Hundreds of armed gun owners and peace activists had packed the State Capitol.
On May 31, 2019, a gunman opened fire in a municipal building in Virginia Beach, murdering 12 people. In the wake of this mass shooting, over 30 bills have been filed “aimed at restricting gun use or lethality or stiffening penalties for gun law violations.” Both houses of the Virginia Legislature are Republican-controlled (barely), however, so the legislation hasn’t gone anywhere. So Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, invoked his authority to order a “special session“ of the Virginia Legislature to address gun-related legislation.
Now, gun control is a tricky issue, especially in an increasingly blue state. The people of Virginia support it, even a majority of Republicans. But Republicans in the legislature--who supposedly represent the people of Virginia--prefer to represent the NRA and automatically oppose all gun control. This special session put them in rather a delicate situation, because they didn’t really want to have to vote publicly against common-sense gun control with an election coming up in November. What to do?
Remember, Republicans aren’t trying to run a state; they’re trying to win a game. And they excel at playing within the rules. It occurred to them that, although they were legally required to hold the special session, they weren’t technically required to do anything. So they developed a secret strategy, and executed it perfectly: They referred all of the gun-related bills to committee without considering any of them, and then immediately adjourned. Until after the November election.
