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The 2021 Gubernatorial Election in Virginia is right around the corner (on November 2nd, 2021), with early voting already kicking off. Candidates for Governor, Terry McCuliffe (D) and Glenn Youngkin (R) took to the stage for their first candidate debate on Thursday, September 16th, 2021 in Grundy, VA at The Appalachian School of Law. The moderators didn't hold back on questions, as they tackled the more mainstream topics that grace the headlines today. Covid-19 response/ vaccine mandates, education/ Critical Race Theory (CRT), taxes, abortion and all the other things the two candidates could possibly be asked. Even while discussing the rising crime rates in the state, and throughout the nation, the one thing the two men fell short on mentioning, and one of the main issues that Virginians on both sides of the aisle find concern... Gun Rights.
Due to their lack of acknowledgement on the topic, many Virginian's have questions... and rightfully so considering the fact that over the last few years, the 2nd Amendment Sanctuary movement has engulfed the state.
So, where do the candidates stand?
The GOP's ticket holder, Glenn Youngkin, though he mentions "Protecting our Constitutional Rights" on his campaign site, he's been pretty quiet on the 2nd Amendment, specifically.
Terry McAuliffe, on the other hand, has a past of being very outspoken on Gun Control legislation, as well as having major support from Gun Control organizations like The Brady Campaign, Moms Demand Action, Everytown, Gifford's, etc... During his past campaigning for Governor of Virginia, that won him the seat in 2014-2018, PAC's like that of Michael Bloomberg's Independence PAC donated over 1.7 Million to McAuliffe's campaign. As we venture into his 2021 run, The Brady Camp and Independence PAC have collectively donated approximately $4000 to Terry. May not seem like much, but with Bloomberg's promise to donate even more money into VA's elections, there's no doubt that Terry's "plan" as Governor of Virginia (again) will include many new pieces of legislation that will infringe on the 2A rights of residents.
Terry's underlying Gun Control goals should also be apparent in his most recent advertising.
Granted, McAuliffe's jabs at Glenn Youngkin tend to be obsessed with likening Youngkin to former President, Donald J. Trump, there's one ad in particular that really caught our eye.
Although the ad, where Healthcare Professional, Dr. Joseph Sakran, is painting GOP Candidate, Glenn Youngkin, as some sort of sinister "Anti-Vax" mongrel, while continuing McAuliffe's obsession of making Glenn out to be "Trump 2.0," Dr. Sakran's presence, in itself, speaks volumes on Terry's Gun Control stance.
Who is Dr. Joseph Sakran?
At the age of 17, Sakran was struck in the neck by a stray bullet that was fired into a crowd that was gathered at a local playground after a football game. This traumatic experience with gun violence ignited his passion to study medicine, and now as a trauma surgeon in Fairfax, VA, and assistant professor of medicine for John Hopkins University of Medicine ("Bloombucks"), he has added to his resume the titles of policy advisor, as well as that of a prominent gun control activist.
On November 7th, 2018, in response to an American College of Physicians’ position statement on reducing firearm injuries and deaths, the NRA tweeted that “someone should tell self-important anti-gun doctors to stay in their lane.” ...
In response to the NRA’s tweet, Dr. Joseph Sakran, Director of Emergency General Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital–himself a victim of gun violence when he was shot in the throat and nearly died at the age of 17–launched the Twitter campaign, @ThisIsOurLane. - Forbes 2019
As you can imagine, Dr. Sakran's presence as a healthcare professional speaking for a political candidate holds some major weight, especially during a time in our nation... and society... where opinions over the Covid-19 Pandemic and Vaccination Mandates has found a mainstay in everyday conversations. As a healthcare professional with a background in Gun Control Activism, that makes Dr. Joseph Sakran an even bigger key player for McAuliffe's campaign.
Sadly though, McAuliffe scraped the bottom of the barrel on his choosing of showcasing Dr. Sakran. Dr. Joseph Sakran, while alleging that GOP Candidate Glenn Youngkin is falsifying his stances just to sway votes, Sakran has his own past of telling some whoppers that he may want to rectify first.
How too soon, many of us in the 2A Community forgot this little goody...
Back in January of 2020, Dr. Joseph Sakran took to Twitter to tell the world about a morning on his way to work. While leaving to go to his office, he found a piece of paper on his windshield (pictured above) with a harrowing message. While many of his Gun Control supporters gasped in horror at piece of paper displaying a cartoon hand, pointing a blue pistol at the reader, with "The End is Near....." boldly stated below, there were some of us in the Gun Rights community who found the pictures Dr. Sakran posted to be a little "sketchy."
As you can see, in the pic on the right, Dr. Sakran's bare knee is in the lower left hand corner. What Trauma Doctor wears shorts to the office? And... looking especially in the picture on the left, just left of the sinister message, the windshield reflects that of what seems to very well be, a pull down for an attic space door... for an enclosed garage. NOTE: IN A GARAGE. That would mean that the person who delivered the threat, would've had to break into Dr. Sakran's enclosed garage to place the message under the windshield wipers.
Or... it means that Dr. Sakran got happy with Clipart and his printer.
Dr. Sakran immediately deleted the tweets of the incident, claiming that local law enforcement suggested to do so (you can find them here though), but for many of us, we don't believe that either. The "good doctor" went on to become the big butt of many jokes pegged by the Gun Rights community.
As time goes on, we tend to tuck away and even forget little mishaps like that of Dr. Sakran's false statements online. Of course, when there's a delete or block button, the "out of sight, out of mind" philosophy helps folks carry on. Well, in the case of Dr. Sakran calling anyone else a liar, especially for political purposes... we here at Mom-At-Arms have to wave a big Clipart red flag. We know what Sakran’s support leads to and just like his past tweets, we’re not buying his present hype either.
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