Virginia is the Gun Control Canary in the Coal Mine
“There’s one Democrat lawmaker who actually proposed to ban gun ranges”
While much of the country has been focused on recent developments in Iran, a tense debate about gun control has been brewing in Virginia.
Democrats have wasted no time since taking power, spurring a Second Amendment ‘sanctuary’ movement in numerous counties throughout the state.
If you want to know what Democrats would do if they could on a national level, look no further than Virginia. That’s a point recently made by Dana Loesch.
Talia Kaplan reports at FOX News:
Dana Loesch: Proposed ‘disarmament’ in Virginia is what Dems envision for America
National radio host Dana Loesch said on Thursday that the new Democratic majority in the Virginia state legislature is taking a “bad gamble” by trying to pass new restrictions on gun ownership.
“If they [Virginia Democrats] get this optic, this is going to look horrible for them in 2020, to say nothing of the precedent that it sets for gun rights,” Loesch said on “Fox & Friends” on Thursday. “This isn’t going to stop. Gun owners will win.”
The Virginia Beach City Council voted Monday to add the city to a growing list of nearly 100 cities and counties that have joined the “Second Amendment sanctuary” movement in the commonwealth of Virginia, which is meant to flout an assault weapons ban and other proposals.
The city council resolution declared a “continued commitment to support all provisions of the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, including the right of the people to keep and bear arms.”…
“There’s one Democrat lawmaker who actually proposed to ban gun ranges,” Loesch said. “They want to ban gun ranges because it’s all about gun sense and gun safety, but yet I guess a part of that gun sense and gun safety is to make it to where law-abiding Americans can’t actually train to carry their arms and practice their marksmanship, which doesn’t sound like gun sense or gun safety to me.”
Gun rights activist Colion Noir broke down what’s happening in Virginia during a recent appearance on FOX:
Gun owners in Virginia deserve credit for such a rapid response to this. They clearly see what is happening and are making themselves heard.
Paul Bedard writes at the Washington Examiner:
100,000 gun owners to fight new Virginia bans: ‘We’re not the problem’
Some 100,000 Virginia gun owners who have rallied at county and town meetings for “gun sanctuaries” on Thursday began “bombarding” state Democratic lawmakers eager to use their new majority in Richmond to push through new restrictions and bans.
“Now it’s time. Now we’re going to melt down their phones, explode their inboxes on their email. We’re going to bombard them more than they’ve been bombarded,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which is leading the gun sanctuary movement.
On Thursday, he issued an “alert” to supporters to start lobbying lawmakers in Richmond against gun control. He said that the new anti-gun laws from Democrats are “pouring in like a waterfall.”
Latest map with 124 sanctuaries. I never realized how much I like green! So do the red and blue areas underneath ? pic.twitter.com/wnOQ3KaG5S
— Phil Van Cleave VCDL (@VCDL_ORG) January 8, 2020
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
This may be the real civil war we must fight.
You have a Governor who loves to abort even after birth, a Lt. Governor who loves to rape vulnerable women, and legislators who love to confiscate guns.
I think the battle for Virginia will be which lovers Virginia is for.
Before there was the Revolutionary War, there were the Stamp Act and the Boston Tea Party.
Before there was the Civil War, there were John Brown and Bloody Kansas.
The Battle of Virginia’s Guns is just an early skirmish. How it goes will have a lot to do with the shape of the next Civil War, or even whether it happens at all.
In 1863 a whole bunch of Virginia counties seceded from Virginia and joined West Virginia instead, to get away from the Virginia Democrats. Now, in 2020, it’s the same issue — to get away from Virginia Democrats. Counties, follow your predecessors, secede from Virginia and join West Virginia.
“and joined West Virginia”
Just to be clear for those that may not know, the counties succeeded from Virginia and formed West Virginia, not joined. 1863 during the Civil War.
Or, a third state: South Virginia. Two more sensible senators.
There was also the Boston Massacre. This will not be a bloodless Revolution either.
Dems moved up the hearing on the gun control bills. Sneaking around in the dead of night because they’re cowards with fascist dreams.
https://us20.campaign-archive.com/?u=b28f1d9ea359b104b09836c4c&id=b8c1e2ebdb
URGENT ACTION ALERT ITEMS!
Democrats delayed getting this information out until Friday afternoon intentionally!
There are a series of extremely bad gun-control bills to be heard on Monday at 8 AM in the Senate Judiciary Committee:
General Assembly Building
Senate Room A
9th and Main Streets in Richmond
ACTION ITEM #1:
We need a large turnout to flood the room with GSL stickers and we need to be there early to get seats! This is where the rubber meets the road!
