Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed an assault weapons ban and a slate of other gun-control bills passed by the Virginia General Assembly, but he signed a pair of firearm-related measures into law: One bans a device that turns a semiautomatic firearm into a machine gun, and the other allows a parent or guardian to be charged with a felony for allowing a child who has been deemed a threat to have access to a gun, reported the Washington Post.
“I am pleased to sign … public safety bills which are
commonsense reforms with significant bipartisan support from the General
Assembly,” Youngkin (R) said in a written statement.
Youngkin had not been tested on firearm-related legislation in the first two
years of his administration, when Republicans controlled the House of Delegates
and prevented all gun-control measures from advancing. This year, with
Democrats holding majorities in both the House and the Senate, lawmakers sent
over numerous bills that put him on the spot. Youngkin had cast himself as a
pro-Second Amendment patriot in his campaign for the GOP gubernatorial
nomination in 2021. But he also refused to answer a National Rifle Association
questionnaire and downplayed guns as he wooed suburban voters who tend to
support some gun control.
Youngkin’s limits were clear, though, in the batch of
30 vetoes announced Tuesday, which included an assault weapons ban and a
measure to close the “boyfriend loophole” to prevent someone in a domestic
relationship who is subject to a restraining order from gaining access to a firearm.
The actions bring Youngkin’s total vetoes so far this session to 80 — nearing the
record set by Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) of 120 vetoes in a four-year term. With
more than 1,000 bills sent to his desk when the General Assembly wrapped up March 9, Youngkin is on
pace to set a new mark for rejections.
The two bills he signed were not opposed by the
Virginia Citizens Defense League, a prominent gun rights group, which did not
immediately respond to a request for comment.
“He should have signed all the other bills to keep our
children and our loved ones free from firearms violence,” said Lori Haas, one
of Richmond’s most vocal gun-control advocates since her daughter was injured
in the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech.
The two Democrats who sponsored identical House and
Senate versions of bills to hold guardians accountable for juvenile gun crimes
praised Youngkin for signing the measure, which they call “Lucia’s Law” after
Lucia Bremer, a 13-year-old girl in Henrico County who was gunned down by a
14-year-old boy in 2021.
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