To the Editor:
Maybe I missed hearing about it the last time a monkey attacked its owner. But I sure remember each time an estranged husband or boyfriend blows away his wife or girlfriend and her innocent children. I feel the pain and disgust in my gut.
Apparently Virginia lawmakers don't have that same reaction because they voted to kill legislation that would ban convicted domestic abusers, stalkers or those convicted of sexual battery from having guns. But they did pass a bill to make it illegal to own a pet monkey because monkeys can sometimes be violent.
Virginia's illustrious forefathers--Washington, Madison and Jefferson-- would hang their heads in shame at the shenanigans that went on in the Virginia legislature this session over gun laws. Our not-so esteemed lawmakers killed any efforts to make our communities safer from gun
violence. They even killed a bill that would make it illegal for a 4-year old to have a gun!
Talk about monkey business. The Senate bill to take away guns from stalkers, sexual batterers and domestic abusers was approved by voice vote in committee but later reported out as dead. After media inquiries, the committee voted again to pass the bill but it was sent to another committee to die. Other gun safety measures died in committee when the chairman held an emergency hearing which limited public testimony. Transparency in government anyone? Supporters were scrambling to follow the bills but the NRA lobbyist always seemed to show up in the right place at the right time. In the House, lawmakers killed the domestic gun violence bill even after two women who were victims of domestic gun violence begged them not too.
Next time a domestic abuser in Virginia shoots his wife or girlfriend or a child we can thank the mostly white, male Republican rural lawmakers who sit on the Virginia committees that kill gun safety bills.
Linda Falkerson
Reston