By Jeff Hulbert
The “assault weapons” ban bill that brought more than 25,000 gun rights supporters to the Virginia statehouse last month has been shelved for the 2020 legislative session.
The vote in the Senate Judiciary committee to push the bill onto the 2021 legislative calendar so that it can be reviewed by a state crime commission drew raucous cheers from hearing room spectators as well from adjacent hallways, which were packed with Second Amendment activists.
Four Democrats joined the committee’s Republicans in the 10-5 vote, which takes Governor Ralph Northam’s top gun control bill off the table for at least a year. The proposal called for prohibitions on the sale of many semiautomatic firearms while banning the possession of magazines that could hold more than 12 rounds.
Governor Northam’s office issued this statement:
“While the Governor is disappointed in today’s vote, he fully expects the Crime Commission to give this measure the detailed review that the Senators called for. We will be back next year”.
Philip Van Cleave, leader of the Commonwealth’s dominant gun rights group, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, says the massive crowds of gun owners that flooded the Virginia statehouse grounds and surrounding streets on January 20th played a major role in the downfall of the Democrat’s highest priority gun control bill.
Joining Van Cleave in the hearing room to witness the Virginia AWB downfall was Sen. Amanda Chase, who traveled with VCDL supporters across the state as part of the Second Amendment sanctuary movement project that captured the support of about 97% of Virginia counties and towns.
Sen. Chase, a Republican who is known for wearing a sidearm on the floor and at legislative meetings in the statehouse, is set to announce her run to be the Old Dominion’s next governor when Ralph Northam—who is limited to a single term—leaves office in 2022.
As one of the more visible Virginia sheriffs in this political battle, Culpeper County’s Scott Jenkins was one of those applauding from the hearing room gallery as the bill was pushed aside for the year.
Jenkins had publicly pronounced that he was willing to deputize every gun owner in his county to shield them from Democrat overreach with new gun control.
Following the vote, Sheriff Jenkins seconded the notion that the momentum for a Virginia Assault Weapons Ban could be further weakened in 2021 by an intense conservative voter turnout this coming November.
Gun control groups were quick to register their intense disappointment at the downfall of the 2020 Virginia AWB.
Kris Brown of the Brady Group tweeted:
As a Virginian and as President of @bradybuzz, I am disappointed that @SenEdwardsVA & @CreighDeeds let this lifesaving bill fail today.
We cannot wait until 2021. We need leadership to save lives in Virginia. #BanWeaponsOfWar #EndGunViolence #VAleg https://t.co/29FvvaCsCS
— Kris Brown (@KrisB_Brown) February 17, 2020
The Coalition To Stop Gun Violence, who sent their top lobbyist to the witness podium today at the hearing, reacted bitterly:
“Virginia senators—some of whom came to us seeking an endorsement last summer—deferred when they should have acted. They displayed the timidity and small mindedness that has dominated the General Assembly in previous sessions under Republican control. They called themselves gun violence prevention champions and then cut and run when their jobs got hard. The bill will be issue number one in the 2021 session. We are hopeful that the Democratic majority in the Senate will have located its backbone by then.”
As of publication time, Shannon Watts of the Bloomberg-funded gun control group, Moms Demanding Action for Gun Sense, had not issued a statement.
For gun rights supporters, the news travelled fast. Within minutes of the Virginia AWB being shelved, the Women’s Defense League of New Hampshire was trumpeting the victory.
As one of the citizen’s seen shouting at the House committee that advanced the AWB to the Senate earlier this month, Mark Curtis of Beaver Dam, Virginia, said he was pleased with the 2020 AWB defeat.
Curtis said he and his fellow gun rights supporters will return as often as is necessary to keep the pressure on the gun control Democrats who, he says, continue to threaten Second Amendment rights.
All images courtesy Jeff Hulbert. Jeff is the founder of The Patriot Picket.
Northam…”We will be back next year”.”
So will we Ralphy, so will we.
So, when Coonman stars shouting “the sky is falling” next January will he get the same hype as he did this year? Hopefully the liberals in Va. won’t come up with some dumbass willing to kill a bunch of people then off himself to make their case for them… Yeah I know conspiracy shit like that CAN’T possibly happen here…. okay….
The shooting that started this happened almost a year ago. It took an election and ousting of Republicans for the issue to come up again. A few months is not going to change their wants. The only thing that will get them to back down is massive activism up until the next election is over.
