By: Teresa Mull
Not content to infringe on the rights of their own constituents, Virginia Democrats are pushing to make their extreme gun control mandates national law.
GPM reported previously that several bills were able to receive Gov. Northam’s signature this year, namely:
> 1. Senate Bill 70 and House Bill 2 impose mandatory fees on private sales of firearms. Not paying fees on these sales would subject individuals to criminal penalties. Sales between friends, neighbors, or hunting companions are not exempt from Virginia’s new universal background check law.
> 2. Senate Bill 69 and House Bill 812 place limits on an individual’s right to purchase a handgun. Now, prospective gun owners are limited to only one handgun purchase a month.
> 3. Senate Bill 240 and House Bill 674 are “Red Flag” gun confiscation orders that allow for the seizure of a person’s firearm without due process. Dubious allegations are all that’s needed for law enforcement to confiscate firearms under this law. In passing this law, Virginia became the 18th state in the nation with red flag laws on the books.
> 4. House Bill 9 penalizes gun owners who either lose or have their firearms stolen if they don’t report them within a 48-hour time window of being lost or stolen.
Now, Richmond.com reports:
With Virginia’s controversial new gun control measures now in effect, the state’s Democratic U.S. senators want the state laws to become federal law.
Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, who is running for re-election, on Wednesday introduced the “Virginia Plan to Reduce Gun Violence Act of 2020” that would enact most of Virginia’s new gun control legislation nationally, including the state’s new “red flag” law, a one-handgun-a-month law, and the required reporting of lost and stolen guns. The proposal is not likely to gain support in the Republican-controlled Senate or with the White House.
“Too many communities across the Commonwealth have been affected by gun violence. That’s why earlier this month, Virginia led the charge by adopting reasonable measures to help prevent future tragedies. Now it’s time for Congress to act,” Warner said in a statement.
Virginia’s adoption of seven gun control measures backed by Gov. Ralph Northam this year met substantial pushback, with an estimated 22,000 people attending a gun rights rally in and around Capitol Square in January. Still, the legislature passed all but an assault weapons ban, citing a mandate from voters to act on the issue.
Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.