Contact Rep. Scott Rigell Today

Washington Post Reports Rigell May Support Background Checks on Private Sales 

Representative Scott Rigell (R-VA2) told Greg Sargent of the Washington Post that he is open to requiring background checks on the private sale of firearms, known as "universal" background checks.
  
uscapitolThe Post reports that Rigell is also introducing legislation along with two anti-rights Democrats that "stiffen" penalties for people who purchase firearms with the intent of reselling them to known felons (straw purchasers).  There is currently a penalty of ten years in federal prison for knowingly making a straw purchase yet the Obama administration has prosecuted very few for the crime.
  
Gun owners in Rep. Rigell's district need to contact him today and urge him to oppose all proposals that infringe on the rights of law abiding gun owners.  Remind him that legal scholar Dave Kopel told the U.S. Senate last week that the only way to enforce "universal" background checks is to have universal registration of all gun owners.  You can contact Representative Rigell by phone at (202) 225-4215.  To contact him by email, click here.
  
The Post noted:
  

"If any proposals in Obama's gun package are to have any chance of passing the House, he'll need to win over Republicans like Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia. He represents one of 16 districts held by Republicans that were carried by Obama in 2012 - the swing area of Virginia Beach - potentially making Republicans like him, and others from suburban and swing districts, gettable."

 

We need to let Representative Rigell know that none of the proposals that President Obama has put forward will stop mass shootings like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and that going after law abiding gun owners is not the way to prevent crime.