Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have launched a group in Virginia to push gun control; it’s their same message, with different packaging.
The name of Giffords’ national gun control group is Americans for Responsible Solutions (ARS). The name of the Virginia gun control group is the Virginia Coalition for Common Sense (VCCS).
The first line of business for VCCS is to require every would-be gun purchaser to pass the same background check that Giffords’ attacker, Jared Loughner, passed to acquire his firearm. In fact, it is the same background check that Vester Lee Flanagan passed in Virginia to acquire the gun he used to attack WDBJ reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward on August 26, 2015.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Giffords and her husband are launching VCCS a month after Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) riled gun control proponents by signing “historic” legislation to protect concealed carry reciprocity between Virginia and other states. That legislation reversed unilateral action by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring (D), whereby Herring ended reciprocity with states that refused to pass higher levels of gun control.
Giffords’ gun control message has performed miserably on the national stage, and during the 2014 midterms, fewer than half the candidates she endorsed won. Even Giffords’ former seat, Arizona District 2, saw the gun control incumbent defeated and replaced by pro-Second Amendment Martha McSally.
But Giffords and Kelly have been able to score gun control victories in states like Oregon, where ready and willing Democrat legislators quickly supported placing more gun laws on the backs of law-abiding citizens.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.