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.
@Baldwin – “AND” Seems to me that there is another issue in that statement – “HB 961 is incredibly toxic in Virginia” should be “HB 961 is incredibly toxic” – absolutely no reason to restrict geographically. That bill could possibly set of CWII, or set precedent to be followed by several other states. There is yet room for compromise – Northam & his accomplices recind their intollerable acts and resign with promises to never again involve themselves in public life – compromise is that following complete surrender, they won’t be strung up. Path they are on will soon eliminate that… Read more »
I like the way you think.
10 4 to that.
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!
Spike, Someone will have the exact same conversation about each of us, someday. Don’t get sick!
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.
@Stone,The disconnect is in the American theory of dual sovereignty, and the legal theory of preemption. Everyone has been ignoring the preemptive quality of the Second Amendment. It was intended to bind all later congresses, presidents, judges, bureaucrats, state legislatures, governors, bureaucrats, state judges, county sheriffs, city councils, and local police. Second, when courts began issuing decisions with dicta to the effect that personal civil rights have to be balanced against the needs of the state, those courts were signaling to Congress and state legislatures that the courts were ready to back up civil rights abridging legislation. Third, the NFA… Read more »
@Wild Bill
On point analysis, and a good demonstration of how all three branches of our Federal government have unconstitutionally violated and then abdicated their limited authority.
@Rev, Thank you, Thank you very much. That is where the bones are buried. Hope all is going well with you.
@Wild Bill
As well as can be for now, thanks.
Any law not in 100% harmony with the U.S. Constitution is null and void.
Regardless of the US Code, the Constitution is the supreme law that REGULATES the politicians and their unconstitutional agencies.
@tetejaun
That’s what Wild Bill was getting at. What he was doing was showing the convoluted way they tried to sneak it past.
Because the Citizens are not PHYSICALLY throwing them pout of the BUILDINGS.
Controlling government by force, if necessary, is the Right & Duty of the American People.
Exactly! Any law not in 100% harmony with the Constitution is null & void.
In the Federalist Papers, the founders remind Americans to ignore all unconstitutional ‘laws’.
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!
@Core, Just getting out and voting would have been the cheapest and easiest.
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 »
You have a link to that story? When I searched using your criteria, I got a completely different story, a different year, and a different outcome, from a different state:
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/joseph-palmer-persecuted-wearing-beard/
So, you are saying the search engines with their attendant bias is always infallible.
Let me see, I was told that story when I was in third grade at Elizabeth Street School in Los Angeles. The teacher was showing how tyrants exist at all levels of government.
I think the last time I read that story was in the law library at Boston U.
“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 »
“…400 MILLION registered firearms in the U.S….
No…not registered. Let’s keep it that way.
Baldwin, I am against registering anything, including firearms. I have no idea how many Unregistered firearms there are in America. I would have to assume there is at least one. I didn’t round up the numbers.
Arm up, carry on.
In 1963, I took my 13 year old brother to the gun shop in Brownsville, Oregon. Population 406. My brother wanted a pistol. After looking at several, he settled on one. The shop owner handed him the pistol and a box of ammo and said “Take it down to the river, try it out, see if it is what you want”. So, we did. We came back, paid the man for the gun and ammo and bought a holster. Most Americans cannot understand this example. Most all Americans today have no idea what it means to have Honor. THAT is… Read more »
@wjd, Youth is wasted on the young!
But..we know what freedom is….or was.
Will, should be that way now!
@wjd, All it would take is for all pro-gun people to get off their dead asses and vote. This would be the largest voting block in America. Simple fix. Ain’t gonna happen.
@wjd, Let us not morn our mislaid freedom. Let us go retrieve it.
100% correct!
@DB – Wild ass guess, way over 60 million in Texas. Saw a survey on gun ownership by state claiming roughly 1 gun per hundred people in a Texas. Added up what I’ve seen for sale in stores around my town and came up with a bigger number. Fine print in the article explained that “not all guns in Texas are registered”… only registration is NFA items, which alone puts us above “legal” firearms in some of the slave states! Either we have a very large multiple (100x ?) or they have a lot of “illegal” guns. I expect it’s… Read more »
The Second Amendment…the ONLY amendment with the COMMAND & ORDER “..shall not be infringed.” No hidden meaning there.
