Four Democrats joined Republicans in voting against it.
RICHMOND, Virginia (PNN) - February 17, 2020 - The worst of the numerous anti-gun legislations in Virginia, the so-called “assault weapons ban,” was shot down this morning by the Senate Judiciary Committee, killing any chance of that bill becoming law this year.
The alarming wording of HB961:
Prohibiting sale, transport, etc., of assault firearms, certain firearm magazines, silencers, and trigger activators; penalties. Expands the definition of “assault firearm” and prohibits any person from importing, selling, transferring, manufacturing, purchasing, or transporting an assault firearm. A violation is a Class 6 felony. The bill prohibits a dealer from selling, renting, trading, or transferring from his inventory an assault firearm to any person. The bill makes it a Class 6 felony to import, sell, transfer, manufacture, purchase, possess, or transport silencers, and trigger activators, all defined in the bill. The bill makes it a Class 6 felony to import, sell, transfer, manufacture, purchase, or transport a large-capacity firearm magazine, as defined in the bill, and a Class 1 misdemeanor to possess such large-capacity firearm magazine. Any person who legally owns a large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator on July 1, 2020, may retain possession until January 1, 2021. During that time, such person shall (i) render the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator inoperable; (ii) remove the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator from the Commonwealth; (iii) transfer the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator to a person outside the Commonwealth who is not prohibited from possessing it; or (iv) surrender the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator to a state or local law-enforcement agency.
The most recent election saw Virginia turn blue through rezoning and a whole lot of money donated by none other than presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg. It’s so blatant that even the Washington Examiner referred to this as “Bloomberg’s Gun Ban”.
Virginians protested the outrageous spate of laws by a variety of means, turning nearly the entire state into Second Amendment sanctuaries, municipality by municipality, with one county going so far as to form an official militia to preserve gun rights. Tens of thousands of gun owners showed up to protest at the capital on Lobby Day, a protest that was overwhelmingly peaceful despite the governor’s attempt to paint the protesters as violent white supremacists.
Initially it looked like the efforts would fail when the House blatantly ignored the protests and advanced 9 more anti-gun bills the very same week.
Fortunately, the Senate Judiciary Committee chose the wiser course of action against the most insidious of the bills, voting down HB961 with a 10-5 vote.
Four Democrats rejected the bill.
Several other unconstitutional bills have already passed both the House and Senate, including limiting the purchase of firearms to one per month, allowing cities or counties to ban guns in specific areas, and a red flag law that allows authorities to temporarily remove people’s firearms without due process.
Keep in mind, this vote only tables the bill for the current year. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s office has already said it will be back.
Virginians would be wise to institute recall petitions immediately for the treasonous members of the State congress who blithely ignored the will of the people to promote the will of Michael Bloomberg well before this next vote ever happens.
Today was a victory but the fight is far from over.