by shay bell
You read that right, Governor Glenn Youngkin doesn’t give a single sh*t about you, me, or anyone else in the Commonwealth, and I have the proof. Last week, we announced that several bills had passed both chambers and made their way to the Governor’s desk. While we knew that Youngkin–in the spirit of him not giving a damn about the rising gun violence in the Commonwealth–would veto bills that introduced common-sense gun violence prevention (y’all remember this?), we didn’t expect him to show his a** the way he did. After seeing his list of vetoes, I’m absolutely convinced that he could not care less about even the safety of his own life.
Predictably, Gov. Glenn Youngkin has chopped our assault weapons ban, and along with it, he chopped legislation that would help keep people safe from firearms and explosives near Capitol Square, polling places, and other sensitive areas.
In addition to ensuring the streets (or schools, but more on that later) aren’t safe for your children, our Governor has also ensured that the minimum wage won’t increase. This multi-millionaire just spit in the faces of hardworking families. When many of our families are struggling to make ends meet, living paycheck to paycheck, Youngkin says he’s not even willing to increase the minimum wage to give people in our community a fighting chance. The cost of housing is only increasing, and our bills are at an all-time high thanks to the fact that Youngkin can’t stay out of Dominion’s pocket. I’m dreading what our cost of living will be this time next year.
To top it all off, now you won’t even be able to swing by your local dispensary to pick up a product to relieve some of the stress Governor Youngkin has plagued our Commonwealth. Why? Because this guy has vetoed legislation that would have created a retail marijuana market in Virginia, a market that could provide jobs. Watch as the Governor loudly and proudly (and incorrectly) explains how cannabis is “bad” for Virginia and “terrible for children’s health and safety.” He discusses the systematic increase in violent crime due to marijuana use and notes the “black market” as responsible for an increase in gang activity. There is absolutely no way I’m letting THAT go unchecked.
Governor Youngkin wants to talk about the increase in gang violence and gang activity but vetoed the gun violence prevention legislation documents. And despite what he’s telling you, he doesn’t even care about the children being exposed to things that are “terrible” for their health and safety. This is made evident by the fact that he vetoed legislation that would’ve prevented home-based firearms dealers from being allowed to operate within 1.5 miles of middle and elementary schools, as well as his dismissal of legislation that would require that parents and guardians are notified when students live in a home with accessibility to firearms and penalty for lack of safe storage around minors. Virginia is ranked number 18 in the country for school shootings, with a total of 40, now add that to the data that illustrates this violence against victims comparatively across the United States for the past four years, and tell me if that math checks out. For bonus points, let’s calculate how many marijuana-related deaths we’ve seen in 2023 and the previous year (for which it must be noted that fentanyl is the cause of 75% of said deaths) What? The numbers are absolutely incomparable to the amount of gun violence we’ve seen, you say? Not even in the same ballpark?? Hypothetically, look me in my face and ask me if I’m surprised.
Youngkin, you and I both know the problem ain’t weed, boo. Gun violence is high because everyone in this Commonwealth is enabled to purchase a firearm regardless of their threat to others, the safety of their storage, or whether or not they’ve proven that they’re even capable of properly handling a firearm in the first place by completing a safety course.
Your Governor doesn’t give a single sh*t about you.
Remember that come election season in 2025.
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