Richmond, VA –-(Ammoland.com)- The “Assault Firearms” bill (HB 961) in Virginia passed the Public Safety Committee on Friday.
On Monday, the legislature read the bill for the first time in the full House of Delegates. The full House of Delegates will vote on the bill before the annual crossover day. Crossover day is where the Senate sends all passed measures to the House and vice versa.
The bill will ban magazines that hold more than 12-rounds, Shotguns that hold more than seven shells, semi-automatic rifles with certain cosmetic features, suppressors, and trigger actuators. There are other things in the bill that gun owners are overlooking.
The bill reads:
“Assault firearm” includes any part or combination of parts designed or intended to convert, modify, or otherwise alter a firearm into an assault firearm, or any combination of parts that may be readily assembled into an assault firearm. “Assault firearm” does not include (i) a firearm that has been rendered permanently inoperable, (ii) an antique firearm as defined in § 18.2-308.2:2, or (iii) a curio or relic as defined in § 18.2-308.2:2.
This passage could potentially ban parts used to repair broken rifles. Banning the transfer of these rifles to anyone other than the government would mean once the rifle breaks, it is useless. If the owner repairs their gun or sells it, they are committing a felony.
Gun rights groups from around the country expressed concern about the passage of HB 961 out of the committee. One of these groups is Gun Owners of America that has been fighting hard alongside VCDL in the Commonwealth to defeat the attack on gun rights. Senior Vice President, Erich Pratt, is dismayed the bill has gotten as far as it has.
“The radical Democrats in Richmond are poking the proverbial bear. Gun owners have a long memory,” Pratt told AmmoLand. “And they are motivated more so than ever before to get involved politically. Over 98% of gun owners polled say they would NOT reelect a Delegate or Senator who votes for a ban on commonly owned firearms, such as what passed out of a House committee today. Gun owners will definitely “remember in November.”
Democrats hid another passage in the bill. It reads:
B. It is unlawful for any person to import, sell, transfer, manufacture, or purchase an assault firearm, provided that a person may transfer an assault firearm to another person if:
1. The transfer is a bona fide gift made by or to a member of a transferor’s immediate family as defined in § 6.2-1300;
2. The transfer occurs by operation of law;
3. The person receiving the assault firearm is an executor or administrator of an estate or is a trustee of a trust created by a will, and the assault firearm to be transferred is property of such estate or trust;
4. The transferor is an executor or administrator of an estate or is a trustee of a trust created by a will, and the assault firearm to be transferred is the property of such estate or trust;
5. The transfer is temporary and is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm;
6. The transfer is temporary and occurs within the continuous presence of the owner of the firearm;
7. The sale or transfer of an assault firearm is to an authorized representative of the Commonwealth or any subdivision thereof as part of an authorized voluntary gun buy-back or give-back program;
8. The transfer is of an antique firearm as defined in § 18.2-308.2:2; or
9. The transfer occurs at a shooting range, shooting gallery, or other area designated for the purpose of target shooting, for use during target practice, a firearms safety or training course or class, a shooting competition, or any similar lawful activity.
C. A violation of this section is punishable as a Class 6 felony.
D. The provisions of this section shall not apply to (i) any government officer, agent, or employee, or member of the Armed Forces of the United States, to the extent that such person is otherwise authorized to acquire an assault firearm and does so while acting within the scope of his duties; (ii) the manufacture of an assault firearm by a firearms manufacturer for the purpose of sale to any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States or to a law-enforcement agency in the Commonwealth for use by that agency or its employees, provided that the manufacturer is properly licensed under federal, state, and local laws; (iii) the sale or transfer of an assault firearm by a licensed dealer to any branch of the Armed Forces of the United States or to a law-enforcement agency in the Commonwealth for use by that agency or its employees; (iv) the purchase by any person of his service handgun pursuant to § 59.1-148.3.
This hidden provision would make it illegal for the manufacturing of “assault firearms” in Virginia unless the intent is to sell it to the military or the police. Several manufacturers in Virginia would be put out of business or forced to move out of Virginia. The people employed by these companies would lose their jobs and cause economic hardships on the very people Democrats claim they care about the most, the working class.
In fact, they showed how much they cared about the public by only giving them six minutes to express their opposition to HB 961. After the committee voted the public was kicked out of the room by Capitol police under threat of arrest on orders from the Democrats. Talking to long time observers none could recall that happening before.
The bill is far from passing. HB 961 will have to pass out of the House of Delegates before being sent to the Senate. There is already one Democrat on record stating he will not vote for the bill. If another Democrat Senator breaks with their party line over the bill, then the law will fail.
AmmoLand encourages all gun owners across the Commonwealth to contact their representatives and encourage them to vote no on HB 961. Bloomberg will not stop at Virginia, but we have a shot of handing him a defeat in his war against guns.
Readers can email their representatives directly at https://gunowners.org/va02062020/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=va-alert2-2020-02-06
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.
NRA: Not Really Around
And I just got a mailing for the first time in over 10 years, I will be writing “FIRE WAYNE FIRST and APOLOGIZE FOR PROMOTING RED FLAGS & THE BUMPSTOCK BAN and maybe I will reconsider NOT SENDING YOU A SINGLE DIME!” on the card. Of course I’ll be mailing that BACK in their PREPAID ENVELOPE!
Excellent plan! Tell them to go to hell, and on their own dime to boot! A good example of “voting with your dollars”, which is the only vote we have left in today’s cesspool of corruption.
