Anti-gun lawmakers in Virginia are preparing to have a field day this January.
With a Democratic majority taking control of both the Senate and the House of Delegates, legislators are champing at the bit to enact laws that infringe on one’s right to keep and bear arms.
Eight bills are on Gov. Ralph Northam’s January agenda — and all of them will be a burden to law-abiding gun owners.
The list from local news affiliate WSET:
- Legislation requiring background checks on all firearms sales and transactions. The bill mandates that any person selling, renting, trading, or transferring a firearm must first obtain the results of a background check before completing the transaction.
- Legislation banning dangerous weapons. This will include bans on assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, bump stocks and silencers.
- Legislation to reinstate Virginia’s successful law allowing only one handgun purchase within a 30-day period.
- Legislation requiring that lost and stolen firearms be reported to law enforcement within 24 hours.
- Legislation creating an Extreme Risk Protective Order, allowing law enforcement and the courts to temporarily separate a person from firearms if the person exhibits dangerous behavior that presents an immediate threat to self or others.
- Legislation prohibiting all individuals subject to final protective orders from possessing firearms. The bill expands Virginia law which currently prohibits individuals subject to final protective orders of family abuse from possessing firearms.
- Legislation enhancing the punishment for allowing access to loaded, unsecured firearm by a child from a Class 3 Misdemeanor to a Class 6 felony. The bill also raises the age of the child from 14 to 18.
- Legislation enabling localities to enact any firearms ordinances that are stricter than state law. This includes regulating firearms in municipal buildings, libraries and at permitted events.
Dems were hoping to get the ball rolling this week with a Tuesday meeting with the GOP-led Virginia Crime Commission. But Republican leaders canceled the meeting saying there was no point in discussing the matter when Dems have already made up their minds and any suggestion put forth by the GOP would likely get slapped with a gubernatorial veto.
“For reasons both practical and pragmatic, the Crime Commission will not meet on Tuesday,” Senator Mark D. Obenshain (R-Rockingham) said. “The results of Tuesday’s elections, coupled with recent comments from Governor Northam regarding the fate of the legislation we’ve been reviewing, makes holding a meeting impractical.”
SEE ALSO: Supreme Court Allows Sandy Hook Suit to Proceed Against Remington
Dems blasted their peers for terminating the powwow.
“I was disappointed and disgusted that we could not move forward because they were upset about the election results,” Del. Marcia Price (D-95) told WTKR.
“I think that it underscores that people chose the right people to be in place for this 2020 session,” she added.
Lawmakers can start introducing legislation for January as early as Nov. 18.
Price already has her eyes on drafting a bill to repeal the state’s firearm preemption law.
“Right now, there is a ban on localities putting into place policies that would impact guns or ammunition. Let the localities best figure out how to keep their people safe,” she argued.
As the NRA-ILA recently pointed out, state preemption laws are critical to preserving the 2A.
Today, almost all states have a firearms preemption law that prohibits localities from regulating firearms in a manner more stringent than state law. These laws are vital as they prevent localities from enacting an incomprehensible patchwork of local ordinances. Without these measures unsuspecting gun owners would be forced to forego the exercise of their Second Amendment rights or risk running afoul of convoluted and potentially inaccessible local rules.
Hard not to see this as a nightmare scenario. Should all eight bills pass next year, Virginia gun owners are… well, let’s just hope that somehow, someway it doesn’t happen. Let’s hope Virginia gun owners contact their state lawmakers in droves and make their voices heard, and that is enough to keep these bills from becoming law.
These are truly sad times in American history.
The securities that the founders pledged EVERYTHING (life, property, wealth) for are being overshadowed by greed and power.
I do hope that history does not look back and say “If the Americans had only looked at their history books and saw what Hitler, and his like, did in Europe and the rest of the world, they would not have been overthrown by tyranny”.
Looks to me as if the lunatics have captured the asylum in Va. I am sure that General Lee is spinning in his grave at the conduct of these idiots.
