Re “ ‘Votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers’: Gov. Northam calls for special General Assembly session to deal with gun violence,” Free Press June 6-8 edition:

Gov. Ralph S. Northam, in an attempt to divert the public’s attention from his administration’s scandals and incompetency, has called a special session of the General Assembly for July 9. He wants lawmakers to reconsider failed bills that would have given more power to the police and infringe on honest individuals’ liberties and freedom.

These bills include unconstitutional red flag laws, mandatory universal background checks, restoring the one-handgun-a-month law and banning bump stocks, assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The governor also wants to make it a criminal offense for someone not to report a lost or stolen firearm. 

The left, progressives and Democrats want to implement secret tribunals that will enable the police to remove guns from law-abiding individuals. Red flag laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders or Gun Violence Restraining Orders, are blatantly unconstitutional because they violate an individual’s right to due process. Among other things, the accused is not given the right to face his accuser, an explanation of the charges or the right to representation by an attorney. This is reminiscent of the Jim Crow era and Nazi Germany.

Universal background checks are a registration scheme whereby the names and addresses of gun owners are collected. When you study history, registration always leads to gun confiscation. Confiscation means the police will raid your house in the middle of night and steal your guns.

There is no need for the General Assembly to address bump stocks. President Trump already has made bump stocks illegal by having the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms change the definition of a machine gun. I guess the governor missed this while dealing with his personal scandals.

The governor’s proposals probably violate the Second Amendment and therefore must be dismissed out of hand.

The governor wants someone to have a criminal record for not reporting that a gun has been stolen or lost. That doesn’t seem like a good way to encourage the community to cooperate with the police. No sensible person should support this measure.

The purpose of the governor’s agenda is to disarm the honest. law-abiding populace. When that happens, only the police, criminals, thugs and gang members will have guns. The only way to avoid that from happening is to stop voting for Democrats.

MIKE WILSON

Richmond