By Chris “Badger” Thomas at Breaking First
After narrowly passing out of a House committee last Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam’s gun bill is on track for a final vote by the Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday. If approved, HB961 would then head over to the state Senate, where four Democrat senators have already spoken in opposition to the bill as introduced.
I’m really pleased that David Adams, legislative affairs director for the Virginia Shooting Sports Association was able to join me on today’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. to talk about the latest language of the bill and its current prospects in both the House and Senate.
Adams believes there’ll be bipartisan opposition to the gun ban bill, which also bans the continued possession of all ammunition magazines that can hold more than 12-rounds, as well as banning the future sale and manufacturing of many semi-automatic long guns and AR-pistols and all suppressors. Whether there’s enough to defeat the bill in the House remains an open question. Bearing Arms
With limited debate, the Virginia House Public Safety Committee Friday morning passed an amended version of HB961 that would ban future sales of the most commonly sold rifles, magazines, and all suppressors in the state of Virginia.
The 12-9 vote comes as House Democrats were forced to overhaul the bill in order to gain support from reluctant Democrat legislators. Gone, for now anyway, are requirements that gun owners register their so-called “assault weapons” with the state police, as well as turn in or destroy any lawfully possessed suppressors or “trigger activators.”
However, the bill still contains language that would require Virginians to either turn over or destroy ammunition magazines deemed to be “high capacity.” According to the current language of HB961, that means any Virginian possessing an ammunition magazine that can accept more than 12-rounds on January 1st, 2021 would be a felon. As House Republicans noted shortly after the bill passed out of committee “amounts to confiscation.”
Chris “Badger” Thomas is a Veteran who served our country as an Army Combat Medic.
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