A slate of gun control legislation is on the move in Virginia, with the Senate Courts of Justice committee holding a hearing today with more than a dozen anti-gun bills on the schedule, including a newly-amended ban on so-called assault firearms and large capacity magazines.
Sen. Saddam Salim, the chief sponsor of the legislation, acknowledged that the bill is designed to gradually reduce the number of firearms "on the streets", but noted that the bill grandfathers in existing owners.
That grandfather clause, however, doesn't extend to to "large capacity" magazines. In the substitute bill introduced before the committee, possession of any detachable magazine that can hold more than ten rounds would be a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to twelve months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine.
Sen. Mark Obenshain, one of the five Republicans on the bill, argued that the substitute bill would essentially outlaw any handgun that can accept a detachable magazine, and there was some discussion among Democrats about providing a "fix" to the legislation. However, the bill wasn't further amended by the Courts of Justice committee today. Instead, they approved the substitute bill on a party line vote and sent it on to the Senate Finance committee.
Though there were more than a dozen opponents of the bill who signed up to testify online, including the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Sen. Scott Surovell only allowed a handful of pro-2A Virginians to speak their mind. Representatives from Giffords, Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and other gun control groups were allowed to give their approval.
The substitute bill approved today removes language that would have prohibited adults under the age of 21 from possessing "assault firearms," as well as changing the definition of an "assault firearm" to remove language exempting guns manufactured before July 1, 2026 (unless they were possessed by adults younger than 21). That may be an improvement, but this bill is still far from acceptable from a Second Amendment standpoint, and the slight improvement is more than offset by banning millions of magazines that are currently in the hands of lawful owners across the state.
Oddly, while the bill doesn't directly ban the possession of an "assault firearm", instead prohibiting the "import, sale, manufacture, purchase, or transfer" of those guns, some section of the law do apply penalties for individuals convicted for the "importation, sale, possession, etc., of assault firearm." That suggests the ultimate intent of Democrats like Salim is to make the possession of an "assault firearm" just as illegal as possessing a magazine that can hold more than ten rounds, whether by amending this bill or coming back in a session or two to modify Virginia's "assault firearm" ban.
Democrats on the committee were quick to point out that the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has already upheld Maryland's ban on "assault weapons" and commonly owned magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds, though Maryland's magazine ban does include an exception for those who purchased and possessed their magazines before the ban took effect. The current language in SB 749 regarding magazines mirrors California's mag ban, which is currently being challenged in federal court.
In fact, the Supreme Court took no action in Duncan v. Bonta today after debating it in conference last week. It is crucially important for the Court to accept one or more of the pending cases challenging bans on so-called assault weapons and large capacity magazines as soon as possible, and Virginia Democrats are giving the justices one more reason to grant cert in the weeks ahead.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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