Virginia Attacks Gun Rights

Believe me, I get what our job at Gun Tests is: to compare and grade firearms so you can make informed purchase decisions. But in this tiny sliver, we also talk some politics, because legislation affects your and my ability to own and enjoy firearms, whether we like it or not. At the federal level, I’d love to see items in the National Firearms Act become deregulated. I wouldn’t mind owning more suppressors or a short-barreled rifle or short-barreled shotgun. But my hopes for those changes seem to have gone away.

And speaking of going away, have you seen how fast gun rights are disappearing in the Commonwealth of Virginia? The governor and both houses of the state legislature are now controlled by Democrats, and that party is making hay while the sun shines. I wish I didn’t have to write all the time how gun rights are being throttled by that particular party, but thems the facts. And the Virginia Democrats really hate gun owners and want them disarmed. To wit:

• SB35 is legislation that would undermine Virginia’s state firearms preemption law by granting localities the authority to ban firearms, ammunition, and firearm and ammunition components in any governmental building or any public park owned by a locality. Worse still, this language would empower localities to create moving gun-free zones attached to events that would be impossible for law-abiding Virginians to predict.
• SB69 is legislation that would ration law-abiding Virginians to one handgun purchase per 30-day period. Virginia had a one-handgun-a-month law from 1993 to 2012.
• SB70 is legislation that would require a gun owner to obtain government permission before selling or trading a firearm to another individual, without exception. Specifically, the legislation states, “[n]o person shall sell a firearm for money, goods, services or anything else of value” without a background check.
• SB240 would grant the government the authority to seize a person’s firearms ex parte. An “emergency substantial risk order” would be issued without a hearing or other opportunity for the target of the order to be heard and present evidence. Moreover, this legislation permits the government to seize firearms based on a weak and nebulous standard of evidence — “probable cause.”

There’s also been mention of confiscation, registration, and other anti-gun measures. It’s sad to watch Virginia turn into New Jersey.