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Speaker of the House Eileen Filler-Corn has decided to convene a joint meeting of the Public Safety and Court of Justice committees to consider “reforms” regarding law enforcement and our police departments.

Both the Senate Democrats and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus have put forward a significant number of proposals. Unfortunately, most of them are non-starters, and many would actually make things worse for all Virginians.

For example, the Senate Democrats have proposed reducing the penalty for assaulting a police officer, and the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus has proposed redirecting funding from police officers to other programs. Our law enforcement officers are the ones who run toward danger and we should be supporting them more, not cutting their funding.

Lowering the penalty for assaulting officers would simply embolden criminals and make it that much tougher to find qualified officers willing to do this dangerous job.

While mutually agreed reforms may be desirable, you should never agree that less law enforcement means less crime; just the opposite will occur. We can currently see that unfolding in New York City.

Most Americans who have had contact with the police, strongly support what their police officers do. They protect not just the least of us, but all of us. I believe that almost all Virginians feel the same way.

In Virginia we take care of each other, we look out for each other. Look around, every day thousands of law enforcement officers do their jobs, giving the rest of us safety and security to pursue our dreams and ambitions – if you defund police, if you abolish police, what will you have? You know the answers: lawlessness, chaos, the end of civilized society.

I look forward to working with my Republican colleagues to support our police and find ways to improve policing in general.

We have recently received a lot of emails regarding the rumor that the Democrats will be introducing new gun restriction legislation during the special session in August. When I served as Chairman of the House Militia and Police Committee, I always voted against any legislation that would restrict our gun ownership rights. I want to ensure my constituents that I have always and will continue to defend and vote against any efforts that would go against our Second Amendment Rights here in Virginia.

DEL. TOMMY WRIGHT can be reached via email at DelTWright@house.virginia.gov or (804) 698-1061.