By Shirleen Guerra | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – As Virginia lawmakers wrapped up work on firearm legislation before adjournment, they considered and ultimately rejected substitute language in House Bill 110 that Republicans said would give General Assembly members different treatment in a bill dealing with handguns left in unattended vehicles.
House Bill 110 would prohibit a person from leaving visible a handgun in an unattended motor vehicle and impose a civil penalty of up to $500 if signed into law. A conference report substitute included language Republicans objected to, but that language was not included in the final version approved by both chambers.
The Center Square was unsuccessful prior to publication getting comment from Laufer.
Sen. Richard Stuart, R-King George, said lawmakers should not vote for a bill that gives them “a special privilege over any other citizen.” Stuart said the General Assembly is a citizen legislature and “we are no better than anybody else.”
The final action on HB110 came as lawmakers wrapped up work on a broader package of firearm-related bills sent to first-term Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger.
Del. Wren Williams, R-Patrick, told The Center Square the package represents “the most sweeping restructuring of Virginia firearms law in the commonwealth’s history.”
Williams said the package includes measures on assault firearms and magazine bans, firearm industry civil liability, ghost gun serialization, a carry ban on public property, safe storage where minors or prohibited persons are present, and the domestic violence firearm removal process.
On Senate Bill 749, Williams said, “After July 1, you cannot buy, sell, or transfer a semiautomatic rifle or pistol with a detachable magazine and a single cosmetic feature, a pistol grip, a thumbhole stock, a threaded barrel. You cannot sell it to your neighbor. You cannot give it to your brother-in-law. Your son can inherit the rifle, but the magazines that feed it have no inheritance exception. They become contraband the moment they change hands. One generation from now, those magazines are gone.”
Williams also criticized Senate Bill 727, saying, “This bill strips the carry rights of concealed handgun permit holders in parks, on public sidewalks, and in public spaces, including streets and roads, across Virginia, for firearms that are already legally owned and legally carried. Your permit now means nothing.”
On House Bill 40, Williams said, “Building a firearm at home, something Virginians have done lawfully since before the founding, is now a Class 5 felony. Up to 10 years in prison. The same session where Democrats created an open season of lawsuits on the firearms manufacturing industry, they have also just criminalized building your own firearms.”
On Senate Bill 27 and House Bill 21, Williams said, “This bill creates a Virginia cause of action against firearms manufacturers and dealers that deliberately guts the federal liability protections Congress enacted in 2005. It is designed to do through litigation what the Legislature cannot do directly, bankrupt the firearms industry and drive them out of Virginia.”
He also criticized House Bill 871, saying, “If a minor or prohibited person lives in your home, your firearms must be locked at all times. The state will now dictate how you store your own property in your own home, and a violation is a criminal offense.”
Williams further argued the package would not have prevented the recent shooting at Old Dominion University.
“Not one of these bills would have stopped what happened at Old Dominion University,” he said. “Every law needed to stop him already existed. Every single one failed. All seven of these bills make criminals out of Virginians who follow the laws, the hunter, the collector, the mother who keeps a firearm in her home for protection. That is not public safety. That is political virtue signaling at the expense of the law-abiding.”
Spanberger can sign the bills, veto them or return them to the General Assembly with amendments.