For those reading this outside of Virginia, we have become a target for billionaire new yorker Bloomberg. He dumped 8x’s more money into our November elections 2 years in a row than anyone else.
Bloomberg is of course rabidly anti gun and the owner, financier of “everytown against guns” (whatever he calls it).
Northern Virginia has a huge transient population with lots of people moving in and out because of the proximity to DC. Also, Obama created so many unnecessary jobs in DC in an attempt to make government bigger, people more dependent on the Government and to artificially reduce the 12.3% unemployment he created with his “stimulus package”.
Bloomberg concentrated on primarily the urban areas of the state to turn over seats to the dems. Still, many only won by margins of 1-5%, One of them by 27 votes.
In spite of this, our Governor, Racist Ralph Northam (you may remember him from his Black face, clan outfit, college pictures) has used this as a means to further use Virginia as a test bed for Bloomberg’s agenda.
I believe Racist Ralph knows his political career ended the day those pictures surfaced unless he throws Virginians under the bus at all costs to prove his allegiance to Bloomberg in an attempt get him elected next fall and gain a cabinet position, etc.
Readers should also know that Virginians are fighting back hard and effectively. To date at least 91% of all counties, cities and towns have officially declared themselves 2A sanctuaries and adopted statements that they will not enforce any unconstitutional laws set forth by this legislature. Virginia is a Dillon law state so it is legal and effective.
I’m looking to move from the state of Massachusetts. This state is governed by the mentally I’ll. I hope some states remain where logic an reasoning remain. I wager that these anti-second ammendment positions have never handled a firearm. How is it that a 5.56mm round (AR15, M4 etc) run out of steam at 600m, yet a a poor 4 round .338Lapua Mgnum is still supersonic at 1800m. I wonder what F=ma or momentun=mv. I think their brains would melt. They understand “Their FEELINGS” and the gravy train of contributions they receice.
R Lamy
Man, I wish I had a business selling tar and feathers.
Just one folks.
Drag just one of the authors and cosponsors of these bills to a square and tar and feather them.
It will stop by dawn
My quistion is this how and why does northern VA allowed to dictate the rest of VA in elections. The Democrats have been allowed to redraw the lines to male sure they rule VA. Why are Republicans not fighting back grow a back bone people or be over taxed right out of your own state. Look at CA amd New York people leaving there in in the 1,000’s and alot of them moving to VA and MD. We need laws to make it to where transient are not allowed to vote in our state becuase all they want to do is make our state like the one they left after they screwed it up.
Northam Virginia is part of the DC beltway and has A high density population of government employees aka The Swamp. South Western Virginia has nothing in common with Richmond East and never has. Virginia was once a larger state but counties succeeded from Virginia and joined Kentucky and formed West Virginia. More may follow.
The sad part is most of them elected officials do not come from VA but moved to this state from another state they already messed up amd they moved becuase of high taxes amd the laws so now they want to make this state like there own. Move back to where you came from if you dont like the way this state is or should now say was.
George Washington (and the rest of our Founders) would be proud! Sad…
Isn’t the NRA Headquarters in Virginia?
When they pass their gun laws that prevent us from having our firearms then the talking point about voting and anything else is over the only thing left is a confrontation between the two peoples over guns
The people of Virginia who are presently law-abiding citizens are about to become de-facto citizens of the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia, where all these unconstitutional laws about to be enacted are modeled on. Welcome aboard, komrades!
Virginia seems to be going the way of Kalifornicatia.
Any attempt to alter any of the constitutional article should be done by the citzens of the united states and only Afters 100 percent passing by both houses of the government and the president too.we thecpoeple can’t afforafford 24/7 protection boy a armed security team . I for one refuse to defend my family ,property, and myself by throwing rocks at the bad guys
Simply adopt the attitude of the government. If they are not bound to follow the constitution, then you are not bound to follow their unconstitutional laws. Virginia, like almost every other state in the country, is bounded by other states.
