After Democratic legislative gains, Virginia governor vows new
gun-control push
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[November 07, 2019]
By Brad Brooks
(Reuters) - Virginia Governor Ralph
Northam's push for new gun control laws after the May massacre of 12
people in Virginia Beach flopped when the Republican-controlled state
legislature acquiesced to his call for a July special session but left
without a vote.
But Northam saw new hope on Wednesday for his gun measures after voters
flipped control of both chambers of the statehouse to his fellow
Democrats for the first time in a quarter century.
"They want us to finally pass commonsense gun safety legislation, so no
one has to fear being hurt or killed while at school, at work, or at
their place of worship," Northam said hours after the election results.
"I look forward to working with our new Democratic majority to make
these priorities a reality."
The legislature will take on several proposals, including banning
assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines and raising the minimum
age to 21 from 18 to buy a rifle or shotgun, said Dick Saslaw, the top
Democrat in the state Senate.
The United States has seen a steady stream of mass shootings in recent
years, including the massacre of 58 people at a Las Vegas country music
concert in 2017, and a pair of back-to-back shootings this past summer
in Texas and Ohio that left 22 dead.
While congressional Democrats have called for new gun laws since those
attacks, and President Donald Trump at times has voiced openness to the
idea, Republicans have blocked them, arguing that restrictions on
firearms violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
That has left the issue to state legislatures and prompted gun-control
advocates to shift their focus to making state-level changes. Everytown
for Gun Safety, started by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg,
contributed more than $2.5 million to Virginia Democratic campaigns, the
group said on Wednesday.
'THIS IS INSANE'
Following the May mass shooting at a Virginia Beach municipal building
by a city engineer armed with two .45-caliber handguns, Northam asked
state lawmakers to hold a special session to discuss gun control. The
Republican-controlled legislature heeded his order but met for just 90
minutes, and left without voting on any proposals.
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Virginia Governor Ralph Northam attends a rally held by gun control
activists and the families of shooting victims outside the Virginia
State Capitol Building in Richmond, VA, U.S. July 9, 2019.
REUTERS/Michael A. McCoy/File Photo
Robyn Sordelett, a gun-owning volunteer with the Virginia chapter of
Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, told Reuters the first
thing the group would push for would be background checks and strong
"red-flag" laws, which would allow courts and local law enforcement
to remove guns from people deemed a risk to communities.
"Those two pieces of legislation will absolutely save lives. We've
seen it in other states and we know it can work here," she said by
phone.
Sordelett said she believed the gun issue had reached the point
where it bridges the urban-rural divide and that headway could be
made in other states in 2020, when voters will elect state lawmakers
across most of the country as well as voting for president and
congressional representatives.
"After every mass shooting, I wake up to texts from rural neighbors
saying: 'This is insane, what are we going to do?'" Sordelett said.
The National Rifle Association, which strongly opposes gun control
laws, confirmed it had been vastly outspent by Bloomberg's group and
said in a statement that "Virginians are about to experience life
under a distant tycoon's thumb."
"Candidates who proudly accepted Bloomberg's cash - and every voter
they misled - will soon realize the cost of being beholden to a
Manhattan billionaire who despises Virginians' right to
self-defense," the NRA said in an emailed statement. "As the battle
continues, so does the NRA's defense of the Second Amendment rights
of all Americans."
(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Austin, Texas; Additional reporting by
Joseph Ax in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Peter Cooney)
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