Just several days after a massive pro-Second Amendment rally in the capital city of Richmond, the Virginia State Senate has passed a “red flag” bill aimed at confiscating privately-owned firearms, CNN reports.
The bill, S.B. 240, gives state authorities the power to restrict a citizen’s right to purchase or own a firearm if the person is determined to pose “a substantial risk of injury to himself or others from purchasing, possessing, or transporting a firearm.” The bill passed in a narrow party-line vote of 21-19.
Anticipating the bill’s passage in the Virginia House of Delegates, a spokesman for Virginia House Speaker Eileen Corn, Jake Rubenstein, issued a statement in which he falsely claimed that the majority of Virginians support “common sense gun violence protections.” Turnout in Virginia’s statewide election last year, in which Democrats narrowly retook both legislative houses, was just 40%, significantly lower than regular turnout.
The bill is passed just three days after a massive crowd of about 22,000 pro-Second Amendment marchers descended on Richmond in support of their right to keep and bear arms. Despite numerous statements from Democrats and the media, falsely accusing the gathering of being a “white nationalist” march that would lead to violence, the rally was peaceful and ended with no incident.
In anticipation of the state’s push for more gun control measures, 91 of Virginia’s 95 counties have since declared themselves to be “Second Amendment sanctuaries” that have vowed to defy any state law that infringes on the Second Amendment.