Watch the Republicans and people who believe in the constitution flee in droves! Hope they bankrupt the place just like Calif and new dork.
These Democratic turds want to make and enforce laws on us law abiding U.S. citizens in regards to our own self protection against criminals, all the while letting those non-law abiding illegal criminals walk across the open border and murder anyone they choose. Makes sense to any Dem Turd I guess, doesn’t to me.
Good thing the US Constitution and Shall Not Be Infringed are protecting us! Can you imagine what would happen if this wasn’t in place? Can you imagine the laws they’d pass?
Oh. Wait……
I actually often ask this, to never an answer; Why is there a Constitution of the ‘United States’ ? States seem to basically do almost anything they want, so what’s the point?
It’s like 50 little countries, loosely aligned.
Blackface Ralph and his ignorant minions may have this state. I have already begun the process of selling my home, and getting out of the New People’s Republic of Virginia. I refuse to live like a serf, so I’ll take my “deadly” inanimate objects…..AND my income…..to another state.
Agreed. Moving ASAP.
My state has reciprocity with Virginia for licensed conceal carriers. That wasn’t listed in the list of legislation, but I can imagine that reciprocity with other states will go the way of the Dodo as far as Virginia is concerned. The state might become like Maryland.
One of the biggest concerns in the state is whether or not the government will grandfather or try to enforce a mandatory turn-in of newly banned firearms. Citizen on day and felon the next. The original proposal was a grandfather clause but directed current owners to register them thus creating a registry the government could use if and when they moved into the confiscation phase. I believe the constitution has a provision that government cannot confiscate private property with due compensation. A ban only lasts as long as a particular party is in power and can be removed. The grandfathering without confiscation and registry is a practical way. Anything other than that will create a crisis for anti-gun politicians. If confiscation becomes law, I suppose taking all FFL records and creating a registry is about the only option as a starting point. Do not think the state has the resources available unless they tax the citizens to pay for one. Then going door-to-door to disarm previously law abiding and now overnight felons would look really good in the public and national stage. Again, their best course of action since they doing a ban anyway is to start new and prevent new sales and grandfather the law abiding citizens instead of making thousands felons.
You can believe the constitution all you want. Fact is “THEY DON’T GIVE A DAMN WHAT YOU BELEIVE”.
If you live in Virginia you must draw a line in the sand or leave. Eventually this is what we will all be required to do until there is nowhere left to go.
Quite a few Virginians served in the military (including me) in which we swore to support and defend the Constitution which Richmond is trying to dismantle. As far as any mandatory buyback scheme, the legislators in this state didn’t sell me any firearms so I find it ironic how the term “buyback “ comes into play, or the justification to sell a firearm back. I doubt any of them could pass a background check anyway. Folks also need to be reminded that there is plenty of case law that affirms that law enforcement has no legal duty to protect people, so that leaves it up to people to defend themselves, particularly from the criminals who don’t obey ANY laws.
This is all touchy feely crap to appease the sheep, I mean democrats. Are Virginians really so stupid as to believe that criminals will abide by these new laws. The only people they are hurting are legal gun owners. Here’s a little tidbit, they truly are infringing on people’s rights and the majority of Virginians will act as sheep and allow this to happen. Sad day.
Use the Constitution or lose it..
It would appear that this country has another Kalifornia on its hands.
READ and HEED the results of the politics in Virginia, people!!
This could happen in YOUR state if you believe in the “my vote isn’t important” theory. How much prodding does it take for the country to realize that we are heading down a very slippery political slope?? and at the bottom is another form of government which may end our way of life as we know it today.
It’s time for all Republicans to finally get UP and do SOMETHING!! Don’t depend on the “other guy” to get it done, it is up to YOU to make things happen! The NRA can’t do it, the other gun groups can’t do it, nobody can get this job done unless EVERYONE pulls together and snuff this brush fire out before it becomes another Kalifornia WILDFIRE OUT OF CONTROL!!! It has already happened in Virginia, it can happen in YOUR state also …….
