Despite Massive Protests, Virginia Democratic Gun-Control Bills Go Full Steam Ahead- Pass First Hurdle
Four bills Virginia’s Democratic governor says could reduce gun violence passed their first hurdle amid protests from gun owners who say their Second Amendment rights are being violated, Virginia Pilot Online reported.
The gun control measures that have for years been quashed by Republicans — implementing universal background checks, limiting sales to one handgun a month, allowing localities to ban guns in certain places and creating an extreme risk protection order — were passed out of a packed Senate Judiciary Committee meeting Monday.
After folks cleared the long security line, they were then told that Democrats were requiring an equal number of supporters and opponents of the gun bills to be seated in the committee room, despite the fact that those opposed to the bills far outnumbered gun control supporters.
Every gun control bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday, except the most controversial one. Democratic Sen. Dick Saslaw’s proposed Senate Bill 16 prohibiting “any person from importing, selling, transferring, manufacturing, purchasing, possessing, or transporting an assault firearm” was struck from the docket early in the morning.
Democrats in the state’s House of Delegates will instead focus on House Bill 961, a slightly weaker bill with similar language, that would allow Virginians to keep their assault rifles if they register ownership with the Virginia State Police.
Senate Bill 240, a controversial red flag law allowing courts to remove guns from Virginia citizens if they are deemed to be a “substantial risk,” passed through the committee with a vote of 9 to 5. Members voted along party lines to combine Senate Bills 22 and 69, which would mandate that Virginians can only buy “one gun a month.”
The Senate Judiciary committee, under the leadership of Sen. John Edwards, adopted new rules that mandated equal representation of activists in the committee room as swarms of pro-gun supporters were turned away to make room for gun control proponents sporting “Mom’s Demand Action” T-shirts. Mom’s Demand Action is a “grassroots movement of Americans demanding reasonable solutions to address our nation’s culture of gun violence.”
This is the second lie in as many days for Virginia’s Democrat lawmakers. On Friday, House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn and other Democrats claimed that newly enacted ban on firearms in the capitol was done at the request of the Capitol Police. Not so, according to Col. Anthony Pike, who told the press that Democrats came to his office asking how best to implement a ban.
Meanwhile SB 16, Sen. Dick Saslaw’s sweeping gun, magazine, and suppressor ban, was struck from the record, which means there will be no further action on the bill. Instead, Democrats will focus their efforts on HB 961, a slightly modified version of Saslaw’s legislation that “allows” gun owners to maintain possession of their banned firearms if they register them with the Virginia State Police. The ban on magazines that can accept more than 10 rounds, as well as lawfully purchased suppressors, remains in the House version of the so-called “assault firearms” bill.
The Senate Judiciary Committee also approved SB 69, which imposes a gun rationing scheme on the state, forbidding most gun owners from purchasing more than one handgun per month.
Red flag legislation and a bill that would allow for local governments to pass temporary gun bans for permitted events were also approved on party line 9-5 votes.
It has officially begun- it must be stopped immediately.
