Virginia Governor Ralph Northam is hoping to increase the corrections budget in preparation for jailing gun owners, according to the Daily Caller.
As part of his gun control measures, Northam introduced Bill HB30, where a portion of the bill included a quarter-million dollars dedicated to the Corrections Special Reserves Fund, which provides funds for an “increase in the operating cost of adult correctional facilities resulting from the enactment,” according to Daily Caller.
As stated in Virginia’s Legislative Information System, the bill would include “$250,000 the first year from the general fund for the estimated net increase in the operating cost of adult correctional facilities resulting from the enactment of sentencing legislation.”
The bill indicates funding will be used to “allow the removal of firearms from persons who pose substantial risk to themselves or others,” “prohibit the sale, possession, and transport of assault firearms, trigger activators, and silencers,” “increase the penalty for allowing a child to access unsecured firearms,” “prohibit possession of firearms for persons subject to final orders of protection,” and “require background checks for all firearms sales.”
Furthermore, Daily Caller reported that Northam would be expecting the average taxpayer to pay for increasing the corrections budget that would ultimately restrictor refrain any individual from exercising their constitutional rights.
The Daily Caller reported that in addition to depriving citizens of their constitutional rights, this bill would be a waste of money, considering that this gun-controlling measure will not make Virginia any safer. Banning semi-automatic firearms would not reduce the number of violent crimes.
According to crime reporting data from the FBI in 2018, there were five times more deaths committed with knives than there were with rifles. The report also cited that rifles, which Northam’s bill wished to ban, were not as commonly used in homicidal crimes as opposed to blunt objects, such as hammers and clubs, or person weapons such as hands, fists, feet, and so on.
Daily Caller further reported that background checks, that the bill hoped to enact, would not dissuade people from getting guns in other ways. The U.S. Department of Justice reported that 75 percent of crimes involving guns, criminals have obtained their firearms through theft or by other means of acquirement, such as through a friend, a gift, on the street/black market, etc. Less than one percent obtained their firearms from dealers or non-dealers at gun shows.
Daily Caller also cited that this gun-control bill as the state of Virginia has strong and effective civil commitment laws already in place. Under these laws, law enforcement officers can take individuals into emergency custody without court approval for a mental health evaluation. During this custody, the person detained is evaluated to determine whether they meet the criteria for temporary detention. A person that was subject to a temporary detention order and subsequently agreed to voluntary admission to a mental health facility is prohibited from possessing firearms until their rights are restored by a court.