Virginia Assault Weapons Ban Fails In House of Delegates

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Feb 17, 2020

Democrat-sponsored gun control and magazine confiscation legislation appears to have failed in the Virginia House of Delegates on Monday, after legislators voted not to take up the bill in committee.

Moderate Democrats proved instrumental in defeating the gun grab bill, setting back a comprehensive gun control program pushed by Governor Ralph Northam and progressives in the state. Virginians appear secure in their Second Amendment rights, at least for now.

One anti-gun delegate pushing for the legislation, Mark Levine, could be seen with a stone-faced expression as it became clear that his gun grab bill would fail. Second Amendment supporters celebrated with glee as the house clerk announced HB961 wouldn’t advance in the chamber.

HB961 would’ve banned the sale of “assault weapons” in the commonwealth and would’ve instituted confiscation policies for standard-capacity thirty round magazines.

The activism of Second Amendment supporters in Virginia appears to have been instrumental in blocking the comprehensive gun control push, which began around the start of the year with controversial Governor Ralph Northam’s support.

A massive rally held at the state capital appears to have dampened the enthusiasm of some state legislators for the gun control program. Also, an abundance of conservative Virginia counties declared their intention to ignore anti-Second Amendment mandates from the state capital, making it clear that their constitutional rights were not to be tossed aside by metropolitan progressives.

Democrats were forced to back off from an even more aggressive Beto O’Rourke style gun confiscation proposal, in which owners of commonly owned rifles would have no choice but to surrender them to the state government.

This represents a loss, but not a final defeat, for the energized and well-funded gun control movement in the commonwealth of Virginia.

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