I hate was has become of my home state, once solid red. But, I am hopeful, and thankful, that true patriots are standing up and being strong against the tyranny of the left.
It is truly a test case by the dems to see how far they can go.
Hold fast VA!
Sic Semper Tyrannis!
At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason.
Well, as has been proven in Russia, China, Cambodia, Cuba, Venezuela and other places, fascist/communists know as long as the people are armed, the communist utopia cannot be put in place.
Oh, and the ban on “gun ranges” would only apply to the NRA shooting range at NRA HQ.
“…spurring a Second Amendment ‘sanctuary’ movement in numerous counties throughout the state.”
Numerous – as in 90 of the 95 counties in VA. Kind of an understatement.
If the Socialist-Democrats run true to recent form, they will pass everything they can, figuring they will lose re-election but the probability that the laws they pass will be repealed is Slim and none, and Slim just left town, so when they get back in the saddle, they will start from where they left off.
With SCOTUS on the verge of having a solid conservative majority for at least a generation (after whatever voodoo their using to keep that zombie Ginnesburg shambling forward runs out), the leftilibrals are starting to change tactics, trying to push through flagrantly unconstitutional laws faster than court challenges can strike them down.
I wish I shared your optimism. I don’t trust Roberts, Kavanaugh bears watching. Recall what Earl Warren (chosen by a Republican) did to us.
The Left has been bashing Trump about offing a terrorist because of no “eminent” threat and demanding a “process” to approve use of force. They apply it here to firearms….they will determine what is eminent and what paperwork is needed first. They control your destiny on their terms and your value as a human being on their terms. All is subordinate to the state. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (property rights) are being eroded for the Left’s hive mentality. The anthem for the Left should be the Stones “Under My Thumb”.
Imminent. And it is undisputed law that preemptive self-defense requires an imminent threat.
The flaws in the Dems’ applying this to Suleimani are: 1) the President doesn’t have to prove to anyone that there was an imminent threat; if the House doesn’t believe him it can try impeaching him for it, but the senate is likely to take his word for it. 2) It took place in Iraq, where there is a state of war, so no imminent threat is required; 3) A state of war has in any case existed between the USA and Iran for decades, so again no imminent threat is required.
“… shall not be infringed.”
I don’t think dems know what infringed means.
They don’t care. The far left has the reasoning skills of a toddler. In their world, “I want” nullifies all laws to the contrary.
The quote from Network is applicable: I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more.
A couple of things to know:
Most of the black areas on the map have not voted on the resolution. Only the city of Lynchburg (which may reconsider the resolution this month) and Loudoun county have voted against.
The leg work by VCDL, GOA and the Virginia Constitutional Conservatives has been outstanding. NRA has been slow getting ramped up.
On Fri night, the dems scheduled 10 gun control bills for discussion at 8am Monday. (Same way they got NY SAFE passed). You can see a list here:
https://us20.campaign-archive.com/?u=b28f1d9ea359b104b09836c4c&id=7aad6bda18.
The VA legislature, bu law, only meets for 60 or 90 days each year (alternates). They can extend the session for 30 days. Then they go home for a year. The gov can call an emergency session, but there are restrictions. This can work to our advantage.
Finally, a plea. Anyone in VA who hasn’t joined VCDL, what are you waiting for? Anyone outside VA who wants to help in the fight, $$ is always needed and will not be wasted. See the contribute tab at http://www.vcdl.org . (I know most of you want to be Virginians, so why not join VCDL?)
Thank you for the suggestion and the link to VCDL. I like in Florida, and just made a contribution. Virginia’s fight is OUR fight.
Thanks!
What in heaven happened to Lynchburg? I thought it was a fairly conservative area!
Looks like they haven’t actually voted, so there’s hope?
Va elects statewide in the off years, so the new council was seated in Jan 20. They may reconsider the last council’s decision.
Lynchburg = college town. (I know it’s Liberty Univ, but that don’t matter – trust me.)
Yeah, that’s all great, but it’s a little too late now. Where was VCDL and the Virginia Republican party last fall when they left over a dozen legislative seats uncontested and gave the Dems the win almost by default?
I am guessing that the Va GOPe is like the Colorado GOPe. Whenever a TEA Party candidate, or a non-GOPe conservative candidate WON the nomination and primary, they work against them and functionally for the Democrat in general election. Sorting out friends and enemies in the middle of a war is one of the tasks we face.
