According to Firearm Chronicles
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has never been a friend to the Second Amendment. That was true even before he used gun control to deflect from his blackface scandal. Of course, the media didn’t really love him until the deflection started.
When Democrats got control of the legislature in 2018, though, the state began dismantling all the positive steps forward toward gun rights the state had achieved in recent years. Of course, that might make a lot of them one-term legislators, but they did it anyway.
And, apparently, they weren’t done.
Earlier this month, Northam signed several bills into law requiring universal background checks, a 30-day waiting period between handgun purchases and more severe punishment for allowing a child access to loaded and unsecured firearms. The governor proposed amendments to two bills that were sent back to the General Assembly.
One of the bills will give localities the authority to regulate firearms in public buildings, parks, recreation centers and during permitted events. The amendment clarifies an exemption for colleges and universities.
An amendment to the senate bill addressing safety for victims of domestic violence requires that anyone subject to a protective order will be prohibited from possessing a firearm and requires the individual to turn their guns over within 24 hours of being served. Failure to comply will result in contempt of court charges.
With the exception of an all-out ban on assault style weapons and high capacity magazines, the final passage of these policies completes the group of eight public safety bills Northam proposed during the 2019 special legislative session. The General Assembly will revisit an assault rifle ban in 2021.
In other words, Northam isn’t content with the massive infringement he and his allies in the legislature have already made on Virginian’s gun rights, but they’re still going to push for even more next year.