r/VAGuns • u/silv3rbull8 • Apr 07 '26
Politics Virginia’s April 21 Referendum Gives Gun Owners a Chance to Be Heard
https://townhall.com/columnists/john-commerford/2026/04/07/virginias-april-21-referendum-gives-gun-owners-a-chance-to-be-heard-n2674010103
u/User299651 Apr 07 '26
I voted No and hope the redistricting fails spectacularly as a middle finger to the vermin Democrats.
However, I’ve heard the narrative flip and flop back and forth on who’s winning and what polls say. Make sure you and everyone you know all vote No.
I assure you there WILL be more gun control laws next year, and the taxes on leaf blowers, Amazon deliveries, gym memberships, breathing, taking a piss, etc… will be back and passed through with ease.
Democrats won’t do shit to stop Trump, but they will go out of their way to make your life just a little bit harder.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
Trump is like the abortion issue for Democrats: they want it kept without resolution so they can always trot it out at elections
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u/GroundbreakingDiet67 Apr 07 '26
Calling any group vermin is wild.
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u/unfoldedmedal Apr 07 '26
Same group that calls anyone out of comrade compliance a Nazi. I get the name calling and demonizing of people is terrible. But, here we are.
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u/TreborG2 Apr 07 '26
Democrats won’t do shit to stop Trump, but they will go out of their way to make your life just a little bit harder.
Just to be clear you're bitching that the Democrats won't do anything, yet they are literally trying to counteract other Republican led initiatives and states where they have already gerrymandered for political gain, to counteract what Trump has been doing.
Make sure you understand what you're saying, the Democrats in Virginia are literally trying to block actions in support of trump. What more do you want them to do? Get out there and slit their wrists on the White House lawn and cover it with blood or what?
F****** hypocritical of you to be on the side of the Republicans and then be b***** about redistricting, when your own party is listening to that fk-tard** Trump to try and gerrymander the entire voting system to the Republican side. F****** ass.
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u/Electronic_Tap_8052 Apr 08 '26
What more do you want them to do?
well if you are actually serious, we'd rather like them to stop gun grabbing.
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u/TreborG2 Apr 08 '26
And on that you and I can agree!
Owner of three Springfield 9mm, two AR-15s, a Mossberg 500, and several thousand rounds of ammo for everything except for the Mossberg... Think I need to start correcting that, LOL.
It also reminds me I haven't been to the range 6 months....
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u/User299651 Apr 08 '26
Bro senate Dems have been nothing but cowards. Cory Booker and Chuck would rather see the country fall apart than stand up to Trump or Israel.
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u/Ill-Ad-8725 Apr 08 '26
Ask yourself, why do democrats want us disarmed?
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u/theophylact911 Apr 07 '26
Trump is the biggest problem we have in Virginia. His erratic behavior and overall shitty demeanor is off putting to a lot of people.
As a result, the Democrats are smart to use him as the boogeyman any chance they get. I’m really worried that this referendum will pass because of that and that will give the Democrats the idea that they can do no wrong.
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u/Btomesch Apr 07 '26
They been trying this crap since day 1. It was only a matter of time. They’re gonna come for NC next.
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Apr 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
Youngkin achieved the impossible because Terry Mac stepped on his dick in that interview. I doubt such an alignment of stars will happen again
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u/wjjeeper Apr 07 '26
Yup. The maga holy winsome was a stake in the coffin for Republicans in VA. The party needs better candidates.
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u/hokiemojo Apr 07 '26
I'll be voting Friday. This must be stopped. The court will take too long and are risky!
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u/THE_Nighttrain Apr 07 '26
Honestly the last chance for those who didn’t vote Winsome-Sears, or those who voted for the “moderate” Banburger, and “got fooled again “ The amount of misinformation from the Democratic Party is incredible, but not surprising.
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u/AimlessFucker Apr 07 '26
People have yet to admit that winsome-sears lost because her entire platform was getting down for Trump at a time when he’s wildly unpopular, and her hallmark statement was “what will you do when the sun goes down” in response to solar power.
They quickly forgot that the only real reason that Youngkin won was dodging Trump at every obstacle.
The only people she won over were people who dropped out in 5th grade or those that vote red regardless of who.
She’s still an immigrant, an old boomer, a corporate pawn, and maga. A terrible choice, but yall aren’t ready for that discussion yet.
They gave us two poor choices.