Subotai Bahadur
The VCDL, sadly, isn’t in control of the VA GOPe.
“NRA has been slow getting ramped up.”
They have been busy and preoccupied with their wine club.
They take contributions via PayPal. The irony in this one is delicious beyond belief. PayPal does their own little Operation Chokepoint, cutting off firearms and firearms-related merchants from their services.
VCDL fights for us! I will be there on Monday January 20. I will be arriving by bus like many, many others. We will not be carrying.
Before anyone considers rushing off to the 20 Jan event in Richmond, please consider what you might be running into.
https://www.americanpartisan.org/2020/01/richmond-the-mother-of-all-buffalo-jumps/
Sounds like it was written by the Guv!
In short, the article is saying “stay home because of what MIGHT happen”.
Can anyone tell me where a state gets the authority to usurp a right guaranteed in our national constitution? It seems to me that our Constitutional rights are the same anywhere in the country!
In order, how the Virginia problems get fixed: voters throw the Dems out, the Supreme Court declares the laws unconstitutional, and armed insurrection.
New York, CT, CA,IL,MA etc have done it for decades. The courts shy away, or make yes-but decisions. In short, there is a lot of precedent.
They claim that none of this infringes the RKBA. That claim, no matter how ridiculous it is, can’t be officially ruled false until a court has a chance to get a look at it.
Courts avoid looking at it. When forced to do so they make narrow rulings in order to preserve the progs ability to keep passing new laws that must be challenged.
So here is something to think about. You all know what has been happening in Virginia. The VCDL (Virginia Citizens Defense League) has been the spear head in our defense our second amendment right. Virginia now has 124 sanctuaries counties, townships and cities.
Today I worked the gun show in Hampton Virginia for the VCDL . We had more new memberships in the first 4 hours of the show than we had all last year.
The sleeping giant has awoken.
I wonder how much the democrats can depend on there caucus, when their on voting base is against them?
The NRA = MIA, someone go wake Prince Wayne from his slumber. It’s time for him to step down. Maybe he can learn to code.
The NRA is good for contests, four-color brochures in huge envelopes begging for money, and taking credit for grass-roots efforts. I resigned my Life Membership last year. Other groups now get my contributions.
I haven’t resigned my Life membership, but stopped donating to Wayne’s clothing fund. Now I give to GOA and FPC.
Yeah, I noticed a few days ago the NRA trying to take credit for mobilizing opposition, when they just started and it was everybody else organizing resistance in the 90 counties.
Subotai Bahadur
Cuomo (NY State) got enough of the legislature in hand so they could no longer stop him declaring an emergency, which let him do unilaterally what he couldn’t get passed normally.
Guns being invented a mere 600 years ago, on understands the emergency, driving “the fierce urgency of now”
Well, in VA, like NY, the “emergency” is they dont’t think they’ll be in place to do this for very long.
100,000 gun owners to fight new Virginia bans: ‘We’re not the problem’
———————–
If you are a thieving democrat wanting to steal even more you sure are the problem.
Anyone can join VCDL.
https://www.vcdl.org/join-VCDL
Morally I stand with the VCDL; that said, this year’s Lobby Day, on the 20th of Jan, is fraught with danger for lovers of the 2nd Amendment. A large fired-up crowd, lots of handguns both open & concealed, & probably rifles too, gee- what could go wrong? Everything, that’s what!
The VA State Gov’t- the Governor, and both upper & lower houses of the General Assembly has been taken over by the Left. So there won’t be any support for patriots from gov’t agencies. Few gov’t workers will risk their pay & benefits over a principle, they’ll just hope that later on sanity will prevail. That hope won’t happen, as CA gun owners can attest.
There will be plants in the crowd, and those plants will be conspicuously armed with “evil black rifles,” and very likely carrying Confederate Battleflags and/or Nazi gear. The TV cameras will be looking for these plants, and not to help the VCDL but to discredit them. Remember, they’re virtually all Fake News Lefties, and they hate guns.
The odds are that this Lobby Day won’t actually accomplish anything positive, but instead give 2nd Amendment supporters a real black eye, and there’s a good possiblity that it could do great harm (some crazy/plant/operative shoots someone in the crowd? An M-80 goes off & scares everyone, so many in the crowd pull out their guns, others panic & run, with TV cameras videoing it all for Brian “Little Tater” Stelter’s show?)
