Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) has four years to mess up Virginia with left-wing policies, but she has not wasted any time. Within her first week in office, she has signed an avalanche of fringe, progressive executive orders, seeking to remake the swing state into dark-blue California. The state’s Democratic Party has another target in its sights: the Second Amendment.
Much of the proposed new legislation is unconstitutional. If passed, it would also turn law-abiding citizens into criminals overnight and cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
Within days of the session’s opening, Democratic lawmakers in the Virginia General Assembly introduced no fewer than 15 bills restricting the rights of citizens of the commonwealth to keep and bear arms.
Some proposed laws seem harmless enough, such as requiring the safe storage of firearms in households with minors. But most are not OK. Many measures resemble anti-gun laws that have long existed in New York, New Jersey, California, and other locales with high urban crime rates. They would, no doubt, prove as ineffective in Virginia as they have elsewhere.
For example, expanding the waiting period between purchasing a firearm and receiving it would do little to address violent crime. Criminals, being criminals, do not concern themselves with laws, whether they be gun laws or laws about other things. Many studies show that most repeat violent offenders do not buy firearms legally. Existing federal legislation has long prohibited them from doing so.
This bad policy would make it harder for law-abiding citizens to exercise their rights, but would not prevent criminals from getting guns. That means that while the bad guy gets his weapon, a peaceable and law-abiding mother would be delayed in protecting herself and her family from a stalker or abusive ex.
Virginia does not need more gun laws. It certainly does not need Senate Bill 749, which is unconstitutional and unworkable. It would be onerous for taxpayers and law enforcement agencies and would fundamentally alter the state’s gun laws by banning the sale of “assault-style weapons.”
What, you might ask, is an “assault-style weapon?” The short answer is that it is whatever the Democrats say it is. The definition offered by the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Saddam Salim, encompasses most modern firearms, including some designed nearly a century ago. The legislation prohibits the sale or ownership of any magazine with a capacity exceeding 10 rounds. This includes the vast majority of guns owned by Virginians and, for that matter, most gun-owning Americans.
On a 9-5 party-line vote, the state Senate committee voted to advance SB 749 without a grandfather clause. This means that if the bill becomes law, thousands of Virginians will become criminals if they fail to turn in their firearms and magazines. Since laws are only as good as their enforcement, the law would require mass confiscation of private property. This is impractical and unworkable, and promises to create burdens and hazards for law enforcement agencies already stretched thin and overworked.
It is also “blatantly unconstitutional,” former Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said. “By removing the grandfather clause with a stroke of the pen, countless law-abiding citizens who have never committed a crime can be punished with up to 12 months in jail, all for believing in their right to keep and bear arms.”
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Miyares is right. Much of this legislation was vetoed by Spanberger’s predecessor, former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin. Many of the proposed bills are unconstitutional, contravening recent Supreme Court decisions, such as NYSRPA v. Bruen. Virginia Democrats are not only advancing legislation that will strip Americans of their rights, but are also proposing a big bill for taxpayers.
At a time when Virginians and others are worried about rising costs and disorder, Democrats in the commonwealth are intent on increasing both.