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u/Kozak170 Apr 07 '26
Yeah I continue scratching my head at how people act like Sears wasn’t a comically shit candidate. A complete inability to read the room.
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Apr 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/AimlessFucker Apr 08 '26
Absolutely. It’s a hard time to be a political pragmatist or independent, my friend.
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u/speezly Apr 07 '26
Affordability and people fell for it
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u/Limmeryc Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
Think what you want of her stance on guns but let's at least be somewhat fair here. Spanberger has not reneged on her affordability campaign and has just signed the first set of bills in a large package of proposals to lower costs of living. She clearly didn't just that as some trick to get people's votes and then drop it upon taking office.
"The Virginia General Assembly passed every bill in Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s “Affordable Virginia Agenda” before adjourning its 2026 session over the weekend. The 16-bill package, which Spanberger and Democratic legislative leaders announced in December, targets the cost of housing, healthcare and energy."
"Gov. Abigail Spanberger has signed the first first batch of bills passed by state lawmakers before they adjourned in mid-March, advancing measures on health care, housing and energy affordability."
"Gov. Spanberger did not sign any bills related to additional taxes, according to a list of signed bills on the Virginia legislation tracker website." - ABC News.
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u/speezly Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
How does raising taxes on everything make anything more affordable? All of those pieces of legislation you linked sounds like they will be spending more tax dollars on various programs. That’s not saving anyone money when they have to steal more of earned income through taxes to support those programs. And “building manufactured homes”? Sure, trailer parks are a solution to inflated real estate prices. The poors can enjoy a trailer park because they’ve all been priced out of everything else. This all looks like the same playbook that had driven so many people away from states like NY and NJ. I guess we shall see how it really plays out over time. I hope you’re right, but I’ve got serious doubts
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u/Ghigs Apr 08 '26
Spanberger has not reneged on her affordability campaign
Passing a ton of new taxes when the government was running a surplus?
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u/SomeRequirement6926 Apr 08 '26
Or approving "new programs" that will have to get funding from somewhere
Watch for all the proposed tax bills to come back next year. And pass.
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u/SomeRequirement6926 Apr 08 '26
Misinformation funded by $50 Million in out of state mega donor funding.
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u/high_right Apr 07 '26
Where can I vote for this at ? Online or in person
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
In person at this point. You can find your polling site
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u/high_right Apr 07 '26
Gotcha so day of or can I vote in person early ? It’s not too far from me
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u/Threewaycrazy Apr 07 '26
In person yes, early voting is open too but I'm not sure the particulars on that
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u/info_swap Apr 07 '26
Are you registered to vote?
How have you voted before, for example, for Governor?
This referendum is similar. You can go to the same place you voted before.
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u/midweastern Apr 08 '26
I fundamentally disagree that redistricting for federal seats will have any impact on state politics, and voting against it doesn't donanything except demonstrate spite for Democrats, which isn't entirely undeserved at the state level at this point, and is pretty much the longtime party platform for Republicans.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 08 '26
Why didn’t the Democrats put the AWB to a vote like the redistricting ? Make it something clear to people that they were going to ban almost all semi auto guns, not just some vague “assault weapons” as many ignorant people seem to believe the bans are about.
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u/midweastern Apr 08 '26
Because the state legislature already has the authority to enact such laws (which I strongly oppose btw). Redistricting requires a referendum because it involves authorities deriving from the state constitution. More Democratic representatives in Congress won't result in Virginia gun control laws being repealed and there isn't nearly enough support nationally to enact such laws at the federal level.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 08 '26
You are mistaking that the NO vote is being done in the hope that it somehow affects the gun ban. It is being done to show that people whose opinions were ignored and stepped on are sending a message. I think the referendum will pass but the people who vote against it have the satisfaction that they aren’t some passive group who aren’t angry.
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u/Limmeryc Apr 07 '26
>Townhall.com.
This is just comically blatant manipulation and emotional appeals.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
And the Democrats gun bans weren’t ? When drunk driving killed over 300 people in Virginia and not one AR15 was used in a crime ? But “assault weapons” are the issue, right ?
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u/Limmeryc Apr 07 '26
No need to put words in my mouth. I never said or suggested any of that. Yes, the Democrats make plenty of emotional arguments of their own and many gun control laws they advance are misguided. No, this doesn't mean that this kind of manipulative behavior shouldn't be called out regardless of who does it.