The possibilities for mischief are very high, and the chances of anything good being accomplished very small.
Some excellent ideas on better ways to engage the Left and gain ground on gun rights may be found at Aesop’s Raconteur Report:
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2020/01/you-cant-fix-stupid.html
Anything can happen, but:
The goal is to flip dems who won election in Nov by a narrow margin in districts where we are strong. Flip enough of them and the bills don’t leave committee or pass on the floor. The dem majority is narrow and it won’t take too many.
IIRC, VCDL asked all to leave long guns at home.
At most of the local meetings with county gov’t, carry was allowed and there were no incidents. The capitol police and richmond police work every year with VCDL.
If you can’t trust gun owners to behave resonsibly, you’ve made the left’s argument for them.
If we cancel becasue we don’t trust ourselves, we’ve made the left’s argument for them.
You can be sure VCDL et al will be filming.
Due to a rules change last week, no one can carry in the capitol. Those arriving by bus (probably the majority) will have no place to store a gun when they go inside, so they will probably not carry.
If anyone in the crowd tries anything, there will be lots of good guys to tackle him.
With the dems advancing the bills to Mon 13th, the effort will start then. All groups have called for a turnout on Mon 13th.
The butthead you linked to is a perfect example of the kind of jerks who give the rest of us a bad name. It’s hard to take someone seriously who insults you with every sentence. He is definitely not someone I want representing gun owners.
++++
Ditto
I don’t think the crowd will be as rowdy as you anticipate. That being said I assume that VCDL will be filming (like they did with their network interview).
I will be there, along with my husband. We do not plan to carry. We want to show force or numbers. We are small business owners and are not the problem.
Dana Loesch has to know that the gun grabbers have been defining gun safety = confiscation for quite a while now. Thus, their promotion of gun safety by closing the ranges is not at all inconsistent to their mindset.
Thanks to everyone for your support for us in our fight. For those interested in the details, this is the VCDL page that tracks legislation. There are some good bills in the hopper, too.
https://vcdl.org/2020-Leg-Tracking/
An email today (1/13/20) from the Va Constitutional Conservatives. I bolded a few sections I thought important.
Regardless what happens in Richmond this session, we are in this for the long hall. Trump’s chances in VA are rising with each day and each new outrage, so there are national considerations too. Interestingly, most of this effort is going around both the VA GOP and the NRA, which are seen as slow learners (to be nice). VCDL, GOA and VCC have really stepped up and are well organized and working together without friction to mutually support us.
Fellow Virginians,
There are a lot of updates in the fight to preserve your right to keep and bear arms in Virginia, so please do read this entire email. My apologies it is so long, but this is information that you need right now.
The Red Flag of Tyranny is on the march in Richmond, and it is up to us to stop it.
First an urgent update-
Just a few hours ago, the State Senate Judiciary Committee passed Senate Bill 240- Red Flag Gun Confiscation.
This bill, if passed, would permit a SWAT team to kick in your door at 3am and endanger the lives of your family…all to confiscate all of your firearms based upon an accusation.
Not only does this violate the 2nd Amendment, but also you constitutionally protected right of due process in the 5th and 6th Amendments.
You never get your day in court, till after your home has been invaded, your dog shot and your family in great risk.
This is exactly why we fought to American Revolution, and Senate Bill 240 MUST be stopped.
As I write this we are sending out thousands and thousands of calls to gun owners in Virginia, urging them to call their state representatives and tell them they must vote AGAINST Senate Bill 240.
And now I am asking you the same.
Senator Emmett Hanger (R-24), according to sources, is looking to support Red Flag Gun Confiscation, and you need to call him at 804-698-7524 and tell him he must NOT vote for Senate Bill 240.
Next you need to call the following State Delegates and tell them they must vote against Red Flag Gun Confiscation schemes, or you will be sure to do everything you can to rip away their elected seats in 2021-
Miyares(R)-804-698-1082
Davis (R)-804-698-1084
Gooditis (D) 804-698-1010
Cole (D)- 804-698-1028
Guzman (D)-804-698-1031
Helmer (D)- 804-698-1040
Willett(D)- 804-482-0224
Tyler (D)- 804-698-1075
Guy (D)-804-698-1083
Unless you act and call now, and call every single one listed here, the Red Flag of Tyranny will wave from on top of the Virginia Capital Dome.
Now for some other important updates.
Our Petition for the Recall of Radical Ralph Northam had, as of Friday, 41,000 signatures. Our hard working volunteers attended many events last weekend, and we are updating our count as fast as we can.
