A top Republican in the Virginia General Assembly condemned state Democrats, including Virginia Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, for denying Virginia deputies a pay increase after some state sheriffs publicly refused to enforce new gun control legislation.
Rep. Bill Stanley, who represents the 20th District in western Virginia, wrote on Facebook that he attempted to amend the state budget to give “all of our men and women of Virginia’s Sheriffs’ Departments” a 3% pay raise on Thursday, but Democrats voted “no” as retribution for comments that some law officers made during the contentious debate on gun control in the state.
“Hey Stanley, you want to know why your sheriffs didn’t get a raise?” Stanley claims Saslaw said to him. “Because they came to our committees and said that they weren’t going to enforce our laws.”
Virginia Sheriff Scott Jenkins promised to “deputize thousands” of Culpeper County residents if the state government pass stringent gun control measures, and Sheriff Richard Vaughan of Grayson County said he would refuse to enforce the laws, which he called “unconstitutional.”
In January, tens of thousands of Second Amendment supporters rallied outside the state capitol after the Virginia Legislature passed several gun control measures that would expand background checks, limit the number of handguns that can be purchased in a month, and allow localities to ban firearms at public events.
“When I asked him which law was he talking about, he said ‘gun control,'” Stanley said. “I was shocked that the Democrats are now punishing our local Sheriff’s Departments (by eliminating a pay raise for them), for [their] choice to protect and defend our citizens’ Second Amendment rights. Democrats want to restrict a citizen’s right to protect themselves, but won’t pay our sheriffs’ deputies to protect Virginians. Hypocrisy has a name.”
