Throughout her political career, Barbara Comstock, a Congresswoman representing Virginia’s 10th District, has turned her back on gun owners. Despite repeatedly campaigning as a pro 2nd Amendment candidate, Comstock, whose first job on Capitol Hill was as an intern for gun grabbing Senator Ted Kennedy, has shown a pattern of support for gun control measures, especially those less covered by the nightly news.
While serving as a Delegate in Virginia’s General Assembly from 2010-2014, Comstock was criticized for her voting record by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights group, receiving a score of only 60% under the group’s ‘Pro-Gun Score’ metric in 2013. According to the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) website, Pro-Gun Scores are calculated using a formula based on representatives’ voting records, adding points based on levels of VCDL support or opposition of specific bills. Comstock’s score of 60% is considerably lower than many of her fellow Republicans, and even lower than a number of Democrats included in the VCDL reports.
Since she began serving in Washington in 2015, Comstock and her supporters have touted her record as a pro gun-rights conservative, citing her votes on big name, highly publicized gun legislation, while ignoring her votes on bills that aren’t given wall to wall coverage by mainstream media. One of these bills, H.R.4477, which Congresswoman Comstock co-sponsored, was referred to by anti-gun Democrat Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a sponsor of the bill’s Senate version, as ‘the most important piece of bipartisan guns legislation since Manchin-Toomey.’
The Senate version of H.R. 4477, the Fix NICS Bill, which Democrat supporters are attempting to tie to legislation on concealed carry reciprocity, has also been co-sponsored by Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas, and anti-gun zealots Chuck Schumer, Richard Blumenthal, and Dianne Feinstein. Fix NICS, also known as the ‘traffic ticket gun bill,’ would give even more ground to the federal government in the fight over gun control, directly attacking financially struggling Americans by taking away the 2nd Amendment rights of those unable to pay traffic tickets on time, and filing their names in what the National Association for Gun Rights calls a ‘gun control super database.’
In addition to her legislative actions, Comstock enthusiastically joined a group of lawmakers in signing an October 2017 letter addressed to ATF Director Thomas E. Brandon, calling for a ban on bump stocks, the rifle attachment blamed for the Las Vegas massacre after its basic functions were grossly misrepresented by mainstream media outlets. Led by Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, (who more recently signed a pro-amnesty letter addressed to Speaker Paul Ryan), the lawmakers employed a favorite term of anti-gun crusaders within the Democratic Party in calling for ‘common sense’ gun control measures to be taken by the ATF.
When reached for comment, Comstock’s Primary Election challenger Shak Hill reaffirmed his support for the 2nd Amendment, mincing no words as he stated; ‘If all amendments to the Constitution have equal weighting, the right to free speech has no greater weight than the right to bear arms. In fact, it’s easily argued that the 2nd Amendment has more weight than any other, because the 2nd Amendment SHALL NOT be infringed. Unfortunately, when a member of Congress votes to infringe upon the constitution, they are violating the people’s trust, and shall be removed.’
Despite Comstock’s best efforts to masquerade as a supporter of her constituents’ inalienable rights, time and time again we have seen her personal views on firearms scratch the surface. Through her service in both Congress and the House of Delegates, her background as a Massachusetts liberal Democrat has blatantly impacted her ability to uphold her oath to the Constitution of the United States, and she has put our nation’s most sacred rights on the chopping block.
