Virginians Stand Up for 2A  by Tom Reynolds

In their thirst for power, the Left eventually goes too far and real opposition emerges.  It’s happening in Virginia where Governor Abigail Spanberger and the legislature have created laws to ban so-called “assault firearms.” The new “assault firearms” ban laws go into effect on July 1st.

Virginia Commonwealth Attorneys are similar to District Attorneys in New York State.  They are elected by the residents of that jurisdiction to represent the Commonwealth of Virginia in criminal cases.   

There are 16 Commonwealth Attorneys Offices in Virginia and according to the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), 10 of them have said that they will not prosecute violations of those laws because they are unconstitutional.*

Ryan Mehaffey, a Marine veteran and a Commonwealth Attorney sent a letter to Spotsylvania Sheriff Roger Harris, instructing him that the ban is “unconstitutional and cannot be lawfully enforced.”  Mehaffey says that both the U S and Virginia Constitutions protect citizens’ rights to possess standard infantry weapons.  “Our founders were careful to make sure, when they drafted our founding document, that the ultimate right of the people was preserved — the right to defend themselves and their community…So, the linchpin of the constitutional analysis is whether this instrument has some reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia.”

Phillip Blevins, an Air Force veteran and a Commonwealth Attorney has also refused to enforce the ban.  Blevins says he took an oath to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia and enforcing the law would violate that oath.

Always willing to comment on unconstitutional laws, Professor Mark Smith, the Four Boxes Diner Host has added: “A prosecutor who indicts you for possessing or carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifles carries the constitutional burden of proving that the rifle is dangerous AND unusual under the Supreme Court’s Heller precedent. Yet, each of the nine U.S. Supreme Court justices have already said AR-15s are commonly-owned firearms. Thus, a prosecution arising from possessing an AR-15 should be dead on arrival — and many Virginia prosecutors apparently know it.”   (Emphasis added.)

In New York State, where Governor Hochul and the Democrat controlled legislature deliberatively ignore our Constitution and United States Supreme Court decisions, we hope our D A’s will also obey their oaths to the U S Constitution.

*  Per VCDL: Leslie Fleet (Appomattox), Matthew Bass (Clarke), John Lumpkins Jr. (Goochland), Phillip Blevins (Smyth), Dayna Bobbitt (Patrick), Rob Cerullo (Powhatan), Justin Griffith (Pulaski), Kyle Kilgore (Scott), Ryan Mehaffey (Spotsylvania), and John Bell (Warren).