Live from Virginia Wednesday morning on The John Fredericks Show – weekdays on WNTW AM 820/ FM 92.7 – Richmond, WJFN FM 100.5 – Central Virginia, WMPH AM 1010 / FM 100.1 / FM 96.9 (7-9 PM) Hampton Roads, WBRG AM 1050 / FM 105.1 – Lynchburg/Roanoke and Weekdays 6-10 am and 24/7 Stream –  host Fredericks welcomed Virginia State Senator Bryce Reeves to the program.
During the show, Reeves explained the qualified immunity proposal facing the state of Virginia and its lawmakers stating that he is beginning to see police persons leaving the force. He added that the Democrats have done a great job of dismantling law enforcement and that people must call their Senators to take action.
Fredericks: With us now live is Senator Bryce Reeves, Republican in the state Senate in Virginia. Senator great to have you with us. Thanks for joining us on short notice.
Reeves: No problem. I love talking and getting on the show.
Fredericks: Well I’ve got a trip on Friday to Atlanta, Joseph is pitching there in a tournament, and then in two weeks, I’ve got to go to Fort Myers so we’ll have you then. I will give you more than a day’s notice than I did this time. So thank you for doing that.
But listen, I really want to get your take that qualified immunity passed the House yesterday. I was shocked, because it got defeated two times. I had Scott Surovell on the show driving into the special session, saying there was no way it was going to pass. It was not on anybody’s radar screen. Nobody had a bill. It passed the House. Now it goes to the Senate. You guys now need two Democrats to vote no or its law!
Reeves: No, you are right. And we’ve been saying this all along. In fact, we put a video up on our Facebook page talking about that, and this kind of radical agenda that the left is running. And the folks that are in charge of the process, and what’s coming down the pipe, is the far left wing of the Democrat Party.
And so I think some of my colleagues in the Senate and on the other side of the aisle are a little worried. In fact, I know they are worried. I don’t know what they re going to do because you see this in-fighting on their side, if you look at Delegate Shuler and some others who have gone after each other.
There is some grandstanding that’s taking place in the delegate who booed Trump when he came down to Jamestown for a celebration there. I don’t even know the guys last name. I don’t know half those guys, they are so new. He’s the one that purposefully supposedly said he did what he did, but he did break the rules.
The real issue here, though, is this is going to put law enforcement in jeopardy. The way we look at it is that people don’t understand what qualified immunity is. And John it’s a good samaritan law for law enforcement, and what it says its this. If you are in law enforcement and you’ve gone through the academy, and you’ve been taught the basic course, which is over 500 hours of training, and growing now after this session because some of the things they are trying to accomplish and pile on. Meanwhile taking away some of their monies. If you do all of those things and abide by the law, and enforce the law in accordance with the rules and regulations by which you are invested within the powers that you have as a law enforcement officer, and you don’t violate anybody’s civil rights, or don’t use too much force by enforcing the laws. If you abide by all those rules, and then when someone says that they were aggrieved sues you, then the state is going to pick up the tab and they are going to back you. In other words, you are going to have legal counsel and everything else. Doesn’t mean you can’t be sued. It just says that you’re immune from that civil suit because the state is going to be your attorney.
Now anywhere along that chain, you screw up, you find that something went wrong, or you violated someone’s civil rights, or you used excessive force like in Minneapolis, well not only will you be prosecuted criminally, but you can face civil liability. And so cops are sued all the time. It’s just that qualified immunity allows them the opportunity to have some peace. And what you are going to have, and you’ve already had it, it’s already happening, and you know this. I’m a sworn deputy in Culpepper County.
I’m the last cop in the General Assembly. What you are going to have is people leaving. And trust me, they are getting the emails, because I’m getting them by the hundreds every day from law enforcement and law enforcement families, and everyone else. They are going to check out. What they are trying to do is dismantle police, make our streets unsafe. They are doing a great job at it.
They are doing a phenomenal job at making it easy for there to be civil unrest, more rioting, more looting, more pillaging, more burning, and all those sorts of things, because they are not supporting law enforcement. Look, Leader Norment even said on the floor a couple of weeks ago that we can have that discussion, but is right now the time to have that discussion, when morale and departments are at their all-time lows? We are going to through some more fuel on the fire and kick them while they are already down. That’s not leadership, John.
Fredericks: It’s unbelievable. No.
Reeves: That’s being a bully and going along with the mob mentality. We need people that are going to stand up and stand shoulder to shoulder with those folks who go out every day. Every day they get up, and get on, suit up, put on their body armor. They don’t know when the next traffic stop they make just did a heinous crime and can’t be stopped no matter what and takes one in the chest.
Fredericks: Right.
Reeves: I mean, give me a break. What is going on? It’s the insane asylum.
Fredericks: Well, and the fact that the Democrats said they weren’t going to pass this, and you look at the House. This was shocking to me. We cover it every day at The Virginia Star. We got somebody there. First, you can’t get it out of committee its dead.
Then it gets out of committee. Then they don’t have the votes to pass it. Three Democrats vote no. Then it comes back again and they pass it, because the problem the Democrats have now, Senator Reeves, is that they are under such pressure by the progressive left and the social media if they don’t toe the line they get skewered.
Then they get afraid and then they get hammered. Now its gong to the Senate alright? The governor is going to sign it. I don’t care what he says, he’s going to sign it, because he’s under the same pressure from the mob on social media. Basically, he wouldn’t even be there because they’ve allowed him to keep his job as governor. So he’s going to do whatever they say. He’s their tool. You and I both know this. The only way to stop this is to get two Democratic votes in the Senate voting no or otherwise, you’re going to have qualified immunity in Virginia is going to pass. My question is do you have two votes?
Reeves: Let me say this, there are some very reasonable, prudent, and responsible members of the Senate who don’t fold under pressure. And I will tell you that because I have served with them and worked with them on the committee. We may not always agree on policy.
Some of the folks on the other side are truly good people and good friends. Some of them aren’t looking towards their next re-election, unlike a lot of the other House members who have only been there one or two terms looking to move up to being an attorney general or governor. These folks are trying to be the next AOC, and unlike that in the Senate, you do have folks that have a spine. I think they’ve read the book by Kennedy, Profiles in Courage.
It undoubtedly will probably go to the judicial committee. I would assume it’s going to go to that committee. It could go somewhere else. Here’s what is happening. You are having the long knives being pulled out between the House and the Senate and the Democrats in each of those chambers. And so it’s interesting to watch.
There is not a lot we can do other than to amplify and shine some light on that issue. And then as people are listening on the call today, look, I don’t care what side of the aisle you are on, there is something to truth and justice. You aren’t going to find anybody that’s going to condone some of these heinous acts that the police have done in these isolated incidences across the country.
But the truth is there are 40 million police contacts a year. 40 million police contacts. And the percentage of these kinds of incidences happening is very very small. And yet the media amplifies those, and they are a lot of the reasons these things are amplified. Then you have these out of state monies bringing in these groups. This is Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. And that’s what’s happening to the Democrats in the House.
You see these tweets. They are going after each other. And if they can’t attack the issue then they attack them personally. And that is right in Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals. This is the world in which we find ourselves now. And it’s sad for me, as someone who does believe in the rule of law and understands these sorts of things, that have worn the cloth and the badge and still does it today. But I’m going to my last breath argue and fight for those who do this each and every day, because I understand that sacrifice.
Listen to the full interview here:
https://youtu.be/pKnvWf6uY64
