Democrats in Virginia’s House of Delegates passed legislation Tuesday to ban suppressors, “high capacity” magazines, and “assault weapons.”
The bill, HB 961, now moves to the Virginia Senate.
HB 961 originally banned certain commonly owned firearms and suppressors without exception, The NRA-ILA reports that the bill amended to secure passage. The result is that a grandfather clause was added to allow Virginians to keep their AR-15s, AK-47s, and similar rifles if they already own them.
The same will apply to suppressors. However, the NRA-ILA notes that “confiscation is undoubtedly still the end goal.”
There is no grandfather clause for magazines, which means Virginians owning magazines holding 12 rounds or more will have to destroy or surrender those magazines, should HB 961 pass the Senate and be signed into law.
The NRA released a statement on the House passage of HB 961:
HB961 will turn law-abiding Virginians into criminals overnight. Under this bill, anyone who owns a standard capacity magazine must submit to mandatory confiscation or face one year in jail for each magazine they own. No law-abiding Virginian will be able to buy an AR-15 – America’s most popular all-purpose sporting rifle. After receiving money from Michael Bloomberg, House leaders have their hands out for more and clearly have no regard for the will of their constituents.
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.