It seems like the annual guest speaker for prolifically quotable UVA Professor Larry Sabato’s "Intro to American Politics" course is always selected to speak at a timely moment. (For instance: My class got "Daily Show" correspondent Mo Rocca on the occasion of his new book, All the Presidents’ Pets, in 2004.) What brought former Virginia Governor Doug Wilder to UVA’s Wilson Hall? Read below the photo for more.
Professor Larry Sabato (left) looks on while former Governor Douglas Wilder addresses his American Politics 101 class. Check back tomorrow for video of Wilder’s comments.
For most of the class’ 50 minutes, Wilder spoke to students about his time as governor—particularly, his successful effort to pass a law to limit the number of handgun purchases to one per month. The law, which Wilder called a "broad bipartisan effot," is currently under fire: House Bill 49, currently in a Senate subcommittee in the Virginia General Assembly, would repeal it.
"One handgun a month?" Wilder asked the class on more than one occasion. "Isn’t that 12 a year? How many do you need, for God’s sake?"
After urging participation in the political process, Wilder offered to take questions from the students—including one who mistakenly addressed him as "Governor Warner." Questions ranged from the most influential person in his life ("My mother! I never had to go out of my house to find heroes") to how repealing the handgun purchase limit would increase crime. (Gun-runners could purchase many and distribute them in exchange for a fee that Wilder said is "usually illegal drugs.")
One student asked for the former governor’s response to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s comments referring to President Barack Obama as "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect." Wilder, the nation’s first African-American governor, called the incident "unfortunate." He added that "He [Reid] apologized to President Obama, but he should’ve apologized to the American people."
Check c-ville.com tomorrow for video of Sabato’s introduction and Wilder’s opening remarks about handgun law in Virginia.
