By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A national security and foreign affairs columnist for the Washington Times unloaded on newly-seated Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger Tuesday over her gun control agenda, declaring the Democrat former congresswoman has “lost common sense.”
Columnist Jed Babin roasts Spanberger and her Democrat colleagues in the legislature, for introducing gun control bills which include one mandating a permit-to-purchase from the State Police, and another banning so-called “assault weapons.”
Singling out Democrats, Babin writes, “The Democrats started with more than a dozen, and the most striking thing about them is that none will result in fewer criminals having access to guns. All they will do is create heavy burdens for people who follow the law.”
Much later in the 787-word column, Babin observes, “Ms. Spanberger ran as a moderate, but she appears to be Joseph R. Biden in a blond wig. She isn’t interested in commonsense legislation and will sign anything that passes the Democratic-controlled legislature, including an ‘assault weapons” ban and a limit on magazine size.”
It should come as no surprise to anyone in the Old Dominion. As far back as April 2025, the Richmond Times Dispatch was reporting how Spanberger “left no doubt about where she stands on state legislation to prevent gun violence,” which had earlier been vetoed by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. At the time, Spanberger promised to sign gun control bills during a rally sponsored by Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun prohibition lobbying group backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg. The story noted how Spanberger had “served as a volunteer advocate for Moms Demand Action in Henrico County, after leaving federal service and before running for Congress for the first time in 2018.”
Following her November victory, the anti-gun Trace was reporting how her election gave Democrats “another chance to pass comprehensive gun reform.”
“Gun reform” is a term some gun rights activists have labeled “camo speak,” because it actually refers to gun control. The gun prohibition movement doesn’t like the term “gun control.”
Spanberger has been endorsed by the Brady United group and Giffords, so it has been obvious where her sympathies lean.
With Democrats in full control of the General Assembly and the governor’s office, Virginia gun owners are in the same fix as gun owners in Oregon, Washington, California, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Many in the Second Amendment community are frustrated that the U.S. Supreme Court is dragging its feet in taking up cases which could overturn a mountain of restrictive gun laws across the country. Indeed, the high court—some suggest—could spend an entire session just hearing challenges to gun control legislation.
In his column, Babin suggests Democrats now in control believe they’ve been given a mandate on guns. He quotes Delegate Dan Helmer, past sponsor of gun control legislation vetoed by Youngkin, who stated, “We should celebrate where we’re able to get bipartisan wins, and I think we have a mandate from the voters to aggressively pursue safety from gun violence in the wake of this election.”
Perhaps nothing more clearly reveals what Democrats plan for the current session, and it will not be pleasant for gun owners or the Second Amendment.
