West Virginia Tried to Force Cops to Sell Machine Guns and It Went Great

West Virginia lawmakers got called “traitors” because they wouldn’t vote yes on a bill that basically turns the state police into a Costco sample booth for machine guns.

Yeah. We’re at the “democracy means threatening your senator over government-issued pew-pews” stage of the republic.

Senate President Craig Blair hit the brakes on a bill that would’ve required the West Virginia State Police to sell machine guns. Blair said it was “poorly drafted” and “probably unconstitutional.”

And the timing is the whole movie. The bill didn’t just stall because it was legally sketchy — it stalled after lawmakers reported harassment and threats, with people tossing around the word “treason” like they just learned it from a Facebook meme and immediately made it their personality.

This isn’t even a left vs right thing. It’s a power thing. The loudest people in the room want the state to launder their hobby through official policy, and when elected officials hesitate, the response isn’t “call your representative,” it’s “call them a traitor and imply they should fear their family photos.”

Meanwhile, the average West Virginian is trying to pay rent, keep the lights on, and maybe see a doctor without taking out a second mortgage — and the legislature is burning time on whether cops should be legally obligated to become gun dealers.