Virginia GOP Attorney General Jason Miyares is backing Washington, D.C.’s anti-2nd Amendment crackdown led by Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is promising increased legal trouble for those who violate the district’s gun laws, some of the most oppressive in the nation.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has put forth a number of proposals that she claims will help bring the District’s skyrocketing crime levels back down to earth, including renewed attacks on the 2nd Amendment rights of Washingtonians which, as usual, are being presented through the lens of public safety.
Among Bowser’s proposals is a strengthening of gun control enforcement in the city, where the vast majority of semi-automatic firearms are deemed “assault weapons,” making them illegal, and where all guns must be registered with the Metropolitan Police Department.
According to a Mayor’s Office webpage, if passed by the D.C. City Council, Bowser’s proposals will “increase penalties for illegal gun possession.”
Despite the blatant call for enhanced gun control in the nation’s capital, Virginia GOP Attorney General Jason Miyares has come out in support of Bowser’s plans, applauding Bowser in a public statement he posted to Twitter.
“D.C.’s crime problem is Virginia’s crime problem,” Miyares wrote in the tweet backing Bowser’s plans.
“The policies proposed by the Mayor are practical, effective ways to get violent, repeat offenders off the street,” Miyares went on. “I hope the D.C. City Council quickly passes these reforms,” he added.
In a statement attached to the tweet, Miyares took credit for urging Mayor Bowser and D.C. City Council to “take their crime problem more seriously” by “stiffening penalties for illegal gun possession,” among other things.
As previously mentioned, in Washington, D.C., ownership of a semi-automatic firearm, or a gun that’s not registered with the city’s police force, constitutes “illegal gun possession”.
National File reached out to AG Miayres’ office, asking why the supposedly pro-2nd Amendment Attorney General is backing Bowser’s anti-gun push.
After affirming the AG’s support for Bowser’s plans and denying that the Bowser proposals constitute gun control, a Miyares office spokeswoman tried to backtrack when this reporter pointed out to her that increasing penalties for “illegal gun possession” in Washington, D.C. would mean a crackdown on the owners of widely-used semiautomatic firearms, which are legal elsewhere, including just miles away in Virginia.
“We didn’t endorse her entire proposal. We said it’s a step in the right direction,” the spokeswoman said, despite the public statement from Jason Miyares saying that he “hope[s] the D.C. City Council quickly passes these reforms,” and that “stiffening penalties for illegal gun possession” is a “positive step forward.”
Gun Owners Oppose Miyares
The support for DC gun control from Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares comes as he faces sustained criticism from gun owners and 2nd Amendment activists for enforcing Ralph Northam-era gun control laws on the people of Virginia, including universal background checks, which enable the ATF to keep a massive database on gun owners.
A December 2022 email from Gun Owners of America slammed Miyares for enforcing the Northam-era gun control measures, reading that “Unfortunately, Attorney General Miyares is NOT WILLING to support our efforts and still insists on enforcing—and defending—the unconstitutional law passed by anti-gun zealots.”