If you think ANY shooting anywhere at any time is what started this you are either very naïve or a shill trying to deflect from the real reason these assholes want our guns… The shooting you reference was done with handguns just as the Va Tech shooting. There has NEVER been a mass shooting in Va that involved a semi-automatic sporting rifle (the Bernie Bro nutjob that shot up the REPUBLICAN baseball practice in 2017 did use an AR but the Liberals in Richmond would not care about that one)… which that dumbass Levine, who wrote the bill would not know if you handed him one and told him what it was… The game is power and control and nearly 400,000,000 guns in private hands stand in their way… If they really gave a shit about saving lives there are about a dozen things that kill more people every year in this country than gun owners with AR/AK type rifles…
The baseball field shooter used a SKS.
The take over of Virginia and the flood of gun control bills came out of the Virginia Beach shooting. Before the election the Democrats wanted to debate for new gun control but the Republicans refused. The result was an election that put the Democrats back into control. It was 20 something years since the Democrats had such numbers in Virginia.
Now the Republicans are trying to delay again until the next election, but this time the have a few new Democrats joining them.
this is how it’s supposed to work…get active…get results….politicians may be fond of bloomberg’s money…but you can’t collect it if you’re out of a job…
Postponing to check definitions will come back to bite gun owners because they will not have the same level of activism a year from now. Republicans are very lazy people and make many excuses for not being activists. The politicians will wait out the outrage and start creeping again. California did that for many years until they snuck their way past the defenses. Also, if there is another mass shooting in Virginia it will become harder to defeat gun control than now.
I don’t like seeing gun owners behaving as if this is a victory and putting out fake news about the bill being dead. People actually believe they won and now they can go back to sleep. They should be increasing the heat and coming up with better arguments than they currently make at these meetings.
The arguments pro gun people make are: sports, hunting, shall not be infringed, bankrupting gun stores, Heller decision. Very bad arguments when the other side is talking about saving children, making policing safer,, rifles are not commonly used for defense like handguns, supreme court has already ruled gun control is legal, AR type rifles are made for killing humans in combat.
Stop with your nonsensical sporting rifle talk.
Europe and Asia allow for semi auto gun ownership for sport. However, you have to store them as required by law and only use them for sporting purposes at events. Their guns are not considered tools for killing, they are tools for winning marksmanship competitions. They guns are more toy than weapon.
Correct; sports are a 9A activity and have nothing to do with 2A.
Rifles not being used in defense is a lie. Simple as. Liars should be called out and shamed.
As for Europe and Asia, that’s completely irrelevant. The US is not Europe or Asia.
Rifles are not commonly used in self defense like handguns are. Trainers even tell people not to use rifles for defense in their home because of over penetration. Most people have a handgun next to their bed. People that carry outside their home do not carry a long gun with them.
Most gun owners that own a rifle do not shoot it often. They say it’s just too expensive to go to the range regularly and not all in-door ranges allow rifles.
You ignore the sporting argument because you can’t argue against it. You dismiss it by saying Europe and Asia is irrelevant when the point was to show where the sporting argument leads to. How many Olympic shooters use an AR-15?
You don’t really own a gun do you? At least you are getting your word count up “Little Mike” will love that….. How’s that pay? hell I could pretend to be one of you if the money was right…. not really.
Chief Censor is about as clueless on firearms as anyone I’ve ever encountered on comment boards.
Really, chief, did you get your firearms training from playing “Call of Duty” too many times?
“Olympic shooters?” Are you a complete idiot about military science? What a dolt.
@Poshboy
You never watched Olympic shooting events? The Olympics is considered the highest level of sport. They use specialized guns to get their results. They do not use AK47s nor AR-15s.
How many people you know use a FAL or an AK in competition? People use custom guns they wouldn’t use for self defense/carry.
I have no idea why you insist on arguing ARs are rifles for sport. They are not sporting rifles as much as they are not assault rifles. Stop arguing for European gun control.
How many people are killed by semi auto rifles in America? Not many, right? Very few homicides occur with rifles, that includes justifiable homicides. That is because rifles are not in common use like handguns are. The numbers show this. Anti gun groups refuse to accept those numbers and it appears pro gun people too.
If you are honest, you would admit that many trainers think it’s a bad idea to use a rifle to defend your home, they believe it’s overkill and more dangerous. I disagree with them, but that is what they have been preaching for many years. They keep saying possible over penetration is an unacceptable risk. They argue shot placement is more important than penetration. They also say rifles are too long to be easily used in-doors, you are better off with a pistol.
