During the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on what lawmakers described as “growing threats” against the Second Amendment, Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) shone a spotlight on the State of Virginia’s latest maneuvering related to recent legislation targeting gun ownership.
Just one day before the session, Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger suggested an amendment expanding the state’s proposed “assault firearms” ban to potentially include an even wider range of semi-automatic rifles and pistols, GOP lawmakers warned.
Virginia’s Hypocrisy
Spanberger said she generally approves of Virginia House Bill 217/Senate Bill 749, but recommended lawmakers amend the legislation’s definition of assault firearms to exclude the word “fixed” – a move gun rights advocates say leaves little doubt that the governor is “coming for our firearms.”
"Not only does it keep in place the de facto ban on some of the most common firearms in Virginia, it goes further and appears to create a ban on any firearm that can accept a magazine of more than 15 rounds,” House of Delegates Minority Leader Terry Kilgore, a Republican, said in a statement. "That includes the vast majority of firearms in Virginia that are in common use for legal purposes."
Sen. Paul highlighted what he called the “hypocrisy” of Virginia’s proposed anti-gun legislation, which would allow lawmakers to have armed security, but ban private citizens – most of whom cannot afford to hire protection – from having certain guns.
