AMGOA Staff
Pennsylvania


Posts: 1,427

After months of contentious arguments on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol, on city council daises and in campaign speeches, a slate of new state gun control laws is set to take effect Wednesday.

The topic of gun control dominated the General Assembly's most recent legislative session, with Democrats; newly in the majority in both chambers and armed with the support of fellow Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam; pushing through a slew of bills they said were necessary to stop violence caused by guns.

Democrat led legislation had the backing of groups such as Moms Demand Action and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Republicans in the minority, meanwhile, loudly voiced their opposition alongside the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group that grew by several thousand members over the course of a few months after Democrats ran a pro-gun-control campaign in November and won.

The central argument from elected Republicans and the VCDL was that bills limiting what someone could do with their gun, or how many they can buy, were unconstitutional. They also said bills aiming to put more control over guns wouldn't stop incidents like the Virginia Beach mass shooting, where a former employee killed 12 people at a city municipal center in May 2019.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the VCDL, has already filed suit attempting to block two of the bills, with other lawsuits in the works, he told The Virginian-Pilot.

https://www.pilotonline.com/government/virginia/vp-nw-new-gun-laws-july-1-20200627-7y467f6qjzdodewpdznujpev6m-story.html