Stop Dangerous ID in Virginia

Whereas, The national ID card called for in Dangerous ID, the so-called Real ID Act of 2005, is repressive, invasive, and unconstitutionally violating the fourth amendment right of the people to be secure; and

Whereas, The dangerous implications of this federal mandate include privacy concerns, expensive compliance costs for states and federal meddling in states’ rights; and,

Whereas, “Dangerous ID” has been unadvisedly promoted as a deterrent to terrorism and illegal immigration, but would not resolve either of those problems as evidenced by the fact that several of the September 11th hijackers used legitimate driver’s licenses; and

Whereas, If “Dangerous ID” is placed in force, illegal aliens would potentially have a national database from which to buy and sell illegal identification; and

Whereas, The “Dangerous ID” requires a digital photo and biometric identifiers on each license, and potentially include an RFID chip storing that information to a federal database to be shared with all 50 states, thereby turning “Dangerous ID” into a gold mine for identity thieves; and

Whereas, This $11 billion endeavor could limit law-abiding citizens the uncompromised freedom to travel, open a bank account, secure employment or purchase a firearm; and

Whereas, the Commonwealth of Virginia is already straining under the weight of federal bureaucratic compliance costs would be further burdened by additional expense; and

Whereas, the Commonwealth of Virginia will experience difficulty paying for massive computer systems to hook up to a federal database and complying by the December 2009 deadline; and

Whereas, the Virginia Liberty Defense has formed a coalition of groups calling for House and Senate bills to be enacted to prohibit the implementation of the “Dangerous ID” in the Commonwealth of Virginia; and

Whereas, Public outcry against the scheme has resulted in 21 states in an all-out revolt against “Dangerous ID” with bills or resolutions already passed against this unconstitutional federal mandate; and

Whereas, U.S. Citizens in such states could be denied access to federal buildings, bank accounts or boarding commercial airplanes; and

Whereas, American citizens should not be required to carry identification papers or have their personal information stored in a database by the federal government; therefore be it

The citizens of Virginia and the coalition of eight separate organizations in Virginia strongly urge freedom-loving Americans to demand that our Commonwealth of Virginia legislators support and sponsor Delegate Bob Marshall and Senator Ken Cuccinelli's House and Senate bills to stop the implementation of Dangerous ID in Virginia.

We, the undersigned, call on the government of the State of Virginia to refuse compliance with the dangerous, so-called Real ID Act and any other national ID legislation that may or may not arise.