Among the right-wingnutty candidates running in Virginia this year for the General Assembly, Republican Mark Dudenhefer - running in the 2nd House district (parts of Prince William and Stafford Counties) certainly makes the list. Watch this video as Dudenhefer talks about guns. The audio quality's not great, so here's a transcript (bolding added for emphasis):
For the weapons that I own, I've always had a background check, I don't think there are many exceptions to that...Let me finish. I believe that you should have the right to protect your family and that's important, being able to protect our families. We have to concentrate on other areas, other than some of the things that we are talking about here. We have guns laws on the books that aren't enforced. We should enforce the gun laws that are out there. We should concentrate more on the mental health issues that are out there. Everyone knows Senator Houck and the situation that went on today with his... his son. Um, and the suicide that he...on I-95. Mental health is an area where we are lacking, I think. I think we need to spend much more time, and we have been spending more time and so...I believe that everyone should have the, the ability to own a, a weapon if that's what they want to do.Of course, that's a wildly irresponsible thing to advocate, that EVERYONE should "have the ability to own a weapon." Consider that "everyone" would include, among others: domestic abusers, stalkers, people with previous convictions for violent offenses, people with severe mental illnesses that might make them poor candidates to own and operate a firearm, alcohol and/or drug abusers, juvenile offenders, fugitives from justice, underage persons, etc, etc.
Seriously, does Mark Dudenhefer really believe that EVERYONE should "have the ability to own a weapon," even including all the categories mentioned? While we're at it, how about undocument immigrants (who Dudenhefer would refer to as "illegal immigrants")? Clearly, Dudenhefer either hasn't thought any of this through, or simply is a tool of the gun lobby. Of course, he has consistently received "A" ratings from the NRA, also supports guns on school grounds, so the latter hypothesis seems plausible.
Fortunately, voters in the 2nd House district have a superb alternative to Dudenhefer in Democratic nominee Josh King, who writes, "I started my Army career a few days after the terrorist attacks of 9/11 because I knew that it was my responsibility as a citizen of this great country to defend and protect the freedoms that we hold dear. I continued that service with my career in law enforcement." King would make a superb delegate, and I strongly encourage everyone in the district to vote for him on November 2.
P.S. By the way, Dudenhefer's wingnuttiness isn't confined to guns. He also voted for the so-called "Personhood" amendment that, according to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, would (in addition to making abortion a crime) "make condoms, natural family planning, and spermicides the only legally allowed forms of birth control." Great, eh? Oh yeah, and Dudenhefer also voted for the infamous, mandatory "transvaginal ultrasound" law. Any further questions, other than exactly when you're planning to vote for Josh King for Delegate? :)
