‘Blue’ Virginia State Senate bill to confiscate ‘assault firearms’

Posted on December 3, 2019 by Dr. Eowyn

Virginia was considered a “swing” state in presidential elections, but the state became a solid “blue” on November 6, 2019.

With Democrats already holding the state’s three highest offices (governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general), after two years of Republican control in the state House and Senate by single-seat majorities, the voters of Virginia saw fit to give Democrats full control of the state legislature for the first time since 1994. Democrats won at least 21 of 40 seats in the state Senate and 51 seats in the 100-member House of Delegates.

Elections have consequences, and we are witnesses to the dire consequences of Virginia turning “blue”.

To begin, on election night, Virginia’s pro-abort Gov. Ralph Northam (D), 60, a pediatric neurologist by occupation and a former U.S. Army medical officer, wasted no time in pushing his gun control agenda. He declared his plan to reintroduce a package of gun control laws during the next legislative session. See “Elections have consequences: ‘Blue’ Virginia goes whole hog for gun control”.

Northam is joined by the State Senate.

On November 21, 2019, Virginia State Senator Louise Lucas (D)introduced a bill, SB 64: Paramilitary activities; penalty, which violates the U.S. Constitution’s First (“the right of the people peaceably to assemble”) and Second Amendments (“the right of the people to keep and bear Arms”). In the name of banning “paramilitary activities,” SB 64 criminalizes:

1. Instruction and training in using firearms.
2. Instruction and training in any “technique capable of causing injury or death to persons“, which can be construed to mean women’s self-defense, boxing, fencing, and the martial arts.
3. Assembling with others to target shoot in a gun range.
4. Assembling with others to perform “technique capable of causing injury or death to persons“, which can be construed to mean being in a boxing or martial arts studio.
5. Marching or parading while carrying a firearm.

See “‘Blue’ Virginia senate bill to ban firearm and martial arts instruction”.

There is also another noxious bill in the Virginia State Senate which will outright confiscate “assault firearms” and “certain firearm magazines”. The bill, SB 16, was introduced by 79-year-old pro-abort State Senator Dick Saslaw (D) on November 18, 2019.

Below are the pertinent sections of SB 16:

• Under SB 16 § 18.2-308.2:1 “Prohibiting the selling, etc., of firearms to certain persons,” is sub-section B. 1., which says: “no dealer shall sell, rent, trade, or transfer from his inventory any assault firearm to any person”.
• A “dealer” is defined as “any person licensed as a dealer pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 921 et seq.” and specifies that “any dealer who willfully and intentionally sells, rents, trades or transfers a firearm in violation of this section shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony.”
• Furthermore, SB 16’s § 18.2-308.8 also criminalizes the import, sale, transfer, manufacture, purchase, possession, or transport of an “assault firearm,” punishable as a Class 6 felony.
• § 18.2-308.9 criminalizes the import, sale, barter, or transfer of “certain firearm magazines” that are “designed to hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition,” punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.

SB 16 § 18.2-308.8 defines “assault firearm” as:

1. A semi-automatic center-fire rifle that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material with a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 10 rounds;

2. A semi-automatic center-fire rifle that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has one of the following characteristics: (i) a folding or telescoping stock; (ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the rifle; (iii) a thumbhole stock; (iv) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (v) a bayonet mount; (vi) a grenade launcher; (vii) a flare launcher; (viii) a silencer; (ix) a flash suppressor; (x) a muzzle brake; (xi) a muzzle compensator; (xii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting (a) a silencer, (b) a flash suppressor, (c) a muzzle brake, or (d) a muzzle compensator; or (xiii) any characteristic of like kind as enumerated in clauses (i) through (xii);

3. A semi-automatic center-fire pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material with a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 10 rounds;

4. A semi-automatic center-fire pistol that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has one of the following characteristics: (i) a folding or telescoping stock; (ii) a thumbhole stock; (iii) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand; (iv) the capacity to accept a magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip; (v) a shroud that is attached to, or partially or completely encircles, the barrel and that permits the shooter to hold the pistol with the non-trigger hand without being burned; (vi) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or more when the pistol is unloaded; (vii) a threaded barrel capable of accepting (a) a silencer, (b) a flash suppressor, (c) a barrel extender, or (d) a forward handgrip; or (viii) any characteristic of like kind as enumerated in clauses (i) through (vii);

5. A shotgun with a revolving cylinder that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material; or

6. A semi-automatic shotgun that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material that has one of the following characteristics: (i) a folding or telescoping stock, (ii) a thumbhole stock, (iii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the shotgun, (iv) the ability to accept a detachable magazine, (v) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of seven rounds, or (vi) any characteristic of like kind as enumerated in clauses (i) through (v).

“Assault firearm” includes any part or combination of parts designed or intended to convert, modify, or otherwise alter a firearm into an assault firearm, or any combination of parts that may be readily assembled into an assault firearm. “Assault firearm” does not include (i) a firearm that has been rendered permanently inoperable, (ii) an antique firearm as defined in § 18.2-308.2:2, or (iii) a curio or relic as defined in § 18.2-308.2:2.

Since SB 16 bans the possession of “assault firearms,” that means the “assault firearms” now owned by Virginians will be confiscated.

Exempt from SB 16 are, of course, the Virginia state government and law enforcement officers.

See also “Supreme Court ruled in 2008 that Second Amendment applies to individuals, not militias, and may include military weapons”

~Eowyn