by Rollin Reisinger
Early this morning, tragedy came to the shores of Smith Mountain Lake in Moneta, Virginia, when a criminal attacked a live television broadcast in progress, killing two and wounding one.
The killer, identified by police as Vester Lee Flanagan, known on-air as Bryce Williams, opened fire during a live television broadcast, fatally wounding reporter Alison Parker and photographer Adam Ward, both with WDBJ7. Also injured in the shooting was Vicki Gardner of the Smith Mountain Lake Regional Chamber of Commerce. Although details remain fluid at this time, reports indicate that Gardner underwent surgery and is recovering.
Reports have described Flanagan as a disgruntled ex-employee of WDBJ7 who held a personal grudge against Ms. Parker, which ultimately culminated in complaints to the station’s management prior to his departure.
Following the shooting, Flanagan reportedly led police on a high-speed chase spanning across multiple counties, multiple interstates, and involving the use of multiple vehicles, which came to an abrupt end on I-66 after the suspect’s crash and subsequent self-inflicted gunshot wound, which has since proven fatal.
Yet, despite a shortage of verified information at this early point in the investigation, Governor Terry McAuliffe chose to pre-emptively politicize this tragedy in an on-air interview with WTOP, offering the following remarks while the high-speed police chase was still underway:
“It goes back to what I’ve talked about for a long time. There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns. This is why I’ve long advocated for background checks. I’m a gun owner, I’m a hunter, but you know what, I went through background checks myself to get it.”
At this point in the investigation, no details have emerged to permit any intellectually honest speculation on how the killer obtained the murder weapon, or if Governor McAuliffe’s proposals for background checks on transfers and gifts between relatives and friends would have, in any way, obstructed the killer’s criminal intent.
As Virginia’s gun owners know, all sales of firearms by licensed dealers already require a background check through both the federal NCIC and a state database maintained by the Virginia State Police.
If Flanagan had no prior history of disqualifying criminal convictions or mental illness, then no background check would have prevented his purchase of the murder weapon, as has been the case in several recent notable shootings.
Likewise, if the weapon were stolen, as is the case for most weapons used in criminal homicides, then no background check would have prevented today’s senseless tragedy.
Governor McAuliffe hasn’t allowed these unknowns to get in the way of his pre-existing political agenda. With important facts still scarce, McAuliffe chose to politicize this tragedy, offering up what is a likely non-solution to a developing situation whose full details still remain unknown.
For an agenda-driven partisan like Governor McAuliffe, inconvenient facts are distractions to be ignored when they don’t fit his pre-conceived political worldview.
Virginians shouldn’t be surprised by his stunningly embarrassing leap to unsupported conclusions, for this galling display of naked partisanship is wholly in-line with Governor McAuliffe’s liberal anti-Second Amendment views.
Governor McAuliffe has long been a recalcitrant and unwavering opponent of the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Virginians. During the course of his 2013 gubernatorial campaign, McAuliffe, who received a rating of ‘F’ from the National Rifle Association, expressed his deep-seated contempt for the constitutional rights of gun owners when he uttered his now-famous remark, “I don’t care what grade I got from the NRA.”
Just one month after his election, McAuliffe’s extreme and partisan agenda cost the Commonwealth the opportunity for investment and jobs, when Beretta passed over Virginia as a location for the relocation of its factory in Accokeek, Maryland.
Elections have consequences. For Virginians, the election of the extreme, anti-gun partisan Terry McAuliffe as governor undid, in an instant, Virginia’s reputation as a pro-gun and pro-business state worthy of receiving this substantial, job-creating investment for those Virginians in need of work.
While commentators continue to await more details concerning the killer’s motive and the anatomy of this crime, one thing remains clear: Governor McAuliffe’s intellectually dishonest rush to speculation is supported only by his pre-existing agenda, and not any of the facts which were known at the moment he rushed to judgement.
During the course of this investigation, law enforcement will be conducting an in-depth examination of the killer’s motives and statements, as well as how he was able to access the murder weapon used in the commission of this senseless crime.
In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers remain with the families, friends, and co-workers of Alison Parker and Adam Ward. We offer our deepest condolences towards those who grieve, as well as our best wishes for the swift and complete recovery of Vicki Gardner, the surviving victim.
Rollin Reisinger is a proud Virginia Republican and veteran of many Virginia Republican campaigns across the Commonwealth
