Election day Nov 3, 2015

[swinokur]

from VCDL:

The General Election is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 3, 2015.

VCDL has surveyed all the candidates running for the General Assembly -- the Virginia Senate and the House of Delegates.

Unfortunately, many have NOT answered the VCDL 2015 Candidate Survey.

The survey questions for both the Senate and House of Delegates can be found at:
http://vcdl.org/sites/default/files/General_Assembly_Candidate_Survey_2015.pdf

For candidate contact info and to see who has answered the Survey along with a qualitative assessment of how they answered, go to:
http://vcdl.org/GA_Candidates_2015_General It's important to note that this qualitative assessment describes HOW THE CANDIDATE ANSWERED THE SURVEY, and is *not* an overall assessment of the candidate.

The candidates' actual survey responses can be found at:

http://vcdl.org/Survey_Results_2015_GA_General

(Note: The Survey Results for the 100 candidates in local races who were surveyed will be posted this evening.)

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Not sure what District you're in? You can find out at:
http://whosmy.virginiageneralassembly.gov/ (Put your address info in the upper right hand corner of the screen.)

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If any of the candidates are afraid to take a public stand on these issues now, BEFORE the election, then they are unlikely to be very responsive to your views AFTER the election.

Failure to return a completed survey frequently indicates indifference, if not outright hostility, toward the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Jim12]

I saw at least 3 Everytown commercials for VA Dem. anti-2A candidates on TV in the span of an hour last night. Bloomberg really wants Virginia.

 

[swinokur]

VCDL facts:

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5. Politifact hammers Governor McAuliffe for his “mostly untrue” statistic on guns
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McAuliffe not telling the truth on guns? What a shocker! Both Lori Haas and Andrew Goddard have also repeated this same bogus statistic recently.

http://www.politifact.com/virginia/...ffe-says-40-percent-gun-sales-escape-backgro/

or

http://tinyurl.com/ojbx2v2

McAuliffe says 40 percent of U.S. gun sales escape background checks

By Sean Gorman on Monday, November 2nd, 2015 at 12:20 a.m.


Gov. Terry McAuliffe recently issued an executive order that banned firearms from most state buildings and offered his rationale for a gun control measure he plans to present to the General Assembly this winter.

McAuliffe, a Democrat, is calling for a law that would require all prospective gun buyers in Virginia to undergo a background check to determine whether the purchaser has a disqualifying criminal record or mental health history. Although the governor long has supported this action, his intensity grew after the Aug. 26 fatal shootings of Roanoke television reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward near Smith Mountain Lake.

Virginia law now requires all licensed gun dealers - those in the business of selling arms - to conduct computerized checks on buyers. But sales between individuals are exempt and that, McAuliffe says, opens a loophole for guns to fall into the wrong hands. A federal law requiring background checks has the same exemption.

"It has been estimated that nearly 40 percent of all guns sold in America are sold by private, unlicensed sellers either online or through guns shows," McAuliffe stated in his Oct. 15 executive order.

Christina Nuckols, deputy press secretary for McAuliffe, said the source of the 40 percent figure is a 1997 study by the National Institute of Justice that looked at gun owners’ responses to a 1994 national survey asking how they got their weapons. The study found that 30 percent to 40 percent of all gun transactions were made through an "off-the-books" transfer in which a background check wasn’t required.

The finding has been cited widely by gun control advocates - including Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, D- Va. - in calling for a federal law mandating universal background checks. But as we and other fact checkers have noted previously, the research is old and limited. Consider:

* The 1994 survey was conducted eight months after the federal Brady Act went into effect, mandating background checks on individuals seeking to buy firearms from federally licensed dealers. Survey participants were asked about their gun acquisitions going back to 1991.
* Only 251 gun owners answered the survey question about the origin of their weapons. Some of the gun owners weren’t sure how they’d gotten their guns and answered "probably" or "probably not" to whether they got the gun from a licensed firearm dealer.

McAuliffe’s statement misses a key distinction in the study: The research looked at all gun transactions - including when a gun was obtained as a gift or as an inheritance - and not just being "sold," as the governor said.

The Fact Checker at The Washington Post in 2013 asked one of the co-authors of the study, Jens Ludwig of the University of Chicago, to crunch the 1994 data just looking at sales. Ludwig replied that 14 percent to 22 percent of guns were purchased without a background check.

The 1994 data, we also should note, did not have a category for online sales, as McAuliffe’s statement suggests.

Earlier this year, we asked the other co-author of the report, Philip Cook of Duke University, what percentage of guns currently are sold without a background check. In response, he sent us an op-ed that he and Ludwig wrote in the National Review after the December 2012 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. - a time when the 40 percent figure was circulating again.

"We’ve been following the give-and-take with some interest because our research is the original source of the 40-percent statistic," they wrote. "Our views may come as a surprise: First, we don’t know the current percentage - nor does anyone else."

