Guns of America Official Criticizes Miyares over Legal Defense in Background Check Lawsuit

Speakers at a pro-gun rally at the Virginia Capitol on Monday criticized some Republican politicians, including Attorney General Jason Miyares, whose office is defending a lawsuit over Virginia’s universal background check laws.

“Democrats might not actually be the roadblock. The roadblock might be Republicans that think that they have the base. There’s something called, ‘The Lesser of Two Evils Fallacy.’ It says that I’m not as bad as the other person, so therefore I’m going to get the votes of my base. We have to get rid of that. If a Republican goes anti-gun, we have to primary them,” Guns of America (GOA) Special Projects Coordinator John Crump said in a speech.

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Virginia Lobby Day 2023: VCDL and Republicans Focus on Blocking Democratic Gun Bills, Hope for More Action in 2024

RICHMOND, Virginia — Republicans and gun rights activists rallied at the Virginia Capitol on Monday, known as Lobby Day. They said this year’s General Assembly will be focused on blocking gun control legislation and on picking like-minded candidates for primaries and in the November general election. At a separate rally and a press conference Monday, Democrats announced measures aimed at preventing gun violence, but with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats controlling the Senate, both parties are likely to have little success in passing legislation.

“We’ve heard from the Virginia Senate that they’re the brick wall,” Delegate Tim Anderson (R-Virginia Beach) told the crowd outside the Bell Tower. “We saw them kill a lot of legislative priorities last year from Republicans. But what you’re going to see this year: the Democrats have dropped a lot of anti-Second Amendment bills, and what you’re going to see is this Republican majority in the House stand up to that and kill that in our public safety committee. And so that’s a big thing. You’re not going to see repeals of all of the laws that have offended us that the Democrats passed in 2020 and 2021, because while we can get them out of our house, they will die in the Senate.”

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2A Groups Caution Against Gun Control Measures in Virginia after Shootings

After three football players were killed in a shooting at the University of Virginia and six people were killed in a shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, gun groups are cautioning against efforts to impose stricter gun control measures.

On November 13, three UVA football players were killed after a man allegedly opened fire in a bus after returning to the university from a class trip. A little more than a week later, six people were killed in a Walmart in Chesapeake after a man allegedly opened fire because of grievances against some Walmart employees.

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Hundreds of Virginians Have Had Firearms Confiscated Through Red-Flag Laws

Hundreds of Virginians have had their guns confiscated from them through red-flag laws since those rules went into effect more than two years ago, according to data in the Virginia Firearms Transaction Center.

Red-flag laws allow police to seize firearms from a person if a judge deems him or her to be a threat to himself or others, even if that person has not been convicted of a crime, charged with a crime or even accused of a crime. The laws passed the General Assembly when Democrats had control of both chambers and were signed by former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam. The legislation received staunch opposition from the Republican minority at the time.

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Plaintiffs Get Partial Win in Lawsuit over Winchester Gun Ban Ordinance

A circuit court has granted a temporary injunction blocking City of Winchester’s ban on guns in parks and public permitted events, but leaves intact a ban on guns in city buildings. That’s a partial win for the plaintiffs well over a year after the lawsuit was first filed.

“Boy, do the wheels of justice turn slowly in this country, wow,” Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) President Philip Van Cleave told The Virginia Star. “You know, it’s an injunction. We were hoping to get something like that fairly quickly.”

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Gun Groups Caution against Richmond Gun Buyback Event

Richmond held a gun buyback program Saturday in an attempt to curb gun violence, but some critics have cautioned that such programs would not likely have that effect.

Individuals who seek to get rid of their firearms on a no-questions-asked policy were to do so at Liberation Church in Richmond. The city council approved the gun buyback event and bought the firearms using gift cards.

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Virginia State Senate Judiciary Committee Kills Local Gun Control Repeal

The Senate Judiciary Committee killed HB 827, a bill that would remove local authority to pass gun control ordinances. In its Monday meeting, the committee also killed several other Republican gun bills. Although a few bills are still working their way through the legislature, Monday’s committee meeting largely concludes the current General Assembly session in terms of gun policy, with few gains made by either firearms advocates or opponents.

“The session looks to be a wash for both sides, except for one bill on the serial numbers, and then a switchblade bill,” Virginia Citizens Defense League President Philip Van Cleave told The Virginia Star. “That’s not totally unexpected, but you never know.”

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Virginia House of Delegates Passes Locality Gun Control Repeal

The House of Delegates passed a bill to repeal the 2020 law authorizing localities to ban firearms on locality property. Delegates debated the bill on Wednesday before the vote Thursday.

“House Bill 827 returns our code back to its prior position,” Delegate Tony Wilt (R-Rockingham) said on Wednesday. “Other portions of the bill: it eliminates the requirement to destroy firearms that are confiscated and rather allows them to be offered for sale through a licensed dealer. And it also limits the ability of localities to sue firearm manufacturers.”

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The Virginia Citizens Defense League is Pressuring the Petersburg City Council over a New Gun Ban on City Property

The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) is calling for a pressure campaign on the members of the Petersburg City Council after the council approved a gun ban on city property similar to bans enacted in other localities.

“Petersburg slipped through local gun-control a few days ago and we (and almost everyone else, including the Petersburg police) just learned about it yesterday,” a VCDL alert said.

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Albemarle County, Virginia Considers Gun Ban on County Property

After lengthy discussion, public hearing, and a pro-gun protest outside the Albemarle County Office Building, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors (BOS) decided to postpone a decision on a gun ban on county property. In the board’s virtual meeting Wednesday, many public speakers spoke against the proposed ordinance, while others argued for a gun ban. But the supervisors seemed to take a more nuanced approach, discussion exemptions for concealed handgun permit holders and trying to make sure people wouldn’t accidentally violate the law.

