Virginia Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. Norment Jr. (R-James City) put forward a gun control bill one day ahead of a special gun control session for state legislators.
On June 4, 2019, Breitbart News reported that Gov. Ralph Northam (D) called a special session of state lawmakers for the purposes of considering new gun controls. The special session, scheduled for July 9, was specifically called in reaction to the May 31, 2019, Virginia Beach shooting.
Northam is seeking a suppressor ban, a one-handgun-a-month purchase limit, and other gun controls that would not have prevented the Virginia Beach shooting.
WRIC reports that Senate Majority Leader Norment is now pushing a ban on the possession of firearms in “all buildings owned or used by a local government.” This gun control would have done nothing to prevent the Virginia Beach shooting as that shooting occurred in an employee portion of the building, which was already gun-free.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Norment’s prohibition against guns in government buildings “goes further than what Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has proposed.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.