Members of the House of Delegates voted along party lines to ban the sale or purchase of assault weapons in Virginia starting in 2021, following a contentious committee meeting where gun rights supporters were escorted out of the room.
The revised bill would allow anyone who already owns assault weapons to keep them. And it no longer requires that they register those firearms with the state. The bill also outlaws the sale or purchase of large-capacity magazines, silencers and bump stocks.
Del. Mark Levine (D-Alexandria) said his bill will reduce the number of fatalities from mass murder.
“When you have an extended magazine, someone with that can shoot round after round after round, semi automatic sustained round and cause mass carnage,” Levine said. “When a mass shooter has to change that magazine, that gives an opportunity for a citizen to jump in.”
Del. Patrick Hope (D-Arlington), chair of the House Public Safety Committee, where the bill was heard, agreed with Levine that the ban is a positive step.
“We all campaigned on an assault weapons bill,” he said. “The public supports it overwhelmingly. Poll after poll demonstrates that.”
A December poll, conducted by the Wason Center concluded that a slight majority of Virginians support banning assault-style weapons.
Members of the public were asked to leave the meeting following outbursts by speakers who opposed the bill. They argued the ban will turn otherwise law abiding Virginians into felons.
“They’re restricting our rights,” Mark Curtis, of Hanover County, said. “They’re suppressing our voices by just having us all forcefully removed from the building. It’s unjust.”
The NRA released a statement following the vote after the committee meeting Friday:
“This gun ban will make millions of law-abiding Virginian's felons overnight while doing nothing to decrease crime. That’s why a majority of Virginians oppose it. The fact is lawmakers delayed bringing up this bill so they could pander to Mike Bloomberg, their billionaire benefactor who will be in Richmond next week to headline a Democratic fundraiser to further enrich themselves. It is clear that House leaders would rather bow to out-of-state interests than listen to their constituents and fellow lawmakers.”- Catherine Mortensen, NRA spokesperson
The bill now goes to the full House for a vote.
