U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- The Virginia bill to ban “assault weapons”, HB 961, is highly controversial. It is one of the items credited with bringing over 22,000 Second Amendment supporters to the Virginia Capitol to lobby their legislators. 91 of 95 counties in Virginia have passed Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions, saying they will not comply with such legislation.
The Virginia legislature, with a new Democrat party majority in the House of Representatives (55-45) and the Senate (21-19) and a Democrat Governor, has been energized to pass bills long considered to be outside acceptable limits.
The Democrats passed their revised “assault weapons” ban on 11 February 2020, by a narrow majority, (51-48) in the House. Several Democrats joined all Republicans in voting against the bill.
The bill combines numerous evolving definitions of “assault weapons”. It includes many of the most popular semi-automatic centerfire rifles, large numbers of semi-automatic centerfire pistols, and many shotguns. It bans “trigger activators” which appear to be bump stocks. It appears to grandfather silencers legally owned prior to the enactment of the bill. Here is the summary of the bill. From HB 961:
Prohibiting sale, transport, etc., of assault firearms, certain firearm magazines, silencers, and trigger activators; penalties. Expands the definition of “assault firearm” and prohibits any person from importing, selling, transferring, manufacturing, purchasing, or transporting an assault firearm. A violation is a Class 6 felony. The bill prohibits a dealer from selling, renting, trading, or transferring from his inventory an assault firearm to any person. The bill makes it a Class 6 felony to import, sell, transfer, manufacture, purchase, possess, or transport silencers, and trigger activators, all defined in the bill. The bill makes it a Class 6 felony to import, sell, transfer, manufacture, purchase, or transport a large-capacity firearm magazine, as defined in the bill, and a Class 1 misdemeanor to possess such large-capacity firearm magazine. Any person who legally owns a large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator on July 1, 2020, may retain possession until January 1, 2021. During that time, such person shall (i) render the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator inoperable; (ii) remove the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator from the Commonwealth; (iii) transfer the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator to a person outside the Commonwealth who is not prohibited from possessing it; or (iv) surrender the large-capacity firearm magazine, silencer, or trigger activator to a state or local law-enforcement agency.
Last-minute wrangling likely grandfathered in silencers which are in legal possession when (and if) the bill becomes law. The summary says possession of silencers is banned. That was changed. Here are the relevant paragraphs from the engrossed bill as it passed the House:
§ 18.2-308.11. Import, sale, transfer, etc., of silencers; penalty.
A. For purposes of this section, “silencer” means any device for silencing, muffling, or diminishing the report of a firearm, including any part or combination of parts designed or intended for use in assembling or fabricating such a device.
B. It is unlawful for any person to import, sell, transfer, manufacture, or purchase a silencer, provided that a person may transfer a silencer in accordance with the provisions of the National Firearms Act (26 U.S.C. § 5801 et seq.). A violation of this section is punishable as a Class 6 felony.
Notice possession is not banned, but any further acquisition is.
The bill, if passed unchanged, has numerous legal difficulties. It appears to be unconstitutional on its face, given the Supreme Court decisions in Heller, McDonald, and Caetano.
The Supreme Court has been reluctant to take any new Second Amendment cases for a decade. Some appellate courts have ruled the Second Amendment does not protect semi-automatic rifles or magazines over 10 rounds. Others have ruled the Second Amendment has no effect outside the home.
The Supreme Court has two new justices in Gorsuch and Kavanagh. It is currently working on a case involving the Second Amendment. It should publish a decision by the end of June. No one knows how the Supreme Court will rule on the issue.
HB 961 may be defeated in the Virginia Senate, which holds a slim majority of Democrats 21-19. Most politicians want to keep their seats. This bill is incredibly toxic in Virginia.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
They’d have to pry them out of cold dead hands before anyone would confiscate my guns.
“HB 961 … is incredibly toxic in Virginia.”
No…democraps are incredibly toxic in Virginia. We will NOT comply.
As I read some of the comments, thinking back to society back then, I remember how simple things were. I agree with most on the suggestion that honor and dignity are in short inventory. But what strikes me, are the comments of guns registered. Guns registered? Every gun I have bought in last several years, no one but the store and myself knows what my purchase was. The government mandated forms I signed in no way shows what I bought, its serial number or anything. It mearly says i purchased a firearm.. if you voluntarily register a firearm on your… Read more »
Doesn’t it make sense that the physician turned governor who didn’t tell us exactly how a doctor should kill a baby, but told us they would keep him/her comfortable while he/she and the mother discussed whether to let the baby live or not, would then work hard to take guns away from the law abiding and thus make sure that only the lawless in their state will have guns! That is how crazy this time in history is. Crazy or evil – depending on where you’re coming from! For sure, depressing for many of us!
Absolutely none of this addresses people moving to the state of Virginia. I was born there and moved away because of work. I had planned to return when I retired (June 2020), but you can bet that won’t happen now. What are the odds that if/when the house or senate flip, some of these laws will get overturned.
How does a State ban a commonly used firearm the Supreme Court has already said were legal? The same way Sanctuary Cities continue to treat illegal aliens better than citizens, I ‘spect.
The good folks of Virginia need to get these Democrats out of office! Enforcing Article VI within the US Constitution is one path to do so that does not involve a civil disturbance. These leaders were elected but they have no right under Article VI to regulate arms. Godspeed Virginia!
Back during the Victorian Era of the United States, Americans became less free and more like the subjects in Great Britain. Subjects have NO ‘rights’ except those expressly granted by the crown. During the Victorian Era in Connecticut, in 1888, a city ordnance was violated. That ordnance stated that every man of age MUST wear a beard. Victorian compliance, you see. Well, a man refused. He did not like beards. The man was hung in the city square for failing to kneel to tyrants. The man was hung in the city square for refusing to grow a beard as the… Read more »
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” That IS the law. That is the 2A. The other day on Fox news, Dana L. said this attack on the free American citizen would pass the senate. That would leave only the governor to stop the civil war that will likely come if it becomes law. We all know what a black faced, socialist, demoncrapic paid for, traitor he is. I hope for the sake of the nation that he pays heed to the motto on the Va. state flag. If he doesn’t now, he… Read more »
Hey Virginia, show them how the second amendment applies outside of the home.
We, the People, are the rightful masters of both Congress and the Courts,
not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert
the Constitution. Abraham Lincoln, 1859.