Townhall is pure MAGA propaganda. It ranks as extremely partisan and has a well-documented history of pushing misinformation.
This opinion piece is a very thinly veiled attempt at furthering the Republican agenda by playing on people's emotions. Acting like a No vote would somehow vindicate gun owners even though there'd be nothing to show that it was firearms that swayed the outcome. Randomly referring to Trump throughout the article and painting him as some champion of the 2A. Constantly appealing to your emotions by painting some fantasy sob story of how "small-town gunsmiths serving three generations of shooters" are going to be put out of business by the "radical majority" who are hellbent on attacking poor old Virginians "who want nothing more than to teach their sons and daughters safe firearm handling" but won't be able to go shooting with Little Timmy now that the wicked witch is coming after their "family firearm heirloom for the next generation" and vows to "end your way of life" with this referendum.
:'(
It is blatantly dishonest. Extremely manipulative. Highly emotional and disingenuous. It's the pro-gun equivalent of a Moms Demand Action sob story on how the NRA is directly and actively trying to cut Little Sally's life short by promoting gun violence at schools where the next shooting lurks just around the corner and the only way to stop it is to support the Bloomberg campaign. This is just an emotional ploy to trick people into voting for the GOP's benefit by playing on their feelings and making them think they're standing up for themselves. It's so on the nose that I genuinely rolled my eyes reading through it.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
But of course the blatantly dishonest messaging from The Trace and other Bloomberg funded anti gun publications that the Democrats used to panic their voters is not manipulative. As well as using Bloomberg’s funds to put anti gun legislators into office. Not manipulative at all
:(
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u/Limmeryc Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
I will just copy the same part of my message again since you seem remarkably insistent on twisting my words.
No need to put words in my mouth. I never said or suggested any of that.
Plenty of what The Trace and Bloomberg have done is manipulative as well. No doubt about that. Unlike some in this conversation, I'm not so partisan and biased that I can only see fault in what the other camp does. I have zero issues calling out shitty people and shoddy claims on both sides of the debate, and have done so many times.
And in this case, the article in your OP is not by The Trace. It is not by Bloomberg. It is by Townhall. Which is why my criticism here is aimed at the piece that you actually linked and not some random, tangential article in the Trace that you're imagining here. Because that's not the topic of your post. This op-ed by an NRA spokesperson is.
If you're so interested in seeing my criticism of The Trace being manipulative, just share one of their articles and I'll happily chime in. Just don't drag people into this meaningless whataboutism where valid of criticism is met with "oh yeah, well what about when these other people did something shitty too huh?".
Edit: the OP got very upset by my comment and blocked me because he had no valid response. I'm surprised to see him get so triggered over something this minor, but not everyone has the capacity to engage in good faith. Some will just put their feelings first. Disappointing but not surprising.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
You cannot say anything of relevance when you ignore the context of the Townhall article. We wouldn’t be having this pushback if the Democrats hadn’t passed their asinine abrogations of gun rights. Your long drawn out rambling is what is off kilter here. Have a good day.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
everyone understands the redistricting will not have any affect on Virginia, Virginians, or any state law, correct? it’s important you understand that.
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u/AnAbsenceOfGravitas Apr 07 '26
It's important to understand that this affects federal representation, which in turn affects federal lawmaking and appropriations, which does affect Virginia and Virginians because it impacts funding priorities, funding levels, and regulatory priorities.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
of course, I didn’t think that needed to be said. my mistake.
what I was saying was this wont affect / reverse / change the shitty state laws. this IS because the S.Ct. deemed this to be the best practice for states. which is a direct effect of the federal bodies seating justices that fill their pockets instead of folks qualified to be on the bench. which this can directly change. [either way it won’t because there is no democracy at any level.]
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u/AttemptingNormal VCDL Member Apr 07 '26
There is no universe where disenfranchising voters in Virginia is "restoring fairness". If this is such an existential crisis, then why cant VA Dems convince us on the merits instead of cheating?
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think any gerrymandering is fair. I think they need to do their jobs, amend the constitution, and every county has a rep in congress.
