House of Delegates Subcommittee Shuts Down Northam Gun Control Legislation

If you follow VSSA's Twitter and Facebook feeds, you already know that last evening the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee Subcommittee #1 dealt a major blow to Governor Northam's attempts to remake Virginia in the image of New Jersey and California.  The VSSA legislative team was live tweeting the results as they occurred and every gun control bill on the docket was defeated.  In all, 15 bills were on the docket, including a bill to ban bump stocks (HB41),  bills criminalizing private firearms sales (HB140) (HB721)(HB977)(HB1373)(HB717), bills to reinstate handgun rationing (HB353) (HB650), bills to limit the size of ammunition magazines to no more than 10 rounds (HB596) (HB1145)(HB927), and a bill requiring a permit to purchase handguns (HB 1143).  There was also a bill holding the seller of a privately owned firearm civilly libel if the firearm was transferred without a background check and is later used in a crime.  Finally, HB498, a bill that would have rolled back the out of state concealed carry reciprocity agreement by Governor Terry McAuliffe and the General Assembly last year also was defeated.  You can see the entire list of bills and the result of each committee vote by clicking here.

There is still some firearm related legislation in the House that will be heard next week, but the results last night are a good sign for the handful of bills that were reported by Senate Courts of Justice and awaiting action in Senate Finance.  One of those bills is a bump stock ban.  The fact that the House subcommittee handily defeated the House version of the bill means that even if it does pass the Senate, it will likely meet it's doom in the House.

Thanks to everyone that answered responded to the request on Wednesday to contact committee members and made their voices heard on the above bills.

In news from the State Senate this week, one bill has been approved by the Senate (SB372), which repeals the statutory prohibition on carrying a gun, pistol, bowie knife, dagger, or other dangerous weapon, without good and sufficient reason, to a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held.  The bill passed 21-18 and is now awaiting action in the House of Delegates.

The VSSA legislative team remains active even though most all of the gun ban legislation has been defeated.  Continue to check this blog, as well as the VSSA Twitter and Facebook feeds for updates.