Virginia GOP About To Really Annoy Gun Owners

A local television station here in Virginia reports that the Virginia Republican Party is seeking the name and address of every person in the Commonwealth with a Concealed Carry Permit for the purposes of sending them campaign mail:

PRINCE GEORGE COUNTY, VA (WWBT) - The Republican Party of Virginia has sent letters to circuit courts across the Commonwealth asking for the personal information of concealed weapons permit holders.

The party wants the information in order to send campaign materials to like-minded voters. However, at least one GOP supporter is crying foul.

Joseph Waymack heard about the request while at work at the Hopewell Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office Friday morning. He immediately sent a competing letter to the Prince George Circuit Court. Waymack lives in Prince George and has his concealed weapons permit through the circuit court there.

Waymack also sent a letter to the Republican Party of Virginia asking them to rescind their request.

“To data mine hundreds of thousands of Virginians’ personal information is just reprehensible,” said Waymack.

I can understand the logic of what the GOP is doing here. They would like this list of CCW permit holders for the purpose of targeting them with pro-gun rights campaign literature. However, the move seems exceedingly stupid to me in two respects. First of all, most of these permit holders are likely Republican to begin with so in some sense you’re wasting money going after them like this. Second, this is likely to annoy many of these people, especially since we are less than a month away from the day a law makes exactly what they’re doing here illegal:

 [T]he request comes less than a month before a Republican-backed bill banning that information from getting out becomes law.

Attorney General candidate Mark Obenshain introduced the bi-partisan bill to the General Assembly. It passed with overwhelming support in March and was later signed by the Governor.

On July 1, the confidential information required for concealed carry permits will be off limits.

“This is clearly a way by the party to circumvent a law that’s about to go into effect,” said Waymack.

It certainly seems like that to me.

FILED UNDER: 2013 Election, Guns and Gun Control, US Politics, , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. al-Ameda says:

    Also, the odds the vast majority of Virginia CCW permitees are probably on Republican Party mailing lists already. But really, who cares? These days, gun owners are in a permanent state of agitation any way. The Virginia GOP should just go ahead and do what it wants; there is no downside. It’s not likely that Waymack is going to change party affiliation.

  2. john personna says:

    No no no.

    By their action they PROVE that paranoia is justified.

    If they can get the list, anyone can.

  3. Mark Ivey says:

    “By their action they PROVE that paranoia is justified.”
    ————————–

    Indeed.. what will the mensch at foxnation.com say on this?

  4. OldmanRick says:

    Just cause someone is paranoid does not mean they aren’t out to get that someone.

  5. OzarkHillbilly says:

    This is just more proof that the GOP wants to take away their guns.

    Wait a minute, that didn’t sound right….

  6. @al-Ameda:

    The Virginia GOP should just go ahead and do what it wants; there is no downside.

    The downside is that they lose votes. In my case, there was four republican candidates in the 2012 that lost my vote specifically as a result of a letter I received from “Americans for Limited Government” listing my voting record for the last eight years and threatening to send letters to all my neighbors if I didn’t vote in the 2012 election.

    When I’m trying to decide which of the lesser of three evils to vote for, trying to black mail me makes it a real easy choice.

  7. ratufa says:

    I can understand the logic of what the GOP is doing here. They would like this list of CCW permit holders for the purpose of targeting them with pro-gun rights campaign literature. However, the move seems exceedingly stupid to me in two respects. First of all, most of these permit holders are likely Republican to begin with so in some sense you’re wasting money going after them like this.

    The point isn’t to contact permit holders in order to persuade them to be pro-gun rights. As you said, that would be silly. The point is to contact permit holders in order to get them to donate money to Republicans, which will be framed as “you need to give us money to protect your right to carry a gun”.

  8. Matt says:

    Oh god no I hope the bozos here in Texas don’t think of the same thing. It’s bad enough that I get crap from the NRA, Paul Ryan and Ron Paul. I don’t need more of their fear-mongering bullshit arriving in my mail box..

  9. rudderpedals says:

    “Dear voter,

    You now know how easy it was to identify you from the public records. Send $50 or $100 to protect your carry license from Nancy Pelosi.”

  10. Caj says:

    Well, well well! GOP want information on all concealed carry people in Virginia do they? Yet we can’t have backgrounds checks for everyone! Isn’t it funny how delving into people’s business is just fine if it suits their agenda? The party of pure hypocrisy knows no bounds!!!!

  11. steve s says:

    Will the NRA realize that the NSA’s data-tracking programs mean they can probably compile an accurate database of which americans own guns?

    Thanks in large part to the “Patriot” act?