The Green Party of Virginia honors the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and calls for deescalation and nonviolent solutions as a highly contentious 2A rally gathers in Richmond, including outside groups far beyond Virginia, on this Martin Luther King Day. We must look to the root causes driving the gun rights controversy in a system that profits from our division.
In the words of Dr. King, “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it. It is a sword that heals.”
We call on responsible gun owners to join the GPVA in condemning hate groups, including white-supremacist groups, militias, and organizers of the horrific “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville in 2017, who are using the excuse of protecting gunrights as an opportunity to threaten and do harm to others. We must not allow a recurrence of the kind of racist violence permitted in Charlottesville by our elected leaders. We support the right to self-defense, but caution that any violence can be used to the establishment’s advantage and as a recruitment tool for hate groups.
We need a government we can trust, not one corrupted by weapons manufacturers and partisan politics that profit from division and fear. We need a government of, by, and for the people, in which everyone can expect to be treated justly.
While gun rights are Constitutionally protected, the US is now awash in guns. If guns were the answer to violence and injustice, we would be a very just and peaceful nation. We are not, not domestically nor internationally.
The Green Party calls for careful consideration in passing meaningful legislation to address the root causes of gun violence in Virginia, such as is contained in the Brady Bill (1993), eliminating the gun show loophole that permits sale of weapons without background checks and extending background checks to all private sales of firearms.
We must end the two-party system which has driven a dangerous wedge between our fellow citizens and begin healing our country, putting the well-being of people and all inhabitants of our planet ahead of profit.
