Thundar
Regular Member
SARVIS on the Second Amendment: http://www.robertsarvis.com/gun-rights
I am committed to protecting the gun rights of law-abiding gun-owners and giving full respect to the Second Amendment. I believe the Supreme Court decisions in D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, and the recent D.C. Circuit decision in Palmer v. District of Columbia are correct.
In 2013, I was the only candidate for Governor to receive a "Very Pro-Gun" rating from the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and I repeatedly challenged politicians, commentators, and voters alike to take gun violence so seriously that we move past the facile gun-control demagoguery on the issue and discuss real solutions that go to the heart of the problem.
At the RadioOne forum in Richmond, I was the only candidate willing to state the obvious truth:
If we want to reduce gun violence, the best thing we can do is end the drug war. . . . We create, through the prohibition of drugs, a very well-armed, very violent, very well-funded criminal enterprise. It's a huge cause of gun violence.
Just as the end of alcohol prohibition led to a decade-long reduction in gun violence, so too would ending drug prohibition. Any discussion of gun violence is not serious if it does not address the terrible effects of the drug war.
Another important element to reducing gun violence is improving mental health services. Over half of gun deaths are suicides. Indeed my father died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Awareness of mental health issues has improved dramatically in the last decade and continues to improve, and healthcare policy changes aimed at helping those suffering from mental health issues are appropriate. But that is an area of policy appropriately left to the states, which is why it was an important plank in my healthcare reform plan as a candidate for Governor. As a Senator, I will focus on removing regulations that inhibit states and service-providers from pursuing innovative healthcare reforms; my simple but far-reaching proposals for expanding the number of healthcare professionals available to provide affordable care in an open and competitive market is the single best way to ensure there are enough affordable mental-health (and other healthcare) services available to those in need of them.
The era of gun-control restrictions, which have failed as an empirical matter, should be replaced by an era of intelligent policies that expand economic freedom, personal liberty, and individual responsibility. Freedom and gun rights are not the problem, and law-abiding gunowners should not be made to suffer for, or give up their rights and freedoms due to, the criminal acts of others. (And it's worth pointing out that the unjust results stemming from gun-control laws often fall most heavily on the poor and on minorities: Gun rights were crucial to the protection of freed slaves immediately after the Civil War. Gun rights were crucial to the long struggle for civil rights in the twentieth century. Lack of gun rights has contributed to the enormous loss of life concentrated in poor black neighborhoods racked by crime and drug wars. And criminal prosecutions of gun-control laws falls most heavily on blacks, the worst racial disparity of all crimes according to official statistics.
The Second Amendment protects a right no less important than the First Amendment freedoms that precede it in the Bill of Rights. I'm the only candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia who takes the ENTIRE Bill of Rights seriously, as well as the only candidate for Senate discussing real and effective policies to reduce gun violence and improve access to healthcare for all Americans.
Gillespie on the Second Amendment: http://edforsenate.com/about/issues/
Q: DO YOU SUPPORT THE SECOND AMENDMENT?
A. As Virginia’s senator, I will oppose efforts to infringe upon our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, which is an individual right. I would not vote in favor of treaties that would cede firearm regulation to international bodies like the United Nations, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Senator Warner voted against the bi-partisan Senate rejection of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty which could undermine our Second Amendment rights and infringe on U.S. sovereignty. I would have stood up for our Second Amendment Constitutional right.
Mark Warner on the Second Amendment: Link: http://markwarnerva.com/issues/
Not an issue for Senator Warner.
I am committed to protecting the gun rights of law-abiding gun-owners and giving full respect to the Second Amendment. I believe the Supreme Court decisions in D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago, and the recent D.C. Circuit decision in Palmer v. District of Columbia are correct.
In 2013, I was the only candidate for Governor to receive a "Very Pro-Gun" rating from the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and I repeatedly challenged politicians, commentators, and voters alike to take gun violence so seriously that we move past the facile gun-control demagoguery on the issue and discuss real solutions that go to the heart of the problem.
At the RadioOne forum in Richmond, I was the only candidate willing to state the obvious truth:
If we want to reduce gun violence, the best thing we can do is end the drug war. . . . We create, through the prohibition of drugs, a very well-armed, very violent, very well-funded criminal enterprise. It's a huge cause of gun violence.
Just as the end of alcohol prohibition led to a decade-long reduction in gun violence, so too would ending drug prohibition. Any discussion of gun violence is not serious if it does not address the terrible effects of the drug war.
Another important element to reducing gun violence is improving mental health services. Over half of gun deaths are suicides. Indeed my father died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Awareness of mental health issues has improved dramatically in the last decade and continues to improve, and healthcare policy changes aimed at helping those suffering from mental health issues are appropriate. But that is an area of policy appropriately left to the states, which is why it was an important plank in my healthcare reform plan as a candidate for Governor. As a Senator, I will focus on removing regulations that inhibit states and service-providers from pursuing innovative healthcare reforms; my simple but far-reaching proposals for expanding the number of healthcare professionals available to provide affordable care in an open and competitive market is the single best way to ensure there are enough affordable mental-health (and other healthcare) services available to those in need of them.
The era of gun-control restrictions, which have failed as an empirical matter, should be replaced by an era of intelligent policies that expand economic freedom, personal liberty, and individual responsibility. Freedom and gun rights are not the problem, and law-abiding gunowners should not be made to suffer for, or give up their rights and freedoms due to, the criminal acts of others. (And it's worth pointing out that the unjust results stemming from gun-control laws often fall most heavily on the poor and on minorities: Gun rights were crucial to the protection of freed slaves immediately after the Civil War. Gun rights were crucial to the long struggle for civil rights in the twentieth century. Lack of gun rights has contributed to the enormous loss of life concentrated in poor black neighborhoods racked by crime and drug wars. And criminal prosecutions of gun-control laws falls most heavily on blacks, the worst racial disparity of all crimes according to official statistics.
The Second Amendment protects a right no less important than the First Amendment freedoms that precede it in the Bill of Rights. I'm the only candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia who takes the ENTIRE Bill of Rights seriously, as well as the only candidate for Senate discussing real and effective policies to reduce gun violence and improve access to healthcare for all Americans.
Gillespie on the Second Amendment: http://edforsenate.com/about/issues/
Q: DO YOU SUPPORT THE SECOND AMENDMENT?
A. As Virginia’s senator, I will oppose efforts to infringe upon our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, which is an individual right. I would not vote in favor of treaties that would cede firearm regulation to international bodies like the United Nations, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Senator Warner voted against the bi-partisan Senate rejection of the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty which could undermine our Second Amendment rights and infringe on U.S. sovereignty. I would have stood up for our Second Amendment Constitutional right.
Mark Warner on the Second Amendment: Link: http://markwarnerva.com/issues/
Not an issue for Senator Warner.