Gubernatorial Candidate Wants Colorado Style Gun Control in Virginia

Katie Pavlich | September 24, 2013 4:00 PM

Charles W. Cooke over at NRO has flagged this nice little nugget from Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe's campaign website:

Support common sense gun control measures
As Governor, Terry will support mainstream and majority supported gun control measures like universal background checks, limiting the size of magazines, and a return to the 1-gun-per-month rule. These measures respect Virginians’ right to bear arms while reducing gun violence.

This gun control language was just recently added to McAuliffe's site, a bold move after Colorado's historic recall elections. But why now? The answer can be found in the money trail, which leads to New York City. Bloomberg has repeatedly complained about the "flow" of firearms from Virginia to New York City.

Democratic Virginia gubernatorial hopeful Terry McAuliffe recently met with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an effort to get support from the billionaire politician, two sources familiar with the meeting told POLITICO.

The pair met in New York a week-and-a-half ago, according to the sources. Aides to McAuliffe declined comment, and a Bloomberg spokesman did not respond to an email asking about the meeting.

Let's take a look at some facts here. In 2010, Virginia passed a bill allowing concealed carry holders to bring firearms (some with 'high capacity' magazines) into bars and restaurants so long as they do not drink. This resulted in a five percent decrease in the crime rate. As firearms ownership in Virginia goes up, the crime rate goes down.

Amid calls nationwide for stricter gun control laws, Virginia is experiencing a unique trend: the state's gun-related crime is declining but firearms sales are increasing.

Firearms sales rose 16 percent to a record 490,119 guns purchased from licensed gun dealers in 2012, according to sales estimates obtained by the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

During the same period, major crimes committed with firearms dropped 5 percent to 4,378.

"This appears to be additional evidence that more guns don't necessarily lead to more crime," said Thomas R. Baker, an assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs who specializes in research methods and criminology theory.