Dirty Deeds in Virginia(

Minneapolis Gun Rights Examiner ^ | 7 June, 2009 | John Pierce

[marktwain]

Virginia State Senator Creigh DeedsOn Tuesday June 9th, 2009, the Democratic Primary will be held in the great Commonwealth of Virginia. The Democratic candidates vying for their party’s nomination to run for governor are former Democratic National Committee chairman and Clinton insider Terry McAuliffe, State Delegate Brian Moran and State Senator Creigh (pronounced CREE) Deeds.

Because of the significant gun rights issues raised by these particular candidates, OpenCarry.org has taken the unprecedented step of endorsing Delegate Moran in the Democratic primary and encouraging Republicans, Libertarians and Independents to cross the aisle and vote in the Democratic primary.

How is this possible? It is simple. Because Virginia is an open primary state which means that any registered voter may vote in any primary as long as they only vote in one in a given year. Since the Republicans held a convention in 2009 instead of a primary, all voters are eligible to vote in the Democratic primary.

But even so, what are these issues that are so important as to warrant cross-party voting? In order to answer this question, it is important to understand the position of each candidate on gun rights.

Let’s start with Terry McAuliffe. As an avid believer in gun control, a McAuliffe governorship would be a “nuclear winter” for gun rights in Virginia, making Governor Tim Kaine appear centrist and rational in comparison. In a blogger conference call in January, McAuliffe promised that if elected, he would revise or eliminate the Dillon Rule which prevents local authorities from imposing a patchwork of local controls making the lawful exercise of a citizens rights impossible as one travels across the Commonwealth. I could continue and write an entire article about McAuliffe’s gun control plans but it is sufficient to say that he is the worst case scenario of all candidates in any party and leave it at that.

The next candidate is Senator Creigh Deeds. Deeds, who was supported by gun owners in his previous candidacy, is the Judas Iscarot of this race. Having achieved his current position on the backs of gun owners, he has suddenly turned hard left in his quest for the support of the gun-control wing of his party and abandoned gun owners who once looked to his future as synonymous with that of former Governor Mark Warner whose consistently pro-gun positions allowed him to easily move from the Governor’s mansion to the U.S. Senate.

Why would Deeds cast aside his hard-earned political capital with gun owners? Perhaps he feels that pro-gun Democrats had no choice but to support him and he can afford to betray them. Perhaps he felt under immense pressure from the big money anti-gun message being put forward by McAuliffe and simply cracked. Perhaps he has brought in advisors who are leading him down the same dead-end path taken by former Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore.

Regardless, Deeds has performed a dirty deed indeed by voicing his support for outlawing private sales of firearms in Virginia which has been legal since we politely asked the British to leave. In this single act of misguided arrogance, Deeds has sealed his fate with gun owners who understand that private sales are the law of the land in a vast majority of states.

This leaves Delegate Moran, who I should point out, also has publicly expressed his support for outlawing private sales of firearms. “But wait!” I hear you cry. “Why should Moran get a pass on the same issue that Deeds is being castigated for?” I am glad you asked that question. The answer is simple. Moran is not an A+ gun rights candidate. But he never has been. He has voted against gun rights in the past but he has also made some very difficult votes where he felt that public safety and individual rights would be best served by siding with gun owners. These include voting to legalize carrying concealed handguns in school parking lots, as well as supporting statewide preemption of all local gun control laws. I should note that the latter was in the face of stern opposition from his home city of Alexandria.

In short, the analysis went like this.

- McAuliffe must NEVER be allowed anywhere near the Governor’s mansion - Dirty Deeds must not be rewarded for his betrayal - Moran, flawed but steadfast, clearly would be the best choice for gun owners

I leave you with a blast from the past to entertain you as you digest the enormity of the betrayal of gun owners by Creigh Deeds. Let’s make sure that OUR eyes are wide open on Tuesday when we cast our very strategic vote.

[marktwain]

This is strategic voting. Consider how the MSM made sure that we were presented with only two candidates that were acceptable to them in the last presidential election. That is how we ended up with the current administration.

In this primary it costs conservatives nothing to vote for Moran and effectively against Deeds and McAuliffe.

[Maelstorm]

Deeds will win this primary unless Terry goes dirty. I don’t think any of the Democrat candidates have a chance in hell against Bob McDonnell this year but the GOP has managed to defeat itself before.

[meandog]

Believe Brian MORON will be easiest for McDonald to beat...gonna cast vote for him in Demo primary then laugh like hell when he collapses this fall.

[meandog]

McDonald = McDonnell /brain freeze