The lack of current data is due largely because federal funding for gun studies dried up two decades ago. President Barack Obama issued a memorandum in 2013 directing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to re-examine gun violence.

We also should note that Virginia doesn’t keep data about private guns, said Corinne Geller, communications manager for the state police. As a result, we recently gave a False rating to a statement by state Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City, that only 2 percent of Virginia gun sales are exempt from background checks. The fact is, nobody knows.

Our ruling

McAuliffe said, "It has been estimated that nearly 40 percent of all guns sold in America are sold by private, unlicensed sellers either online or through gun shows."

His source is a small-sample survey from 1994 that included firearms that were sold and those that were given as gifts or inheritances. When the results were adjusted to guns sold - the term McAuliffe uses - only 14 percent to 22 percent of the firearms were sold without background checks.

The researchers say they "don’t know" if their findings are relevant today. No current national study has been published.

McAuliffe did not acknowledge these points, all of which have been reported widely. So we rate his statement Mostly False.

 

[Jim12]

The headline and first half of that long Gorman piece only recite McAuliffe's position.

99% of readers won't even get past the first paragraph or two.

Only halfway through does it even start correcting the misrepresentations. By then, most people are already gone and on to the next article.

 

[swinokur]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politi...elections-test-new-clout-of-gun-control-lobby

 

[EL1227]

Not ONLY Gun Rights & NOVA Firearms

The speculation is that all of the 'negative' press around the NOVA Firearms location in McLean (after moving from Arlington) by John Faust was gen'ed up along with Delegate Kathleen Murphy as a smoke screen to get the progressive liberal voters out in an of-year election.

Listen: NoVA Firearms Owner Explains How Politicians Derailed Efforts to Find New Location

Not to mention the smear campaigns surrounding the proposed I66 tolls and the wide open school board elections being twisted and distorted after the 'transgender' vote.

AND, to top it all off, McAwful's job #1 is to deliver VA for The HildeBeast in 2016. This off-year election will be the litmus test of his ability to do so.

 

[swinokur]

Bloomburg-McAuliffe loose big time

The repubs hold onto the Senate. This is big since Bloomturd dumped so much money in VA and got nothing.

From VCDL:

Couldn’t have happened to nicer tyrants, either.

VCDL-PAC endorsed Republican Senator Dick Black beat anti-gun Democrat Jill McCabe by 5%. Bloomberg poured a million dollars into that race to defeat Senator Black because of Senator Black’s strong pro-gun voting record.

Republican Senate-canididate Glen Sturtevant Jr. beat anti-gun Daniel Gecker by 3%. The Gecker campaign received over a million dollars from Bloomberg and ran anti-gun ads day after day. Sturtevant’s refusal to fill out the VCDL survey hurt his campaign with grassroots gun owners. What saved him was that all the anti-gun Gecker ads backfired, alarming many grassroots gun owners enough to vote for Sturtevant just to keep Gecker out of power.

Bloomberg’s only win was in the Parrish and McPike race, where Parrish lost by 8%. Neither Parrish nor McPike returned the VCDL survey.


GOVERNOR MCAULIFFE LOSES THE SENATE HE WANTED SOOOOO BADLY

The anti-gun Democrat Senate leadership stays out of power as the Republicans managed to retain their bare 21 to 19 majority. Two Democrats out of the nineteen will probably vote with us from time-to-time, which will help in getting the majority needed to pass some pro-gun bills.

The failure to take control of the Senate puts a major kink in Bloomberg and McAuliffe’s anti-gun plans for Virginia.

In the House, the Republicans have a bare SUPER-majority - 66 to 34. A few of the House Democrats might vote with us occasionally on pro-gun bills.

The VCDL-PAC had 27 wins, 17 losses, for a 61% success rate this election cycle.


POSSIBLE RECOUNTS

There will possibly be one or two recounts because of some super-tight races in the House. From VCDL’s point of view, the results will not be significant, regardless of how they go.

 

[jimbobborg]

I voted yesterday, not a Diebold machine to be seen. We had to fill out a paper form that is scanned. I'm disappointed that I did not get a receipt.

 

[swinokur]

what was important is that you did vote.

Thank you.

 

[rouchna]

My wife and I voted. Turnout was low in Loudoun County. Only 30% of registered voters showed up...which could also be a good thing.

 

[swinokur]

yeah, off year elections tend to favor incumbents.

except when they don't.

 

[Kashmir1008]

Quite a few republican wins. I'm hoping it's a portent. I love that Bloomberg got his ass handed to him. Keep it up Mikey!

 

[svana]

I was registered in Fairfax so my vote was worthless, but the Miss voted here in Loudoun. Stephen Hollingshead was at the polling station which was interesting. Both parties were heckling left and right though...