Guys like Bloomberg can only buy so many states’ elections before even THEY run out of spare cash. Don’t wait until tomorrow to act on what is going on TODAY …..
Three months ago I moved from the totalitarian state of Maryland to Virginia in order to escape the un-constitutional gun control laws enacted by repressive, power-hungry democratic politicians. Virginia will now be proposing and enacting the same laws that have failed in Maryland for decades. According to F.B.I. statistics, Maryland has always ranked near the top of the list of most dangerous states and Baltimore is the crown jewel on that list. Let’s be real…These laws are less about gun control and more about the acquisition and perpetuation of power by the democratic party. They have proven to be totally ineffective in providing for the public safety and are devoid of any benefit to the citizens.
Hope is not a strategy. The long game is to make sure Trump is given another four years to install more SCOTUS justices.
In the interim look for more division between the states when it comes go gun laws, the potential destruction of Remington due to suits in CT and more attacks from the likes of people like Mr. Bloomberg.
My advice? Get while the getting is good.
Only one thing left to do….. “I will NOT comply”!!!!!
I read an earlier article contrasting the overwhelming amount of money spent in this election by gun control advocate groups as compared to 2A groups. Virginia was targeted for this. I hope that there is actually a reason that this was allowed to happen and I hope it serves as an example to all of us as to what’s in store if we let our vigilance relax for even one election. With national elections coming up I hope the gun grabbers in VA do their darndest, show the world their true colors and eventually go the way of their best buddy Beto.
Once again proposals by anti-gunners.
It would be refreshing to see and hear someone propose anti-criminal legislation which would be aimed at keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals and expediting arrests, trials, prosecutions, limiting appeals, sentencing, enforce lengthy no parole prison terms.
“I was disappointed and disgusted that we could not move forward because they were upset about the election results,”
Welcome to the federal government of the last three years buttercup. Your side invented the tactic, did you really think it was copyrighted ?
We can thank Donald J Trump for this.
What does Trump have to do with this, you ask?
He has totally turned people off to the Republican party. He has done more harm to Republicans than anyone I can think of in my 30+ years as a card-carrying Republican.
So, now the chickens are coming home to roost.
This is one of the unintended consequences of Trump’s presidency.
Yeah you sound just like mittens Romney, I dont doubt you have been a card carrying trotskyite for 30 years. You leaving??? Good riddance you rhino traitor. Trump might have lost rhinos like you but he Won independent libertarians like me so how about you and mittens and schifhead all lock arms and take a nice long walk in traffic ya pud. Trump 2020!!!!!!!!
No. People are disenchanted with the kind of ineffective politics that has entrenched itself at all levels of government. People are sick of the GOP being weak and ineffective. I’ll go out on a limb and say that people voted for Donald Trump because he wasn’t a D.C. insider. The conservative base needs to be re-energized, and Republicans don’t have the guts to do it, which means people have to drive the point at the ballot box. The Republican Party began to show how weak and ineffective it was when they put up John McCain and Mitt Romney in 2016. Neither one of them showed any strength or conviction, and we ended up with 8 years of disaster. Instead of spouting off progressive talking points, I invite you to educate yourself on what’s really going on in this country.
Only a RINO thinks like that. The truth is President Donald J. Trump has uprooted the RINOs, the democrats and the deep state haters. Is Trump brash (honest) and sometimes rude (pointed)? Yes. Is Trump confrontational (decisive) and overbearing (hitting right between the lines)? Yes. Is Trump The Right Man in The Right Job at The Right Time? Damn Right he is!!
So put the blame on him if you want, but 266,000 more people last month are happy to see Trump’s fiscal policies working for ALL Americans. Black people and literally every other “minority” group (all are Americans and therefore equal) are happy and about 25% more blacks support Trump: This alone will seal success for Trump in 2020.
