in violent crime. FBI Uniform Crime Reporting data breaks down homicides by weapon type. In 2018, the FBI reported that there were five times as many individuals listed as killed with 'knives or cutting instruments,' than with rifles of any kind."

ILA noted rifles were used in fewer homicides than clubs and hammers, hands and fists.

The federal government already found, "At best, the assault weapons ban can have only a limited effect on total gun murders, because the banned weapons and magazines were never involved in more than a modest fraction of all gun murders."

Further, "so-called 'universal' background checks do not stop criminals from obtaining firearms," ILA said.