Don’t blame me for your poor arguments that will lead to more gun control. Arguing modern rifles are for sports and hunting is futile. Hence the anti gun groups redefining them into “assault weapons,” as the general population doesn’t considered an AK47 a hunting rifle nor a rifle for competition shooting, they know the rifle is a weapon for fighting/battle. However, gun owners refuse to publicly accept rifles as weapons for combat because they don’t know how to argue from that angle, NRA members are especially resistant to it.
The Second Amendment is not about hunting nor sport. That’s what the sunshine patriots want to use them for.
@CheifCensor,
“Very few homicides occur with rifles, that includes justifiable homicides.”
Wouldn’t those “justifiable” homicides be defensive gun use????? Therefore rifles are being used for defense?
“Postponing to check definitions will come back to bite gun owners because they will not have the same level of activism a year from now.”
Wrong.
It’s proven that those strongly supporting gun rights show up to vote in a higher percentage than those supporting ‘gun control’.
Political momentum is on our side.
And after the ‘NY Pistol’ decision is announced in June…
*snicker* 😉
You really believe thousands of people will show up again to protest like the first time?
*Sigh*
Not to protest, they will show up to vote…
Persons like this make me so excited for what is to come.
-Trump re-elected
-RBG dies
-Another SC from the federalist list
-Loads of 2A cases going to the SC and winning, winning, winning.
-Lots of antis tears when they see their dreams shattered for their lifetimes
-Party time!!!
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This is a welcome but temporary relief. Make no mistake – the gun control freaks will continue their attempts to severely limit your right to own ANY firearms.
The open carrying of Arms as part of a protest is part of the 1st amendment. And to address the legislative body for redress of grievances. I don’t care what the PhD ACLU lawyers say.
To quote Sheriff Bart, “Hold the happiness folks” This bill is being “studied” until the election in November. If the democrats win big it will be back in the original ban and confiscate version. Count on it. These traitorous bastards never give up. Neither should we. I intend to confront my local delegates personally and challenge them to explain their votes. Each of us must be pro-active and aggressive in making sure that our reps vote the way WE want them to or suffer the consequences.
If it passed as is, the Dems would be amending it to the original version is they picked up seats.
They always amend to add more. It’s like when you allow a cop to search your car, they don’t just search where you were sitting, they search everything. Everyone knows once it becomes “law” it’s almost impossible in America to get rid of it because both parties want it.
So they had no studies on hand when they proposed this law? Did they just admit that they have no idea what they’re doing?
^^^^
This!
The utter failure of the Federal AWB is all the research they would ever need.
My thinking as well. Not quite sure why some states (such as CA, where our own AW laws are onerous) feel that this time a ban will work. You know, because it never has before. Kinda like socialism!
I think they know what they are doing. At least the highest of the leaders among them. Disarm the American people, and set them up for events such as the Rape of Nanking. Every population that socialists (communists) have disarmed, have been served atrocity after atrocity afterward.
I’ve said many times that Socialists, and Democrats hate America. Disarm, open borders, free welfare, tax working class to death, and punish men for being men. They hate us.
Spot-on.
Absolutely, 100% true, good sir. These attempts by the degenerate progressives are their precursor to internal security actions against loyal Americans.
Once 2021 rolls around, the progressives need to start being rounded up and expelled from not only Virginia, but the United States of America. Their disloyalty to our liberties is like a cancer–it now needs to be excised permanently.
Peacefully, of course, but if it gets really rough, I’ll probably just look the other way and mind my own business, you know?
I heard them say they wanted to make sure the definitions were proper before they vote on it. They were arguing about what is an “assault rifle/weapon” and what is a “fixed magazine.”
For example, they were going back and forth about magazines being fixed in place when inserted into the gun.
Yeah it’s just code for we’ll bring something back that doesn’t sound as bad. They’ll do anything to get that feather in their cap.
The Democrats will 100% try to quickly sneak it back in before the next election, when they think you aren’t looking. Just watch.
Expect a highly visible false flag operation at a school or mall within the next year.
Just sayin’.
I expect conspiracy nuts to remain nuts.
I would add that in the spirit of civility and cooperation, that gun rights groups reach out to the Democratic and Republicans senators that voted to table the bill to provide them with information and identify dis-information to further entrench Virginia’s right of gun ownership and use.
Rather than demonize all Democrats, let’s try to work with and inform the ones that seem to be listening so this ceases to be a partisan issue! Have them work with us rather than against us.
This. 100% this.
But vote the Dems OUT NOW!!! They will not stop until they turn this country into Kalifornia.
Thrilled that the Virginia patriots have this victory. General Lee and Gen Washington are smiling down on Virginia today!! There is hope for Virginia and this nation. Praying for the removal of all of Bloomberg puppets. GOD BLESS VIRGINIA!!! Keep up the great work!