Please ask your friends and family to sign our petition to Recall Northam at this link if they have not done so already.
Right now Governor Northam is afraid we are going to reach the number required to send him to court for his violation of your right to keep and bear arms.
In fact he is so afraid, he had his cronies introduce House Bill 842, linked here, to raise the minimum required number of signatures to recall him.
In fact, Northam wants to more than double it! You have him running scared, now let us double down on him and double the number of signers this week!
But we need your help, so forward this email to your fellow patriots and urge them to sign and share as well.
Honestly, nothing would warm my heart like watching Radical Ralph try to defend his actions against the Virginia State Constitution!
And now some good news.
Over 300 fellow Patriots have joined the Minuteman Program!
to combat the gun grabbers in Richmond, VCC created the Virginia Minuteman Program. This program is for those truly dedicated to preserving the right to keep and bear arms and are our first line of defense.
Already almost 350 Virginians have signed up for this program, pledging to act immediately to stop anti-gun legislation dead in its tracks, but we need more patriots to do so. Please click on this link to find out how you can join the Minutemen and fight to preserve the 2nd Amendment.
Remember, it is up to us to defend our liberty and gun rights and we cannot, again cannot, wait for a politician to do so, or we have already lost.
And more good news. Thanks to the efforts of the Virginia Minutemen, Delegate Bobby Orrock (R-54), withdrew his House Bill 192 on Friday!
Remember, this bill would have forced you to take training and pay for a permit to purchase a firearm in Virginia.
But thanks to all the calls and emails, Orrock finally withdrew his horrible bill, claiming of course, that he has always supported the 2nd Amendment.
And just a short while ago, Senate Bill 16, that would have banned semi-automatic firearms in Virginia, was also withdrawn.
But do not be fooled.
We know that another, possibly worse gun ban is in the works, and we will keep you updated on that as well.
We have a lot more work to do. Most of our efforts will be centered on the House of Delegates.
Why?
Because simply there are 7 gun grabbers who won by 5% or less in 2019, thus making them in danger of losing their seats in 2021 if they are opposed by an organized grassroots effort.
These Delegates need to be simply told that we are already organizing for the 2021 election , and if they vote for one single anti-gun bill, whether it be Red Flag Gun Confiscation Schemes, Universal Gun registration through outlawing private gun sales, or anything else, you will donate your time and money and go door to door in their district to rip them out of office.
Here is the list of anti-gunners that are vulnerable in the next election and need to be told we are coming for their seat if they vote for ONE SINGLE anti-gun bill.
HD10 Wendy Gooditis won by 5% Flipped in 2017 Office: (804) 698-1010 District (540) 300-3857 [email protected]
HD 28 Joshua Gregory Cole won by 4% Flipped in 2019 (540) 642-0165 [email protected]
HD 31 Elizabeth Guzman won by 5% Flipped in 2017 Office: (571) 403-1213 Richmond 804-698-1031 [email protected]
HD 40 Dan Helmer won by 5% Flipped in 2019 Office Number is 804-698-1040, email is [email protected]
HD 73 Rodney Willett won by 5% Flipped in 2017, 804-698-1073
HD 75 Roslyn Tyler won by 2% held seat since 2005 Phone: 8046981075 Email: [email protected]
HD 83 Nancy Guy won by 1% (27 votes) Flipped 2019, Email is [email protected] and phone number is 804-698-1083
*HD 82 Jason Miyares (R) [email protected] 804 698-1082 Red Flag supporter!!
Here at the Virginia Constitutional Conservatives, we have sent out over 50,000 targeted phone calls into vulnerable district to urge gun owners to call their elected representatives and demand they vote against any anti gun laws.
Not only that, but we have reached 521,000 Virginians through our Facebook Page, linked here, urging them to do the same.
But all of this costs a lot of money. We are an all volunteer group, no one is being paid a single dime. And everything we do is thanks to the hundreds of donors here Virginia.
But Michael Bloomberg’s radical anti-gun PAC has over $16 Million set aside to rip away your gun rights.
This is why I am asking you to donate whatever you can afford at this link today.
We have the motivated volunteers, our cause is just, but we lack the ammunition to fight.
So please donate whatever you can afford at this link.
The next step in creating a grassroots army to defend the 2nd Amendment, is to train that army.
To help you use your time and money effectively in politics, we are hosting the Foundation for Applied Conservative Leaderships’ Grassroots Training on February 15th in in Orange Virginia.