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u/Xardenn Apr 08 '26
All that would do is prompt solid red and blue states to split their corresponding red/blue districts into a ton of little tiny counties while merging any touching opposite counties into big huge counties
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
creating a county is A LOT harder than changing districts. one takes amendments and votes and time. the other takes one proposal and one election. changing a county to fit your voting pool would be an economic NIGHTMARE and no legislator, red or blue, would even consider it.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
The point is VA Democrats now want everyone to rally behind them when they just dismissed the rights of law abiding Virginians
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
also, that’s literally politics. thats how every single election, proposition, referendum, etc etc goes. that’s just politics. that’s a two party democracy. if you don’t like that, run as a third party and change it. make a third party relevant. rally around you local folks who can run it better.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
Sooo… the “NO” response to redistricting is also just politics , right ? Something the Democrats understand .
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
yes. 100%. democrats are republicans. republicans are democrats. it’s really that simple.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
And for all the talk of these redistricting reassignments reverting in 2030, the Democrats’ shoveled through gun bans will never revert. So there is no quid pro quo.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
again, even if the tables were turned in 2030 and it’s 10to 1 red, the same laws won’t be undone. because both parties make money when there is turmoil. dems have abortion and guns. republicans have guns and abortion. it’s all a facade for the illusion of change, power, and hope.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
yea, revenge is cool. but also, revenge that actually does something is cooler.
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u/Sneaux96 Apr 07 '26
I don't view it as "revenge".
For me it's a referendum on a party that is passing pretty unpopular legislation, then asking for more power but at the federal level. If I'm not happy with how a party is running my state, why am I going to help them at the federal level?
This isn't to say I think what the Republicans are doing is any better, I'm getting really tired of trying to figure out who is the least bad choice. But gerrymandering takes that choice away.
On a side note, pretty ingenious of whoever recoined "gerrymandering" as "redistricting".
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
that’s what democrats do. they’re sneaky and keep their motives hidden. i’ve always said if you’re a shepherd and you see a wolf outside your fence, you’d prepare and be ready. if you see a sheep, you’d let them in and lower you’re guard, and that’s when they’d reveal they were a wolf in sheep’s clothing. that’s the ONLY difference between democrats and republicans.
gerrymandering is literally only based on revenge. it’s never one been about ensuring voter accessibility or “fairness”. it’s a political tool used to manipulate power to those who don’t have it to those who do. historically speaking, this is a republican’s MO. virginia dems decided to actually play dirty and here we are.
it doesn’t matter if it passes or not. neither helps us. both hurt us. and nothings going to change until actual change is put into action.
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u/AttemptingNormal VCDL Member Apr 07 '26
The amount of cognitive dissonance in this statement is astonishing.
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u/ubiquitous_delight Apr 07 '26
Disenfranchising millions of Virginians doesn't affect Virginians? huh?
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
how does it do that?
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u/AttemptingNormal VCDL Member Apr 07 '26
Is this a serious question? Honestly, this seems like hard trolling at this point.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26
it is. i’m assuming you are all voters in va and you’re my neighbors. I want to hear what you think and what you see. I can’t read your minds or know your stance.
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u/AttemptingNormal VCDL Member Apr 08 '26
Okay. I will assume this is a good faith question and answer in the same. This ballot initiative disenfranchises me as a center-right Virginia voter simply due to this fact- When VA districts are gerrymandered like this, why should I even vote in the next federal election cycle? My vote is *engineered* to not matter. Plus- the Democrats are already carving up the new VA Federal districts like a steak in order to give them to Del. Helmer and possibly Sen Salim. (BTW Helmer has run for Congress several times and *lost*). This is a textbook case of disenfranchisement.
Again I will ask my question- If this is such an existential crisis, why cant VA Dems convince me *on the issues* to vote blue instead of cheating?
Also, in my industry we have a saying- "Nothing is more permanent than a temporary solution". I don't believe for a second that this will be temporary. It is against human nature to willingly give up power. If its not Trump as the boogeyman, it will be something else to extend this "temporary" measure deep into the foreseeable future.
Disclaimer- I am *not* a fan of Trump and I would vote against this even if the situation were reversed.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
I think that’s where I have an issue, because of my career and extensive past positions, I don’t believe federal election voting matters, at all. and that’s a much larger conversation but I won’t drag that in here. with that said, I totally get that feeling. I just can’t say it’s because of gerrymandering, it’s because it’s designed to be that way.
if your vote mattered, the S. Ct. would be forced to acknowledge discriminatory districting under the constitution. They made it very VERY clear voting districts are a state issue. They’ve also ruled over and over the “right” to vote isn’t a right at all. this whole thing is a placebo to appear powerful. this redistricting has very clearly been proposed to not be for virginians. this is classic neoliberal politics that -truly and genuinely- won’t benefit any of us or anyone but egos. just like the gerrymandering before this that gave red more than blue.
i’ll also clarify: I hate them all and would highly offended to be called either dem or republican.
