For the first time in two years since he became governor, Glenn Youngkin had to address gun control legislation — and he didn’t mince words when it came to the bills that came across his desk.
“In the previous two years, he had a republican house that killed anything that came over from the democratically controlled senate,” said Legislative Director for the Virginia Shooting Sports Association David Adams.
30 vetoes, six amendments, and two signatures.
It’s something Adams said he’s pleased with.
“I think he was spot on. There were bills to ban so-called assault weapons, which when you look at the bill, they’ve classified so many weapons,” Adams said.
Mike Fox is the Virginia Chapter leader for Moms Demand Action — a gun control advocacy group.
He tells me while they hoped Youngkin would sign more bills, he’s happy to see some progress.
“I think the fact that governor was sent so many gun safety bills shows that gun safety isn’t just good policy, it’s good politics,” Fox said.
Youngkin did sign two bills that had strong bipartisan support.
The first is dubbed ‘Lucia’s Law’ — after a 13-year-old Henrico girl was killed by a 14-year-old boy in 2021.
The law allows parents and guardians to be charged with a felony for allowing a child who has been deemed a threat to access a gun.
“The Virginia Shooting Sports Association is always in favor of keeping folks that should not have access to firearms from getting a hold of them,” Adams said.
The other bill Youngkin signed bans the sale of a device no bigger than a quarter, but even with as small as it is, people on both sides of the gun control debate agree it causes big problems.
They’re called auto sears, and they turn semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic.
“They only make mass violence more deadly and I’m glad that both lawmakers and the governor were able to see that,” Fox said.
The full list of signatures, vetoes and amendments, along with Governor Youngkin’s reasoning can be found here.