Virginia Dems Move To Shutter Indoor Gun Ranges, Enact Ammo-Free Zones
Two more bills chipping away at Virginia residents’ Second Amendment rights have been introduced by some of the state’s Democratic legislators as part of an anti-gun push that doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
House Bills 318 and 567, introduced over the past few weeks, aim to restrict where ammunition can travel and decimate the state’s indoor gun ranges, respectively.
HB 318, introduced by Democratic Del. Kaye Kory in late December, would make it illegal to knowingly possess ammunition in a school or anywhere on the grounds of school facilities.
While gun-free zones have been proven ineffective when it comes to stopping malicious shooters, this bill also opens up the possibility of major unintended consequences for innocent people who run afoul of the law.
What if a high school senior, fresh from a morning squirrel hunt, has a handful of .22 LR shells in his truck? If his truck is parked on school grounds, he could face some serious legal issues.
Of course, these are trivial issues for a lawmaker who openly endorses gun control:
Enough is enough. No child should go to school in fear. No parent should have to worry if their child will come home safe. We have to do better. #GunControlNow
— Del. Kaye Kory (@KayeKory) November 15, 2019
HB 567 is an entirely different beast.
Introduced by Democratic (seeing a pattern here?) Del. Dan Helmer on Monday, the bill seeks to attack privately owned indoor shooting ranges by mandating that the facilities be under a shocking amount of government control.
The prospective law would require indoor gun ranges to be housed in buildings owned by the state of Virginia or the federal government. The only exceptions are for indoor ranges with less than 50 employees, and indoor ranges where police or federal law enforcement officers make up 90 percent of the users.
And even if indoor ranges do meet the second requirement, the bill has even more restrictions in store.
These ranges must keep “a log of each user’s name, phone number, address, and the law-enforcement agency where such user is employed, and … the indoor shooting range verifies each user’s identity and address by requiring all users to present a government-issued photo-identification card.”
While this doesn’t seem like a law that could affect the gun community at large, indoor ranges are vital to shooters in certain areas.
Those living in cities where there may not be enough rural area for a gun range can easily travel to a local indoor range to train. Those more familiar with their own firearms are much less likely to cause an accident than those with no time behind the trigger.
These two bills are just more unashamed attacks on the Second Amendment — attacks that are now threatening to spark an outright revolution in the commonwealth.
Thankfully, these Democrats are up against some heavy competition.
An overwhelming majority of the counties in Virginia have stood up to Richmond’s tyranny and established constitutional safe zones. Their pro-gun activism is so effective that it’s now spreading like wildfire across America.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
