Here is my letter to the editor in reaction to Delegate Margaret Ransone's (Virginia legislature) comments on the governor calling the legislature into session following the Virginia Beach rampage.
Editor:
Delegate
Margaret Ransone’s response to Governor Northam’s calling the state legislature
into session following the Virginia Beach tragedy goes beyond jaw dropping—it
is disturbing. Indeed, Ransone may have gone off the rails—she typed part of it
in all caps, the signal a person is screaming.
Ransone
finds the timing “disgusting.” More hysteria? What we need is calm, clear
deliberation—not yelling.
Ransone doesn’t have her facts straight. After almost all mass shootings, political leaders follow one of two courses of action, either call the legislature into session or appoint a blue-ribbon panel to investigate. Northam chose the latter.
Following
shootings, politicians of Ransone’s ilk say, “Now is not the time to talk about
the killings.” Ok, when is the time to discuss mass killings?
Furthermore,
Ransone’s response is a profound lie of omission. She doesn’t mention her party
killed eight bills in committee that would have helped stem gun violence and simultaneously
protect the Second Amendment. One, SB 1748, would have prohibited a person from
importing, selling, bartering, or transferring a firearm magazine holding more
than 10 rounds of ammunition. The killer at Virginia Beach used magazines
holding 30 rounds.
I know from
personal experience that Delegate Ransone is duplicitous when it comes to gun
violence. I, along with others, met with her four years ago. I talked with her
about the loss our family had suffered at a school shooting in Virginia and
gave her copies of my books on that shooting and the Virginia Tech massacre.
In front of
witnesses she asked if I would be willing to meet with members of the Virginia
legislature to discuss ways to curb gun violence. My answer was, “yes.”
I am still
waiting for Ransone to call.
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