USA,
The Founding Fathers, being highly educated and accomplished men, made some mistakes:
1. They ASSUMED everyone wanted freedom.
2. They ASSUMED most Americans would fight the enemies of freedom in the United States.
3. They ASSUMED most Americans had a working knowledge of the English language.
The communist democrats do not teach civics or the Constitution and do not educate our children, but rather indoctrinate them into communism and the idea that government is god.
@ttj, Anyone can run for school board.
@USA – CO language is stronger, but it is still just language. From what I see, looks like CO has plenty of infringements and even more questioning.
One could actually call Colorado’s constitution into question as that wording infringes on 1A of US constitution.
I have read that there are about 400,000 automatic weapons registered to private citizens under the NFA. Based on the compliance rates under NYS’ “SAFE” Act passed in 2013 – less than 5% of what NYS expected, I wonder how many unregistered automatic weapons owned by private citizens there are in the USA.
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.
PATRIOTS IN FLORIDA WAKE UP YOU ARE NEXT! Bloomberg has already bought our State Senate Republican Leader Bill Galvano. Look at the amount of Money Bloomberg gave to Galvano’s pac To write SB-7028. Dates and Details: 10/26/18 Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund P. O. Box 4184 New York NY 10163 political org. 300,000.00 09/04/18 Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund P. O. Box 4184 New York NY 10163 political org. 200,000.00 This Radio station is right in galvanoes Home District: Call The Morning Road Show with Phil Dann’s Deplorables 7am to 9am, Mon-Fri EST . https://1490wwpr.com/listen-online-streaming. WWPR for all… Read more »
Bloomberg needs to be done like Anton Scalia was.
Remember to thank all of your friends, family and neighbors that voted these anti American ASSHOLES into office, THEY are the ones that F**KED you !
Two or three high population welfare counties did the damage,that and unopposed seats no GOP reps.Richmond is basically a suburb of D.C.,and tons of Fed fks live there.
Politicians won’t be happy until we are all labeled criminals. They pass “their laws” to see it happens. What the hell, they think I’m going to take something I spent my hard earned money on and sell it at a loss or render it inoperable. Tell you what, how about I lube it up, take it to them and shove it up their a$?. If I were to live there (Virginia), I would have amassed most every item they listed and kept them in a secure spot to be used as needed.
F them and feed them fish heads.
After looking at the map showing the true sentiment of the population, you have to wonder how the legislature could possibly continue on with gun control legislation. Doesn’t VA have a representative form of gov’t?
JOE, Of course we do. This perfectly illustrates the danger of Democracy.
It is Tyranny of the Majority.
The majority of the people live in the biggest cities and vote Blue, The rest of the state votes Red, but is less populated. Since representatives are based on population, not a set number per county, they have no say. I haven’t had a representative to vote for in decades. The Republicans don’t even bother to run anyone in this county.
The statement:
“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.”
has nothing to do with this article. The Supreme Court case at issue has nothing to do with semi-auto/assault banes, silencers, magazine size, trigger activator/bump stocks.
Trump just installed a new Fed judge and took control of the 11th Circuit, now onto the Ninth circuit of Commies.
I think a Federal Suit needs to be brought against ALL GCA ACTS and try and overturn them, NONE are Constitutional.
BREAKING: Virginia Senate Committee Votes to Postpone ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban Bill Consideration Until 2021 Session
“Republican motion to put off consideration of the bill until the 2021 session just passed, meaning there will be no ban bill this legislative session. That result was met with rollicking cheers from the overwhelmingly pro-gun crowd in the room.”
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/breaking-virginia-senate-houe-committee-votes-to-postpone-assault-weapon-ban-bill-consideration-until-2021-session/
IF the Senate approves it, LOOK out.
Be interesting to see who blinks first there in VA
We’ll see if the Senate is stupid.
Words are useless action is needed.Bottom line is YOUR birthright worth a damn to you, or do you prefer to live under COMMUNISTS who are breaking all state and Federal laws.
These SOB’s must be taught a lesson.It’s your Liberty and state WHAT are you going to do about it.
If you are suggesting criminal behavior, then, no, that is not what we are going to do about it. What we are going to do is work within the legal-framework of our government to fight any unconstitutional laws that might be passed. We have lived with some of these laws in the past – which were then repealed, such as one-gun-per-month.