With just days remaining before the legislative crossover deadline, the Democrat-controlled Virginia House of Delegates went all-in on gun control this week.
On Thursday, the House, which has a 64-36 Democratic majority, approved at least a half-dozen anti-gun measures, sending them to the state Senate for further consideration. If green-lit by the legislature, they would head to the desk of former Moms Demand Action volunteer, Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D), who ran her 2025 campaign on a "tough on guns" platform.
Chief among the legislation advancing is House Bill 217, which bans popular semi-automatic firearms-- rifles, pistols, and shotguns-- places an arbitrary limit on magazine capacities, and makes it a crime for possession of such outlawed arms and devices by individuals under the age of 21. The measure passed in an easy 58-34 roll call. Violators would face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.
House Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, R-Scott, an attorney by trade, described the proposed ban to the assembled delegates as a "lawyer's dream," because it "blatantly defies" the U.S. Supreme Court's Bruen precedent and historical text and tradition test. "To call these rifles common is an understatement," Kilgore said, pointing out that the high court has repeatedly used commonality as a key to constitutional protections.
Other measures approved and headed to the Virginia Senate are HB 21 which stands to open the firearms industry to fresh attack via lawfare-- a move that could drive it out of existence-- HB 40 which bans and regulates unfinished frames and receivers, HB 110 which makes it harder to legally carry a gun in a vehicle, and HB 871 which establishes a mandatory gun lock law.
In addition to the bills inbound from the House, the Virginia Senate is also considering its own raft of anti-2A proposals, including SB 763, which has been described by conservation groups as an 11 percent "sin tax" on guns, ammo, and firearm accessories to the benefit of the Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund.
In one minor win for gun owners, House Bill 207, a proposed new $500 tax on the retail sale of firearm suppressors, just after their longstanding $200 federal tax has been zeroed out, has not advanced out of committee.
