During recent meetings, Goshen Town Council and the Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors reaffirmed their respective status as Second Amendment sanctuaries in response to the numerous gun laws that have passed the General Assembly.
Goshen Council reaffirmed its status with a unanimous vote during its regular meeting on March 10. Vice Mayor Steve Bickley noted that Council had passed a resolution in 2020 to become a Second Amendment sanctuary and requested the reaffirmation to “push back against the unconstitutional gun laws that are being pushed through the General Assembly right now and laying on the governor’s desk,” before making a motion to do just that. Derrick Ogden provided the second and the motion passed in a 4-0 vote, with Council member Chris Robertson not in attendance.
The Board of Supervisors, which passed its Second Amendment sanctuary resolution in December 2019, did not hold a vote to reaffirm its status, but Chairman David McDaniel read a statement at the Board’s Feb. 23 meeting confirming that the 2019 resolution “remains in full effect and has not been rescinded” and that it “continues to reflect the official stance of the majority of this Board.
“While we acknowledge that different perspectives exist within our community and among our members,” McDaniel continued, “this Board remains committed to its oath to defend the constitutional rights of all Rockbridge County citizens. Our resolution specifically urges our elected representatives in Richmond and Washington to reject any legislation that may infringe upon or place additional burdens on lawabiding gun owners.”
The Board of Supervisors did not discuss any of the proposed legislation specifically, but during its meeting, members of Goshen Town Council discussed HB 217, an assault weapons ban which makes importing, selling and manufacturing of assault firearms and “certain ammunition feeding devices” a Class 1 misdemeanor, with a punishment of either up to 12 months in jail, a $2,500 fine, or both upon conviction, as well as the loss of the right to own or buy a gun for three years.
The bill includes several exceptions, such as for government agents, law enforcement officers and members of the military, as well as receipt of an assault firearm through inheritance as long as the firearm was legally purchased prior to the decedent’s death.
The amended bill, which passed the state Senate on March 9 in a 21-19 vote and the House of Delegates on March 11 with a vote of 6035, amends the current definition of what constitutes an assault firearm in the Virginia State Code to set the magazine capacity for semiautomatic center-fire rifles and pistols at 15 rounds, which is lower than the current law’s capacity limit of 20 rounds, but higher than the original proposed limit of 10 rounds.
The definition is also greatly expanded to include semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have at least one of a number of characteristics listed in the bill, including having a “folding, telescopic, or collapsible stock” and “a thumbhole stock or pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action” of the shotgun or rifle, and semi-automatic pistols with two or more of a number of characteristics, including “a second handgrip or a protruding handgrip that can be held by the non-trigger hand” and “the capacity to accept a magazine that attaches to the pistol outside of the pistol grip.”
The definition also includes shotguns with “a revolving cylinder” and any firearm that has “the capacity to accept a belt ammunition feeding device,” as well as firearms that have been “modified to be operable as an assault firearm” as defined by the bill.
Several other firearm-related bills have also passed the General Assembly in recent weeks, including HB 21, which creates “standards of responsible conduct” for firearm manufacturers and sellers and requires them to “establish and implement reasonable controls regarding “the manufacture, sale, distribution, use and marketing” of firearms and firearmrelated products, and allows the Attorney General’s office, local prosecutors, or individuals injured by firearms to bring civil action against manufacturers and sellers who fail to do so; HB 229, which makes possession of firearms in hospitals that provide mental health or developmental services a Class 1 misdemeanor; Also, HB 871, which requires that gun owners who live in a home where either a minor or a person prohibited from owning a gun also lives to store the firearm and its ammunition “in a locked container, compartment or cabinet that is inaccessible to such minor or prohibited person” and makes failure to do so a Class 4 misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $250; HB 40, which updates language to Virginia’s law regarding plastic firearms and “ghost guns” by creating a Class 1 misdemeanor for manufacturing and possessing such a firearm or unfinished frame that is not imprinted with a valid serial number, which are punishable as a Class 4 felony for second or subsequent offenses, carrying a sentence of two to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000; and HB 110, which imposes a civil fine of up to $500 for leaving a handgun in an unattended vehicle in a place where in can be seen by someone outside of the vehicle.
