Audio: Gov. McAuliffe Agrees with Characterization of Gun Safety Advocates as “Extremists”

by Lowell

Check out the following exchange from  the John Fredericks Show this morning; it sure sounds like Gov. McAuliffe is doubling down on his gun deal with the NRA, announced late last week, and is now apparently agreeing with the outrageously false characterization of gun safety advocates — great people like Lori Haas, Colin Goddard, Andy Parker, etc. — as “extremists.”


John Fredericks: “Let’s get to your compromise…on guns…Here’s my take, I think this is a great compromise…Listen Governor, here’s the bottom line, we are in a divided government here in Virginia, so you’re going to have to compromise to get anything done. A lot of us were very upset over the AG’s revocation of the 25-state reciprocity act, somebody inadvertently goes into Virginia, all of a sudden they’re committing an illegal act…so that didn’t make any sense….Look, when you’ve got the extremists on both ends, both of them hate the deal, that probably means it’s a good thing for everybody else, for Virginians, right? 

Terry McAuliffe: “That’s right. And listen, this is the most significant gun safety legislation in over 20 years…It’s a win-win…I already had four Democrats who said they were going to vote for the reciprocity bill that had been proposed in the General Assembly, so on the Democratic side there wasn’t unanimity on this issue. So I took what I had, I got background checks, which is something I’ve always wanted…”

So…not only did Gov. McAuliffe not push back and defend the actions AG Mark Herring took dealing with concealed carry reciprocity, he responded with an enthusiastic “that’s right” to right-wing radio talk show host John Fredericks’ charaterization of gun safety advocates as “extremists,” equivalent to the NRA on the other “end” apparently. That, of course, is beyond laughable, considering what the NRA is, who’s on that group’s board of directors, etc. It’s also absurd – and outrageous, really – to be agreeing that great people like (Virginia Tech mom) Lori Haas and (Virginia Tech shooting victim) Colin Goddard are somehow “extremists,” when all they want is commonsense measures (e.g., universal background checks) supported by overwhelming majorities of Virginians.

Finally, I find it striking that McAuliffe says “that’s right” to Fredericks’ assertion that “a lot of us were very upset over the AG’s revocation of the 25-state reciprocity act.” Really? In late December, McAuliffe was busy arguing strongly that “all we’re doing is enforcing the law.” A few weeks later…that’s all changed? Very, very strange.

P.S. By the way, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence just tweeted the following: 1) “If @GovernorVA’s deal w/ #NRA isn’t a sacrificial pawn in a far larger agreement w/ @VA_GOP, then McAuliffe has been taken to the cleaners” and 2) “Do you think @GovernorVA understands #NRA wants universal concealed carry in #Virginia as way to revitalize moribund nat’l reciprocity bill?”