Sen. Emmett Hanger’s Position on Gun Bills In General Assembly

Here is Virginia State Senator Emmett Hanger’s response to inquiries regarding his position on gun bills for the Special Session and the upcoming regular Session of the Virginia General Assembly….

“Thank you for the inquiry. The voicemails and mailings are completely false and misleading. The groups responsible for this misleading information are more interested in making money for themselves than protecting your constitutional rights. I continue to be a strong supporter of responsible gun ownership. Responsible exercise of any constitutional right is the best way to protect it.

“I am not a ‘maybe;’ I am a definite ‘no’ on anything that looks like HB 961 or proposes to take guns away from law abiding citizens. A group called ‘Constitutional Conservatives’ (Chris Anders) out of Loudoun County and the National Association for Gun Rights are responsible for the bad information. These groups have been hammering me and, unfortunately, attacking the four Democrats in the Senate that helped defeat HB 961 in the regular session.

“I have been in contact with the four Democrats (Senators Edwards, Deeds, Peterson, and Lewis). They have not changed their positions, but we all are pretty annoyed by Mr. Anders’ tactics in particular which have caused our phones to be flooded with nasty, hateful calls based on his misinformation.

“We should be thanking these four Democrats for standing up for their support of the 2nd Amendment. They took a lot of heat from the Democrat Caucus. The National Association for Gun Rights also is sending out similar misinformation (they are doing the orange cards to copycat the NRA); and if I determine other gun groups are doing the same I will call them out as well for their misleading tactics. I do support background checks and I strongly support our current system which requires a permit to carry concealed.

“I have never supported federal gun registration. There is an increasing lack of civility in our political discourse. Citizens have a right to know the facts, but those who provide false and misleading information do not deserve the support of your hard-earned dollars nor do they deserve the credibility to influence our decisions.”

Fact checking and truthful information — just as we were required to do in school for research papers —  help voters make an informed decision on issues that are politically driven.