NRA-ILA | Virginia: Senate Committee to Hear 19 Anti-Gun Bills

On Monday, January 22, the Senate Committee on Courts of Justice will meet at 8a.m. in the sustained effort to severely limit your Second Amendment Rights in Virginia! The committee will be hearing and possibly holding a vote on nineteen (19) gun-related bills. Progressive, anti-gun lawmakers hope to take these extreme anti-gun measures across the finish line and become law as many of the bills are companions of House Bills heard last week. It’s critical you get engaged today by contacting your lawmakers and members of the committee and urge their opposition to these anti-gun measures!  

Lowlights of anti-gun bills scheduled to be considered:

SB 2, seeks to ban possessing, selling, manufacturing, purchasing, transporting, and transferring certain semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns. The bill would also impose arbitrary magazine restrictions, thereby making it illegal to buy, sell, or transfer any magazine that has a capacity greater than ten (10) rounds if it is manufactured after July 1, 2024. New age restrictions would also prohibit anyone under twenty-one (21) years of age from possessing certain firearms. This bill is only one example of the type of legislative overreach attempted by the newly elected, anti-gun members in the General Assembly. 

SB 55, SB 273, and SB 551  all seek to mandate arbitrary waiting periods prior to a law-abiding individual being able to purchase a firearm through a licensed firearms dealer. 

SB 327 discriminates against young adults (aged 18-20) who are purchasing certain firearms through licensed dealers. 

SB 522 would mandate training prior to purchasing a firearm. 

SB 258 expands upon Virginia’s recently passed anti-gun confiscation law. Recall that this law can remove an individual’s Second Amendment Rights based upon third party allegations, where an individual has no other disqualifiers, such as a criminal conviction or mental adjudication. This expansion also could impact non prohibited individuals who are simply residing with someone subject to a red-flag order. 

SB 491 creates civil liability for firearm industry members by allowing the Attorney General and county attorneys to bring a public nuisance action against those industry members. Those affected by this bill would include anyone engaged in the sale, manufacturing, distribution, importation, or marketing of a firearm-related product. 

SB 57 prohibits law-abiding, concealed handgun permit holders from carrying their handguns on restaurant premises if the restaurant has a license to serve alcohol. 

NRA-ILA will be fighting these measures in Richmond on Monday morning, but we also need YOU to speak to your lawmakers and tell them to protect your Second Amendment rights. Stay tuned for additional alerts from NRA-ILA.