Virginia passes bill for background checks on all firearms

The bills are likely to be signed by Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, who has advocated for more stringent gun regulations. In January, Northam called his gun control agenda “common sense.”

“If there’s nothing in your record, you have nothing to worry about,” Northam said in his State of the Commonwealth address, asserting that the measures were consistent with the Second Amendment.

Northam originally proposed eight pieces of legislation that would limit ownership of firearms in the state. Only one proposal, a ban on semi-automatic weapons and firearms with high-capacity magazines, failed to pass in the state Senate. Northam has been subject to scrutiny from both parties since last year after he admitted to posing in a racist photograph in a yearbook from Eastern Virginia Medical School, though it remains unclear whether he is the individual in a Ku Klux Klan costume or in blackface.

“We promised to make Virginia safer from the senseless gun violence that has ravaged our communities. Promise kept,” said Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates in a tweet on Saturday.

Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine praised state lawmakers following the passage of the bills. “I will always remember the day of the tragic Virginia Tech shooting during my time as Governor as the worst day of my life. Since then, we have been fighting for this important step forward in safety. I’m grateful to our leaders in Richmond,” Kaine said in a statement on Twitter.