Except for the ammo box, OFC. The last resort to “a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object”.
@wjd, been doing that for 20 years. Ain’t worked yet.
Fill it full with junk mail. Maybe some coupons for depends.
Tape the prepaid envelope to a brick with clear shipping tape, and drop it in a mailbox…
How about it be illegal to infringe upon Americans’ rights?! Oh, wait…
The question needs to be asked how are these bills if passed into law any different than a slave owner determining what his slaves will own. The Democrats have never expunged that gene from their DNA. If we are going to beat these people we need to start comparing their ideas to despots through out history from individual slave owner to the USSR and Venezuela.
MY LORD!, they are banning their FINGERS?,trigger actuators.
I’ve still got my “driving” finger!
I wish Ammoland would cover the Liberal Democrat gun banning and 2nd Amendment Sanctuary activities going on in New Mexico that have been going on longer and are even worse than what is going on in Virginia. I realize that too many American actually believe that New Mexico is not a part of the United States, but it is, and it needs to be known how the Democrats stomp on the 2nd Amendment out here and how the residents are putting up a good fight with all but 3 counties in the entire state declaring themselves 2nd Amendment Sanctuaries with… Read more »
@JPM Until law-abiding citizens take the law into their own hands, storm their state capitols, arrest the law-breakers, and nullify the unconstitutional legislation, it’s gonna be the same story in every state.
AMEN Buster!
JPM, New Mexico is a state? In the USA? Who would have known about that? English isn’t even the official language of the state. Few living today were alive when that occurred; it was 108 years ago this month. I have read anecdotes about people not knowing that NM is a state. It is somewhat understandable, since US history and geography is no longer taught in schools, that would be considered nationalist – we can’t have pride in our country, leftists call that racism. Yes, many states have been feeling the pain of the assault on our rights, but the… Read more »
I love NM. I use to go there every year to hunt in Santa Fe NF with some friends from Pecos. But now they have made it nearly impossible for a non-resident to draw tag. IMO, poachers have ruined it for everyone there. The locals poach like crazy because they cannot draw tags either.
SK, you have got it right. The Democrats and liberals and their total corruption of the state are destroying a beautiful state. Non-residents can’t draw tags because the Democratic politicos sell the out of state tags for favors and cash and the residents can’t draw for the same reason. In 20+ years of living in New Mexico, I’ve drawn for hunts in Texas regularly, often yearly, and in New Mexico as a resident only 8 times in the same 20+ years.
VA goes full ruhtard.
Just as in Oregon, Virgin needs to start building their labor camps now. “Black-face” needs a place to house all of Virginia’s gun owners who will not give up their guns.
The construction of prison camps equipped with large ovens will start soon.
Any manufacturer who sells “assault firearms” , parts, accessories or provides the means to repair said “assault firearm” to any local, state or federal governmental agency, officer or entity should be boycotted by everyone of us. In truth a boycott shouldn’t be needed, if these manufacturers, who you should reasonably be able to assume, cares about the Second Amendment to the Constitution and would do SOMETHING on their own. Doesnt BCM and Paul Bafoni (sp) do something like this? I know you wont find any BCM rifles for sale in Maryland and I dont blame him. I bought a complete… Read more »
@Bill
That’s funny they are running the TOP OF THE LINE ATI AND OMNI all polymer lowers on there DPMS barrels…BCM Budget? my 3 were far from budget…o well ignorance is bliss
Nahhhhh, it isn’t just for a certain types, it will quickly expand to all, that’s how it is done in our soon to go worse country if we don’t wise up the Sanders, and gang of four bitches mindless followers.
These politicians are like actors in Hollywood. They live in a bubble that defines their thinking. They hold a soapbox and believe that all forty-three people in attendance are representative of the bigger picture. So they persist without being any the wiser. According to their way of thinking, and those laws they want to pass, when one of their armed body guards get shot and killed, retires or dies of old age, it would be a felony to replace them.
“Over 98% of gun owners polled say they would NOT reelect a Delegate or Senator who votes for a ban on commonly owned firearms”
…… Too bad every state has thousands of lazy shitz that aren’t registered to vote…. because they don’t want to be called for jury duty…. or some other bullship reasons.
In AR they changed the jury duty pool to people with DL’s instead of registered voters. No excuse now.
As a follow up to my just previous comment–calling those four bitches is an insult to female dogs–I an sorry Suzie!
How many times can someone hit a hornets nest without being stung? Just askin for a friend.
many a year ago, Biden said they would get rid of guns by ‘ attrition ‘. In other words, the firearm needs a repair, or a part replaced, NOPE. Ain`t gonna be legal. I project that if this goes thru, they,the legislators, will get around to registering home shops.Along with periodic inspections,rewards for informants to turn in a home machinist who made a gun part, etc,etc.. Full blown American style Communism. Gentlemen, and ladies, we absolutely have to stop this.
That is not going to happen,only way if WE let it.
They are all MORONS(and dangerous) against your freedoms! Wonder why tar & feather with a pole comes to mind????
It’s just another BS law that’ll only have an effect on law abiding gun owners.
The LEFT wing Bloomberg Pols in Richmond need to be removed at all costs.
I did not think that States had control over what can and cannot be manufactored in the Country. I thought that fell under Federal laws.
They can regulate CANS,BUT everything else they are doing is NOT LAWFUL.
That is what I thought.