HoodaThunk?

Well, I’m obviously not surprised by the news that Virginia Governor Tim Kaine has decided to thumb his nose at the clear wishes of the citizens of the Commonwealth as expressed by our elected representatives; Kaine vetoed several firearms-related bills that were sent to his desk by the General Assembly.

Kaine vetoed bills Friday that would have expanded the death penalty to accomplices in murders and to those who kill on-duty fire marshals or auxiliary police officers.

Kaine also rejected legislation that would have allowed those with concealed carry permits and retired law enforcement officers to carry firearms into restaurants that serve booze.

Clearly, Kaine has decided to put furthering his political career ahead of what’s in the interest of the people of Virginia and, let’s be honest, no one expected him to sign the bill extending legal concealed carry into restaurants. Given the passage ratio of this bill (both times) it’s obviously something a majority of Virginians either actively want or don’t have a problem with. It’s just Kaine peddling to the gun-ban lobby to shine up his resume that landed a veto on this bill.

I would also like to think that our reps in the General Assembly could see that and muster an override. Given the difficulty in getting them to work together on the normal business in Richmond, however, I’m not holding my breath. At this point it appears the best bet we have of seeing the will of the majority carry in the Commonwealth is to elect a Governor who has a clue.

One of the bills I found more surprising to see him veto was the exception to Virginia’s 1-gun-a-month law for active-duty military people. It’s not hard to see where someone getting deployed might run afoul of that law and these are the people we trust with government-issued fully automatic weapons in any case. I can’t imagine where his thoughts were running that he found something objectionable to that change.

Time for a real Governor to be elected. Time to get Bob McDonnell into the Governor’s office!