Virginia –-(Ammoland.com)- The remaining gun-control bills, except for a single “Stop Gun Violence” license plate bill, are now all officially dead! They were effectively pocket vetoed because the committee they were assigned to didn’t have a chance to hear them.
ONLY THREE GOOD BILLS REMAIN, THOUGH
Our agenda was also hit pretty hard. The weakness on some bills we thought were pretty straight forward was surprising.
Pro-rights bills that are still alive:
Senator Chafin’s SB 372, which repeals the “good and sufficient reason” church law, is technically still alive, but without something major happening, it will probably die, like Delegate LaRock’s HB 1180 did. More faith leaders are going to have to step up to the plate on this.
HB 366, Delegate Rush, makes sure that if a felon’s gun-rights are restored, that information is placed in the State Police database so that an officer stopping such a person immediately knows that they have had their gun-rights restored. Right now it is a mess, as the police officer doing a traffic stop isn’t told about the restoration! How stupid is that?
SB 715, Senator Chase, allows firefighters and EMS to carry on duty. This bill is alive, but has some issues which we need to fix in the House.
Pro-rights bills that are dead:
Delegate LaRock’s HB 1180, which repeals the “good and sufficient reason” church law, was killed on Monday on the House Floor by sending it to a committee that everyone knew was not going to meet again before Crossover day. It didn’t help that Delegate Yancey went soft and that none of the Democrats stood with gun owners, churches, and private property owners, either.
Delegate Cline’s Constitutional Carry bill, like the remaining gun-control bills, above, was also effectively pocket vetoed because it was not heard in the committee where it was assigned.
Delegate Fariss’s HB 1398, which allows NEW CHP applicants to apply through the mail was also sent from the House Floor to a committee that was not going to meet again before Crossover day.
HB 408, Delegate Mark Cole’s bill to codify the DC v. Heller decision was effectively pocket vetoed because it was never heard in the committee where it was assigned.
SOME THOUGHTS AT THE HALFWAY POINT
The Republicans, as a whole, need to be given credit for stopping all the gun-control bills, **75** of them! None of those bills would have benefited Virginia, and most would have been horrible for all the lawful gun-owners in the state.
Those who really stood out by unflinchingly voting correctly on some very tough bills were the House Militia, Police, and Public Safety subcommittee #1. Special recognition goes to Committee Chairman, Ben Cline, subcommittee Chairman, Delegate Tommy Wright, and Delegates Nick Freitas, Mike Webert, and Matt Fariss. Nick Freitas made the vast majority of motions to kill the gun-control bills.
Delegate Dave LaRock really worked hard to get his church bill passed into law. He did research, wrote an opinion piece, and even had a large poster to display in committee showing Governor Northam in St. Paul’s church with his armed bodyguards.
Democrats pretty much voted against any gun bills that would benefit Virginia’s lawful gun owners. Civil rights certainly aren’t their strong suit any more.
Expect a few more Action Items in coming days.
About Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL):
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
For more information, visit: www.vcdl.org.
Keep fighting!
Thank God we have VCDL watching over our rights in Virginia if it wasn’t for them the liberals in the federal gov. North end of the state would make us look like NJ. Worse yet we could end up like the state that has a reincarnation of general gage as a governor NY
Yes, we were fortunate that we had enough Republicans left and who are pro-rights to lead the committees and purge these bad bills before they got to the floor. A few times some Democrats also voted pro-rights, even when some Republicans did not. We dodged another bullet. Unfortunately, some of the anti-rights delegates are so irrational that there are no facts or logic that will convince them. In a recent email discussion, I was basically call a criminal, even though I told him I have had numerous background checks for purchases of firearms, TSA-Pre, CC permit/renewal, state and federal employment,… Read more »