Virginia Legislature as Agents of Activists

During the last couple of months, the state of Virginia has been caught in political upheaval over the possibility of new gun bills being passed in the state legislators. In November Democrats took over both houses of the Virginia Legislature. The party claimed this was largely to do with voter support for more gun control after recent mass shootings. However, if that is the case then Governor Ralph Northam has some explaining to do as his recent gun proposals were shelfed this last Monday for lack of votes.

The gun control bill pass in the House legislature, 51 to 48. But in the Senate four of the Democrats joined the Republicans in voting down the supposed assault-weapons ban, which would have prohibited many semiautomatic firearms, while also banning any magazines that hold more than 12 rounds. Additionally, if it had passed then any Virginians possessing such magazines would either have to surrender or destroy these purchased magazines or face up to a year in prison.

What makes this such a significant event is the fact that as these bills were being proposed in the Virginian government, they were met with large backlash from Virginians themselves. Thousands showed up to the capital in protest of the proposed bills. And “ninety-one of Virginia’s 95 counties have also declared themselves to be ‘Second Amendment sanctuaries,” stating that these counties would not enforce any state gun laws that violated the US Constitution (Wall Street Journal).

The events that transpired in Virginia is very close to the principles seen in Seth Masket’s research into outsiders’ influence on American politicians in particular legislators of the government.  He argues in his research that in order to understand the behavior and actions of those in the legislative branches of government, it is critical to follow the actions of key players outside of the chambers of the legislature. These outside keys players are often activists, party bosses, and interest groups, who use their influence to control party nominations that ensure officeholders behave according to their ideology. Masket explains how crucial these outsides to the legislature process are by using California’s experience with cross-filing as an example. Under the institutional rules of cross-filling, outsiders were prevented from having influence on party nominations. Under these rules, partisanship collapsed in the state’s legislature, which was a demonstration that legislatures preferred to work on non-partisan basis or even fake partisan basis than combatting each other along ideological lines. Partisanship in the legislatures quickly returned once outsiders were able to influence the nominations of politicians. Essentially, the results of Masket’s research showed that candidates and legislators are ultimately the agents of activists, interest groups and other influences who coordinate at the community level to control the nominations in political parties.

It is easy to see how this plays out in the recent political events in Virginia. Democrats for one reason or another, they claim because of recent mass shootings in the US, led to a surge in Democratic votes last November, which allowed them to take control of the legislature. This outcome is reasonable to believe as historically Democrats have been pushed for gun control policies than their Republican counterparts, which often but not always lean towards more conservative gun control policies. Many believed that the proposed gun control bills were all but sure to pass in both houses of the Virginia legislature as Democratic voters in Virginia and largely across the US desire more gun control. However, because the grassroots political movements across the state of Virginia. It is clear to see that Masket’s research has merits. Many second amendment supporters in the state, or as Masket calls them in his paper activists or interest groups, rose up to influence the politicians in both parties. If these activists in support of the second amendment never chose to influence the politicians in the Virginia legislature there would have been strong reason to believe that these gun bills largely would have passed by non-partisan means. However, after thousands of Virginians showed up at the capital and 91 out of 95 counties in Virginia passed second amendment sanctuaries. There is reason to believe that at least some of the democratic politicians would be in fear of losing their seats in the next election. Therefore, from this event we have further evidence to support Masket’s claim that legislators serve more as representatives of the interest groups of the communities that nominate them than they are to the parties themselves.

Sources:
Virginia’s Gun-Control Defeat
https://www.wsj.com/articles/virginias-gun-control-defeat-11582072099

It Takes an Outsider: Extralegislative
Organization and Partisanship in the California
Assembly, 1849–2006
- Seth E. Masket