‘No more will legislators in Richmond—most of whom are men—be telling women what they should and should not be doing with their bodies…’
(Ben Sellers, Liberty Headlines) Much as Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam hid his identity behind Ku Klux Klan hoods and blackface during his medical school days, the radical leftist hid behind a recent health emergency to rubber-stamp two controversial pieces of legislation.
On Friday, Northam passed anti-gun-rights and pro-abortion bills that had been widely criticized and protested by many of the commonwealth’s citizens.
But with groups of more than 10 people banned due to the coronavirus shelter-in-place orders he recently enacted, the racist governor was able to capitalize on the curtailment of First Amendment freedom of assembly in order to abridge Second-Amendment rights and to advance his confessed goal of state-sanctioned infanticide.
Adding insult to injury, the measures came on a weekend that many Christians and Jews were celebrating some of their most sacred holidays, Easter and Passover, in spite of the state-mandated suspension of many religious services and gatherings.
Northam signed bills on five separate measures to restrict the rights of gun owners, who had previously turned up in thousands to raise their objections.
In response to the ambitious and unconstitutional overreach, most of Virginia’s counties had also proposed or passed legislation to designate themselves Second-Amendment sanctuaries.
After an open invitation from the West Virginia legislature, some counties even weighed the possibility of seceding from Virginia.
Among the new mandates:
- require background checks on all firearm sales
- establish red-flag laws for the indefinite confiscation of weapons from those deemed dangerous
- permit the purchase of only one handgun per month
- require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms within 48 hours or be fined
- punish those who wield firearms in the presence of minors
Seeking additional amendments, Northam temporarily tabled two other bills that would allow government localities to ban firearms in public spaces and prohibit anyone with a restraining order from purchasing a firearm.
“We lose too many Virginians to gun violence, and it is past time we took bold, meaningful action to make our communities safer,” said Northam in a press release. “… These commonsense laws will save lives.”
While claiming his objective was to save lives, though, Northam subsequently pushed through a pro-abortion bill that was poised to do the exact opposite.
“No more will legislators in Richmond—most of whom are men—be telling women what they should and should not be doing with their bodies,” he crowed.
The new abortion laws will repeal Virginia’s mandatory ultrasound law and 24-hour waiting period prior to abortion, designed to encourage expectant mothers to carefully consider their course of action and weigh alternative options such as adoption.
The law also rolled back GOP-backed measures that imposed higher regulatory and safety standards on abortion clinics beyond the baseline state requirements for medical offices.
Northam referred to the laws as “politically motivated ‘TRAP’ restrictions on women’s health centers, which are designed to force their closure and make it more difficult for Virginians to get access to the healthcare services.”
Virginia Democrats capitalized on an influx of outside funding from mega-donors like billionaires Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer to gain majorities in both of its state legislative chambers last November for the first time in two decades.
Only months before, Northam appeared to be facing the end of his political career after scandalous revelations of his racist past emerged in the form of a photo from his medical school yearbook.
Rather than heed bipartisan calls to step down, Northam rode out the scandal, relying on a network of subterranean tunnels connecting the governor’s mansion and state capitol to avoid public scrutiny.
Ultimately, he survived by virtue of the fact that both his successors—Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring—also faced equally disgraceful scandals that would have handed control of the governorship to Republicans.
Northam also agreed to a laundry list of radical demands presented to him by a group called the Virginia Black Politicos as part of a quid-pro-quo agreement in return for them to drop demands for his resignation.
“I was proud to work with legislators and advocates on these measures,” Northam said Friday, “and I am proud to sign them into law.”