The Virginia Senate on Friday voted to advance red-flag gun legislation that already has passed the House as the Legislature continues working on other gun-control bills.
The legislation, a House substituted version of Senate Bill 240, gives a judge or magistrate the authority to order police to seize firearms from a person deemed to be a threat to himself or others. A person would not need to be convicted of a crime, charged with a crime or even accused of a crime to have his or her guns seized.
Under the legislation, a person whose guns have been seized will be guaranteed a hearing no later than 14 days after the seizure takes place. The law requires the police request the person give up his guns and they can receive a search warrant only if that person refuses to give them up or they have reason to believe the person is hiding weapons.
Violating the order would be punishable by a Class 1 misdemeanor.
As with most of the gun-control legislation in the Virginia General Assembly, it received substantial support from Democrats and opposition from Republicans.
The House and Senate also came to an agreement on legislation that would grant localities the ability to pass stricter gun-control rules than the state and federal government already have in place. This legislation passed both chambers.
Also on Friday, the House agreed to a watered-down Senate substitute version of House Bill 1083. Under the substitute version, the penalty for recklessly allowing a child less than 14 years old to access a loaded firearm would be increased from a Class 3 misdemeanor to a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Gov. Ralph Northam is expected to sign all of these bills into law.
Democrats also are working on expanding background checks in the commonwealth and restricting the sale of handgun purchases. These efforts also are supported by the governor.
The two chambers advanced similar background-checks bills that included some differences. The House-passed version prohibits privately selling, trading or transferring a firearm without conducting a background check unless the two individuals are immediate family members. The Senate-passed version includes only a prohibition on private sales, but it does not include a prohibition on privately transferring or trading without a background check.
Both chambers also have advanced similar legislation prohibiting a person from buying more than one handgun within a 30-day period. Both versions include exemptions for licensed firearm dealers, police departments, licensed security companies and others. However, the Senate version included an exemption for private sales, which is not agreed upon by the House. Both would punish a violation of the law with a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Legislation that would have banned the sale of assault weapons was unable to gather enough votes in the Senate after some moderate Democrats refused to support the measure.