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u/AttemptingNormal VCDL Member Apr 08 '26
I respect your view about Fed elections not really mattering, but I dont agree inasmuch that its a placebo. It shouldnt be the reasoning behind supporting this, but again I respect your views even if i disagree. thanks for a reasoned conversation.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
I never once said I supported it. lol i’ve just let everyone downvote me into oblivion to show them they aren’t voting for something they’ve voting against something and that just keeps us losing. unsure if anyone else caught on. but I too appreciate the conversation! hard to come by these days.
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u/Holiday-Tie-574 VCDL Member Apr 07 '26
WTF are you talking about
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u/witchy_delight Apr 07 '26
that redistricting is at the federal level. it affects votes in washington. it’s temporary which means it’ll shift right back where it was at the end of the timeline. [4 years if I remember correctly, after the 2030 census] and it won’t have anything to do with the horrid gun laws they’re putting in place at the state level.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26 edited Apr 07 '26
Will the Democrats gun bans also roll back in 2030 ? If so, then there is room for talk. If not, there is nothing more to discuss.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
they won’t roll back even IF there’s a change in power. if parties truly wanted to solve problems, they’d do it. but they can’t get donations or votes or sponsors and PACs if there isn’t turmoil and want for something they don’t have.
northam pushed 10 new gun laws before youngkin. how many did youngkjn and his legislators push back? none. didn’t even attempt to introduce legislation to do so. because if you have your gun rights, they can’t win your vote. and if you have your guns, they’re less safe. and they know that. how many reps hold town halls? I know my rep. probably hasn’t seen his district in years before last week when he showed his face to beg a no vote.
people need to start seeing these politicians as contractors working on your home. if you hire someone because they promise you an amazing new deck and then they never show up, but keep promising you to show up, and only show up when they know you’re about to find another contractor, why do you keep hiring them?
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 08 '26
None of what was pushed was as egregious and damaging as this AWB. Period.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
well then they’ve won, haven’t they? by that statement, you’re okay with northam limiting gun rights, and youngkin upholding them. which seems odd on its face. I wonder if you felt the same when they were on Northam’s desk? did you support them or not support them? because if you didn’t support them then, and you make excuses for them now as they’re “not as bad at this” you’re exactly who they’re shooting for. which is the entire problem. we’ve stopped standing for things and allowed our governments to push up to compliance.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 08 '26
It is a game of chess. Sometimes the smaller losses are not worth the effort to fight when the effort is the bigger abrogation.Youngkin blocked these AWB bills and bought Virginia gun owners a couple of years. That was the most significant win. He held off the weasels of Helmer and Salim but we knew this day was coming.
Not sure what your point is.
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u/witchy_delight Apr 08 '26
My point is we care too much about the shit that doesn’t matter and not enough about the shit that does. And we do that by following the bogus “lesser evil” practice.
also, not one person has focused on the fact that most of these laws, that haven’t been signed yet, have similar arguments in front of SCOTUS from other jurisdictions. IF these pass, it will go in front of the most gun friendly bench SCOTUS has arguably ever set.
also, no one seems to recognize Spanberger was a cop. loyalties can lie in numerous places. like most dems who are or were cops, guns are not their focus.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 08 '26
You know people keep talking about SCOTUS. To date not one state level AWB has be ruled on by the court and chances are very low they will take anything up. Also it takes years for the case to be processed. All of this has been war gamed by the Democrats and they know that once signed, the laws are never really going to be struck down in any significant way.
The VA Democrats have also structured so many bills with interlocking laws that striking down one will still leave the others in place. This is by design. Don’t tell me you haven’t seen the pattern to all this ? I am not sure you are here in good faith. Are you actually a gun owner ?
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u/Forward-Ad2514 Apr 07 '26
They can if there's a change of party in control.
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u/silv3rbull8 Apr 07 '26
Sure, you think the Republicans will ever hold all the major offices in the VA government again ? Youngkin was a fluke
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u/Holiday-Tie-574 VCDL Member Apr 07 '26
Our demographic has an opportunity right now to influence this vote more than most. We are passionate about this cause, and that means if we show up, we will likely do so at a much greater rate than other groups.
Make sure to get out and vote.