Our February 1st class sold out last week,
But we still have seats available for the February 15th class and you can find out more information on how to fight and win by clicking here.
This intense one-day training covers:
The Real Nature of Politics – why just “educating” people alone won’t result in change;
The Biggest Lie in Politics – and how the political class uses your convictions against you;
How to work effectively at the Capitol – getting a bill sponsor and a roll call vote despite the leadership; and
How to put pressure on legislators and take either their vote, or their seat
We are finalizing the details on our efforts on the VCDL Lobby Day on January 20th, 2020.
We are planning to not only participate in the Lobby Portion, but also to drop thousands of petitions on the desks of targeted politicians demanding they oppose all future gun control efforts in Virginia.
We also will be collecting signatures for the Recall Northam Petition and we need your help.
If you can help out with our efforts on Lobby day to confront poor performing politicians and collect signatures for our petition, please email Jimmy Singh by clicking here.
Finally there is a Facebook Group calling themselves the Virginia Constitutional Conservatives, and their group is located here. I am not sure who is running that group, but it is not us here at the state registered PAC. Please do not think anything posted over there is coming from us here at VCC.
There will be many more updates, and we will keep you up to date as the fight continues.
In Liberty,
VCDL email:
Recap of the Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Monday, January 13
Several thousand gun owners turned out at the temporary General Assembly Building on Monday, January 13! The hearing room was divided into two areas – the larger area for gun-rights supporters and the other was a smaller area for gun-control supporters.
Gun owners filled up their side of the room quickly, while the gun controllers side was still pretty empty. To make it looked like they had more people and not look so pitiful, a search for gun-controllers in the waiting line outside the meeting room doors was conducted. Countless gun owners in the line were skipped over in the search for more gun-controllers. Whenever a gun controller was found, they were allowed to go into the meeting room, but no more gun owners were allowed in.
Sheriff Scott Jenkins of Culpeper County and Sheriff Richard Vaughn of Grayson County were in the room in support of gun owners. Sheriff Jenkins spoke twice during the hearings.
The meeting was chaired by Democrat Senator John Edwards. The Republicans on the committee pointed out multiple mistakes and even rules that were broken in the running of the committee, but the Democrat-controlled committee ignored the complaints and lurched forward anyhow, rules be damned.
Republican Senator Bill Stanley, who could not be at the hearing due to a trial he had to attend, had been promised by John Edwards that no gun bills would be heard on Monday, but Senator Edwards went back on his word and gun bills were heard anyhow. Senator Mark Obenshain brought up that broken promise, but to no avail.
Each side was only given 5 minutes total to speak on each bill.
The first gun-control bill to pass out of committee was SB 69, a one-handgun a month bill, which reinstated the last version of that law before it was repealed. Senator Saslaw’s version of that same bill, SB 22, was rolled into SB 69 and SB 69 was passed out by a partisan vote of 9 to 5. Republican senators Mark Obenshain and Ryan McDougle put up strong resistance, as did speakers who pointed out that the law had been a failure, but to no avail.
Next up was SB 70, a Universal Background Check bill. Saslaw’s version of the same bill, SB 12, was rolled into SB 70. A substitute bill was then offered for SB 70, which made the background checks only apply to sales of guns and not transfers, which fixes the problems with letting a friend or family member use one of your guns without you being constantly present. However, it still strips an 18, 19, or 20 year old from being able to own a handgun, since a dealer cannot process a handgun purchased by federal law for someone that age. Also, a background check would have to be run on all sales, even sales to immediate family members, friends, etc.! SB 70 passed by a partisan vote of 9 to 5.
Senator Barker’s Red Flag Law bill, SB 240, was eviscerated, as all the flaws and dangers of that bill were brought up by Republicans Obenshain, McDougle, and Chafin on the committee, as well as by the pro-gun speakers. None of the concerns were addressed and the bill was passed by a partisan vote of 9 to 5.
Finally, SB 615, SB 450, and SB 505, all of which allow localities to pass various gun-control ordinances, were rolled into a substitute version of SB 35, making SB 35 an omnibus bill that destroys preemption by allowing Virginia localities to create a confusing set of local gun-control laws. Again, speaker after speaker spoke against SB 35, but it passed by a partisan 9 to 5 vote.
The gun-control bills that passed out of committee will now head to the Senate Floor to be voted on in a few days. VCDL will have an acton item shortly to bombard Senators with calls and emails encouraging them to opposed the four bills.
Elections have consequences and we are in a real fight to protect our rights.