Wednesday Writ: Virginia's General Assembly punted on the assault weapons ban today
Posted by Minute-Log-7098@reddit | Firearms | View on Reddit | 12 comments
At noon today the Virginia General Assembly reconvened in Richmond for the one-day session to take up Governor Spanberger's amendments to the firearm package, and the headliner did not survive. HB 217 in the House was passed by for the day. SB 749 in the Senate was passed by for the day on a 21-18 vote.
In Virginia legislative procedure that means neither chamber acted on Spanberger's amendments, so the assault weapons ban now returns to the governor in its originally enrolled form without her revisions. She must decide whether to sign or veto the same version her own amendments tried to clean up by removing the word "fixed" from the definition and exempting certain hunting shotguns.
Three other amended bills from the package did clear the reconvene. The General Assembly concurred in her recommendations on HB 1525 (raising the minimum purchase age to 21 and restoring background checks on private sales), HB 871 (safe storage in homes with minors), and HB 702 (clarifying gun sell-back programs). All three are on track to take effect July 1, 2026.
Meanwhile the DOJ Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon's April 10 letter warning a lawsuit is still on the table, and the bill that may now land in federal court is the legislature's original version, not the governor's revised one. What do you think she does with it?
Kokabim@reddit
I thought her amendment also changed the hi cap mag definition from 20 to 15...?
preparedbassfisher@reddit
There was no change to the mag capacity when she signed I don’t know what people were saying.
It started as a 10 round limit
It was raised to a 15 round limit
There was a clause that you couldn’t carry a gun with a FIXED mag over 15 rounds after the ban, so carrying a Glock 17 mag that’s grandfathered would be allowed
When she made edits she took away the word fixed so you couldn’t carry any mag over 15
That wasn’t confirmed so it’s the old version I guess. You can now carry grandfathered mags unless something changes
Melkor7410@reddit
I thought it was that you couldn't carry any gun *capable* of holding more than 15 rounds, which would basically mean any gun that takes a detachable magazine.
SP1TT3R@reddit
Her amendment changed it from 15 to 10
AKoolPopTart@reddit
Wheeze
GoatUSA47@reddit
This is not true, Reddit told me that democrats aren’t anti-2a
2dazeTaco@reddit
In 6 months after Virginia pulls a Rhode Island I expect this joke to turn into ”I was told they weren’t coming for my guns”.
SentinelZero@reddit
"Leopards wouldnt eat my face"
tuesdaythe13th@reddit
Leftists are not anti-2A, but Democrats are not Leftists. We don't have a Left party in the US, only Coca-Cola and Pepsi.
GrimHoly@reddit
Her amendments were never meant to pass, they were just meant to keep the ban from making headlines before redistricting.
dottmatrix@reddit
She signs it.
lonememe1298@reddit
Same plan as before, let it pass so she can claim credit for it while maintaining plausible deniability when asked why she allowed terrible GC policies to pass.