Typical Progressive tactics: insult and belittle anyone who does not agree with you rather than debate the actual subject matter.
” he fully expects the Crime Commission to give this measure the detailed review ”
Uh huh. And just who is this Crime Commission? A bunch of gun-grabbing Democrats flush with The Baby Bloomer’s money? I guess we can already guess which way this “detailed review” is going to go.
It’s going to be real hard to come up with anything believable since this law was federal law for 10 years & utterly failed.
Virginia has been trending downward in Democrat support in presidential years the last three cycles, since the Dems flipped the state in 2008. Prior to Obama, Virginia had voted for the GOP presidential candidate every election since the Dems last won it with LBJ in 1964. Granted, these last three presidential cycles have gone to the Dems, but they have been declining successively from Obama’s razor thin majorities to Hillary’s mere plurality.
The votes are there to take back your state, Virginians. Do it! We’ve seen your civics lesson in the right to peaceably assemble and the right petition the government for redress of grievances. It looks good and you’ve made us proud.
For an encore, show America what legally throwing off wannabe tyrants looks like. Make it the vote heard round the world.
Not a defeat of the bill. It is just a stratigicly minded fall back to see if a Democratic President gets elected, if the Democratics hold the nations house and win control of the Senate. It’s not over, just strategically delayed. Don’t let this draw people into a false lull of no need to continue to stand strong and vigilent against those who would kill the constitution or those who have not been taught the meaning of it and its absolute nessesaty to be law of our country, to hold those accountable who would disregard their oath to uphold and protect it and its protections for all citizens.
This is grass roots! Remember the ones below!
Democrats who voted to protect your rights and kill HB 961 Deeds, Edwards, Petersen, Surrovell.
The following Republicans Senators voted in a bipartisan manner to protect your rights and kill HB 961 Chafin,McDougle, Norment, Obenshain,Stanley, Stuart.
The following Senators voted in a partisan manner against your rights BOO: Boysko, Lucas, McClellan, Morrissey, and Saslaw
A convenient occurrence could undergo development, putting it right back on the table.
Until then just remember some sage words:
“A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.”
Bloomberg’s biggest mistake was buying Virginia this year. It let us all see exactly what he plans for all of us. He might have snuck out a Presidential win if he hadn’t shown his hand so blatantly here.
Thank you, Virginia, for taking the bullet for the rest of us; hopefully we won’t let you down in November.
Bloomberg wants to Stop ‘n’ Frisk the entire USA. He’s basically unconstitutionally stopping us and frisking us of our 2A rights.
Trump wants stop and frisk too. Not only does he want such unconstitutional things, he has created gun control task forces that are currently enforcing federal gun control in the states.
That’s what New York politicians are used to. It’s what politicians want.
You really need to get your meds checked..
Says a guy named “Mad Max.”
I speak truth and have evidence. You got delusions.
State government integrating with the ATF to enforce all kinds of gun control. Including red flag/risk protection orders if possible.
We’ve seen what the ATF and FBI does to people who resist gun control. If you don’t comply they might burn down your house using an armored vehicle or murder your family using a sniper.
Tucker Carlson made a great point the other night — these gun laws aren’t about “saving lives”, and never have been. That’s why the facts don’t matter. These laws are about PUNISHING YOU because you vote the wrong way.
It maybe more efficient to just ban Leftard Commiecrats .
Virginia, darling, please listen closely. This is really, really important.
You have to vote against the Democrats in November and at every single election.
Every one. Every time. They only need to win once and it is all over.
Drive out Northam’s party in such a punishing loss that they will feel it for another decade. Smack their nose hard and rub it in the fecal matter they tried to dump on the Constitution so they know what we’re talking about.
Maybe they’ll learn.
Maybe.
“Every one. Every time.”
I think the biggest plot of the Demons at this point is controlling the House and Senate. The LiL short man spending a Billion to change our world is working hard. We will all be in a world hurt if he has his way.
Assault weapons ban, har har. have been stcok piling airheads and piss since 1994. Assault weapons ban.
How about this?
a) Vote every single state anti-gunner out of office.
b) Vote Republican in November up and down the ballot to keep the anti gun Bolsheviks out of our Federal Legislature and the White House
c) Install a Republican Governor after “Blackface” Northam leaves due to term limits.
Gun Control is about as racist and nazi as you can get. You have to be a total history illiterate not to know better. If you are in camp with gun control busy bodies you need to educate yourself and get out.