Anyway, I support your right to be ignorant about what’s happening here in VA; at least for now you have your First Amendment right to free speech, which is next on the demons’ lists.
Sepp:
People voted – VA has the same problem that many states are facing now: Urban vs Rural. The urban dwellers are generally the gun-banners/liberals, while the rural dwellers tend to be pro-gun and more conservative. It is a demographics issue, and many districts in urban areas saw changes moving them towards more liberal stances. Take a look at a map, and see that the density of urbanization tracks heavily with the results. It is *not* that people are not voting.
It’s sad that people from other regions with greater populations are allowed to colonize areas that have less populace and change the outcome of an election…it’s happening everywhere. Because of the wealth and sheer numbers of the left liberal plague it spreads across red states almost unnoticed until election time. War is upon us. They won’t declare it until it is too late.
The bloated black Dem Delegate Marsha Price only wants white Virginians disarmed. The growing number of Marsha Prices in political office inside the US have a vendetta against whites.
“let’s just hope that somehow, someway it doesn’t happen. Let’s hope Virginia gun owners contact their state lawmakers in droves and make their voices heard, and that is enough to keep these bills from becoming law.”
Just curious how this works? How is a county that completely flipped all Republican incumbents to Democrat, Democrats that are ant-gun, anti-rights, anti-Constitution, and anti- everything else going to listen to law-abiding firearms owners? This is what they want. Personally, VA is going to deserve everything it gets because people sat on their ass and didn’t vote. The RNC looked the other way and let Northern VA carry the state. Northern VA is a liberal bastion and the infestation is massive. It is a sad day for the Commonwealth.
These proposals do noting to deter or prevent violent crimes committed with firearms. It meant to punish citizens owning firearms with he ultimate end state to disarm. IF they successfully repeal the pre-emption statue, then it’s all over for counties and localities where liberals are in control.
Fully agree. I am shocked that the Repubs in the state allowed this flip in power through the voting booth. Sad day for the law biding gun owners of Virginia. Let this be a lesson to all of us.
@ SeppW, Yeah, that is called “REACTION” to a bad situation. I am talking about “PRO-ACTION”, taking measures to see that a situation DOESN’T get out of hand in the first place. There may not be enough Republicans or, for that matter, gun owners in general, in the state of Virginia to move their political machine, now that the Dems own both house in the state Congress. Hey, Bloomberg can show you his receipt for their wins in those house and senate election seats filled by the Dems!! I don’t follow politics much but even a broken clock is right twice a day ……. start taking some notes on what is going on around you and maybe we can keep this from OUR states in the future elections?
The only reason why the Democrats won a majority in the Virginia General Assembly is because the GOP gerrymandered too much and a judge found that the gerrymandering impacted minorities too much and allowed the Democrats to re-district the state.
There were 40k more conservative/Republican voters than Democrats/progressive but the Democrats still won because of their ability to re-district!
As a Virginian and a firearm owner, I am a bit concerned about this turn-a-around and hopefully groups like the GOA and the VCDL can stop some of the more stringent restrictions from coming into law
Sepp, I’m sorry. They don’t care if it deters or prevents anything. Bloomberg doesn’t care either. He literally wants every gun in your hands out of them, because he wants you to be totalitarian meat. His ideal would be that every conservative gun owner would resist so that cops could kill them. He spreads his filth around, so expect others to feel that way too. The Dems have figured out over the past 30 years how to completely rip apart entire cities with emotions. Which, in the end, is the same thing the dems did when they were slave owners. Basically the Dems running it are the same then as they are now, only the people they trick into supporting them are different.
Add to this shame that the NRA spent a WHOPPING $300,000 in Virginia. Compared to Everytown and Mom’s Demand Action, which spent $ 2.5 MILLION .
To fully put that in perspective, remember this little fact: The NRA spent $300,000 to protect gun rights in Virginia – but spent $270,000 on Wayne’s clothing allowance.
That’s your NRA.