After taking complete control of the state, Virginia Democrats are beginning to enact their left-wing agenda to undermine Americans’ constitutionally protected Second Amendment rights.
The legislative action comes after leftist Virginia Democrat Governor Ralph Northam announced at the beginning of last month that Democrats “will at least start” their attempts to restrict Virginian’s constitutional rights by “banning the sale of [semi-automatic firearms] and high-capacity magazines, restoring the law that limits purchases to one gun a month, and a red flag law that would empower a court to temporarily remove a gun from a person deemed to be a risk to himself or others,” The Washington Post reported.
When Northam was asked about confiscating firearms from law-abiding citizens, the governor responded, “that’s something I’m working [on] with our secretary of public safety.”
Free Beacon Second Amendment reporter Stephen Gutowski noted the proposed legislation on Monday, tweeting: “Meanwhile Virginia Democrats are filing bills to make the possession of millions of currently-owned firearms illegal. SB16 bans possession of many rifles without any grandfathering provision which means it’s confiscation.”
Meanwhile Virginia Democrats are filing bills to make the possession of millions of currently-owned firearms illegal. SB16 bans possession of many rifles without any grandfathering provision which means it's confiscation. https://t.co/i0SnJNDTxm https://t.co/j6DaJAj7g2
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) December 2, 2019
The legislation that Gutowski linked to included § 18.2-308.8, which proposes banning the “importation, sale, possession, etc., of assault firearms.”
The way that the legislation defines “assault firearms” would effectively ban nearly all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns, which are owned by tens of millions of Americans.
As Gutowski noted, there is no “grandfathering provision” included in the bill which essentially means that “it’s confiscation.”
The bill states (strike-through portions removed): “It is unlawful for any person to import, sell, manufacture, purchase, possess, or transport an assault firearm. A violation of this section is punishable as a Class 6 felony.”
In a separate article last month, The Free Beacon reported:
Gun confiscation and other gun control measures have been part of Northam’s agenda, but took on increased importance after a picture of two men, one in blackface and the other in KKK robes, was uncovered on Northam’s page in a medical school yearbook. In his first major public appearance after the scandal broke, Northam called for a special session of the legislature in order to reconsider his gun control package, following the recent strategy used by prominent liberals of pivoting to gun control after brushes with controversy.
Democrats have a strong incentive, in the form of millions in dark money, to implement new gun control laws. In each of the last three election cycles, Everytown for Gun Safety—backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg—and other gun control groups have spent large sums of money backing Democrats. Everytown spent $2.5 million to help push Democrats into the majority in Virginia, while the National Rifle Association spent just $300,000 supporting Republicans, according to CNBC.
Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) president Philip Van Cleave told The Free Beacon last week that support is rapidly growing at the county-level across the state to push back on Democrats’ attempts to restrict people’s constitutional freedoms.
“I’ve never seen anything like this, and I’ve been doing this for over 20 years,” Cleave said. “It’s a sleeping giant that had been pretty much not paying attention to politics, and now they’re awake, and now they’re flooding these sanctuary county hearings. Flooding them.”