Vice Chair Donna Price said, “One of the interesting things when you talk about weapons/guns: on either extreme there are people who believe there should be no regulations or total regulation, and both parties argue that if you don’t follow their belief, that there will either be anarchy or tyranny. And I tend not to believe either of those to be likely.”

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Loudoun County Postpones Vote on Gun Ban

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors postponed until March 2 a decision on local gun bans at a public hearing Wednesday night.

The BOS has been considering a ban for months. The current proposed ordinance would ban firearms and ammunition on county property, but the supervisors are also considering drafts with exemptions for concealed handgun permit (CHP) holders to carry concealed in parks despite the ban.

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Legislation Prohibiting Firearms, Other Weapons on Capitol Grounds Passes Virginia Senate

Virginia State Senator Adam Ebbin

Legislation prohibiting the possession and transportation of firearms and other weapons within Richmond’s Capitol Square as well as inside any buildings owned or leased by the state passed the Virginia Senate Tuesday afternoon.

The legislation, Senate Bill 1381, advanced out of the Senate by a 21-18 straight party-line vote with every Democrat in support and all Republicans opposing.

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Six Gun Bills Move Through Virginia House Committee

The House Committee on Public Safety (CPS) approved several firearms bills on Friday morning.  The bills include HB 1909, which allows school boards to declare non-school zone property owned by the board as a gun free zone; HB 1992, which prohibits people convicted of assault from owning or possessing a firearm; HB 2128, which increases the firearm sale background check delay from three days to five days, HB2276 which bans plastic firearms and 80 percent receivers; and HB 2295, which bans carrying firearms or stun weapons on Capitol grounds in Richmond. HB2081, which bans carrying firearms at a polling place, passed out of the Privileges and Elections Committee on Wednesday.

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Second Amendment Advocates Pour Into Virginia’s Capitol for Lobby Day 2021

Buses, a decommissioned ambulance, and lots of cars and trucks traveled through Richmond for hours on Monday afternoon as part of the Virginia Citizens Defense League’s (VCDL) Lobby Day 2021 demonstration. Most vehicles sported VCDL flags and decals; a few also waved Trump flags and other paraphernalia.

“When the first bus came, it just seemed like car after car after car, decked out, horns honking, people waving,” VCDL President Phil Van Cleave said. Car caravans came from all corners of the Commonwealth.

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Pro-Gun Rights Car Caravan Planned for Lobby Day

Lobby Day, the annual tradition where Virginians from across the state gather in Richmond to engage lawmakers on pressing issues, is going to look quite different this year.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) Lobby Day 2021 is set to take place on Monday in Richmond, but this year, instead of a massive gathering of mostly armed individuals at the Capitol, the gun-rights advocacy group is organizing a car caravan through the heart of the city.

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Blacksburg Council Considering Ordinance to Ban Carrying of Firearms in Certain Locations

The Blacksburg Town Council will consider passing a proposed ordinance that bans the carrying of firearms on town property as well as in public spaces when being used for or next to a permitted event.

Localities in the Commonwealth are now allowed to take such action after the General Assembly passed legislation during the 2020 regular session last spring and took effect in July. 

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Loudoun County Takes Next Step with Proposed Gun Control Ordinance

The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted to send a proposed gun control ordinance to public hearing. The proposed ordinance would ban firearms in county buildings, parks, and on streets near permitted events, similarly to new gun control ordinances in other cities. Second Amendment advocates spoke against the ordinance during public portions of the Tuesday meeting.

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Fear Drives Record Gun Sales

Virginia is setting records for gun sales this year; already the FBI has processed 617,472 firearms background checks, beating 2019’s total of 512,766.

Bob Marcus owns Bob’s Guns in Norfolk. He said the increase in sales began a year ago. “We saw it after the General Assembly turned over back in November. It started with the election, and then the General Assembly went into session. And there were threats of the so-called assault weapons ban, and other restrictions, so it continued through January, February, and into March.”

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Chesapeake Passes Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolution

The Chesapeake City Council voted 6-1 with one “present” vote to approve a Second Amendment sanctuary city resolution on Tuesday evening. The council also voted to add a clause to the resolution asking “the Governor of Virginia and the General Assembly to preserve the authority of local governing bodies to make legislative decisions to the best interest of the citizens.”

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Thirty-Six Orders Issued Banning People From Possessing Guns Under New Red Flag Law

Officials have issued thirty-six orders under Virginia’s new red flag law since it went into effect in July. The law allows judges to classify individuals as being a  ‘substantial risk’ to themselves or others, and bans them from possessing firearms. The law was passed in January following a party-line vote with no Republicans voting in favor.

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Virginia Citizens Defense League Lobbies Virginia Localities to Become Gun ‘Sanctuaries’

Gun-rights activist group the Virginia Citizens Defense League is lobbying 193 local jurisdictions to declare they will not ban guns. The proposed Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions vary, but contain language stating that a jurisdiction “shall not exercise any authority granted to it … to regulate or prohibit the otherwise legal purchase, possession, or transfer of firearms or ammunition.”

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Ahead of Second Amendment Lobby Day and Rally in Virginia Monday, Warnings of a ‘Set-Up’ Against Supporters Spread

RICHMOND, Virginia – Supporters of the 2nd Amendment have received warnings about being set up at the annual rally at the Commonwealth of Virginia capitol, which has become ground-zero for the constitutionally protected right of Americans to keep and bear arms.

For nearly two decades, Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) has organized an annual trek to the General Assembly on Martin Luther King Day to peacefully assemble and lobby their legislators on the 2nd Amendment.

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