McAuliffe Adds Anti-Gun Amendment to Senate Bill 377

Governor Terry McAuliffe has struck again.  Earlier this week, he added a VSSA opposed amendment to Senate Bill 377. Sponsored by state Senator Bryce Reeves (R-17), SB 377, as passed by the General Assembly, would allow federally licensed firearm retailers seeking to purchase, trade or transfer a firearm from a non-dealer individual, to submit information on that firearm to law enforcement to determine if it has been reported lost or stolen. Included in the process is a consent form which must contain all identification taken in writing from the person selling, trading or transferring the firearm to the dealer, as well as information about the firearm. As passed, SB 377 stipulates that if the firearm has not have been reported lost or stolen, the dealer is required to destroy the consent form within two weeks. SB 377 was passed unanimously by the House of Delegates on February 25 and the state Senate concurred unanimously on February 27.
 

McAuliffe’s amendment has serious anti-gun implications. While SB 377 as passed by the Assembly would require the licensed retailer to destroy the consent forms for all firearms determined not to be lost or stolen, the Governor’s amendment would mandate that those consent forms be kept by the FFL for at least 90 days and includes no requirement to ever destroy them. This is a nothing short of a backdoor registration of those seeking to sell, trade or transfer their lawfully owned firearms to a gun dealer.

 

Please contact your state senator today and urge him or her to vote no on the amendment.  Also please contact your member of the House of Delegates and urge him or her to oppose the amendment in the event that the amendment makes it out of the State Senate.  The reconvened session will take place April 23rd.