Virginia Democrats Propose to Confiscate Residents’ AR-15s

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At The American Spectator, Jed Babbin explains Democrats’ plan to ban and confiscate AR-15s in Virginia. He writes (abridged):

Next year, Democrats will control both houses of Virginia’s state Legislature as well as its governorship. On November 18, State Sen. Dick Saslaw introduced a bill that he will sponsor in the 2020 legislative session. That bill will outlaw not only the sale or transfer but also the possession of certain firearms.

Saslaw’s bill — SB 16 — provides that “It is unlawful for any person to import, sell, manufacture, purchase, possess or transport an assault firearm” and makes such actions a Class 6 felony. (In Virginia, Class 6 felonies are punishable by imprisonment for between one and five years.)

SB 16 provides that a wide range of center-fire rifles, pistols, and shotguns are included.

2. A semi-automatic center-fire rifle that expels single or multiple projectiles by action of an explosion of a combustible material that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has one of the following characteristics: (i) a folding or telescoping stock; (ii) a pistol grip that protrudes conspicuously beneath the action of the rifle; (iii) a thumbhole stock; (iv) a second handgrip or a protruding grip that can be held by the non-trigger hand;

Not only would they be banned, but because SB 16 makes it illegal to possess such firearms, they also would have to be either surrendered to or seized by police authorities in the jurisdiction in which they are located.

Thus, every rifle of the common AR-15 design and a great many pistols and shotguns in common use for personal defense, target shooting, and hunting would be banned.

If SB 16 is enacted by the Democrat-dominated Legislature and signed by Virginia’s gun-control-minded Gov. Ralph Northam, its effect will be blocked for months or years by legal challenges to its perfectly clear unconstitutionality.

Read more here.