What may seem rather shocking to many Virginia Democrats and Blue Virginia, the Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee voted on February 17, 2020 to table Delegate Mark Levine's (D) from Arlington's 45th House District House Bill 961.
The controversial bill was a direct assault on the U.S. Constitution and in light of the repeated rallies and protests all over the Commonwealth and most recently against Presidential Primary Candidate Michael Bloomberg in Richmond. Virginia Democrats were forced not only to weigh those concerns but also of Supreme Court decisions.
The bill would have banned "assault style" weapons defined by Democrats such as the AR-15 as well as magazines that hold more than twelve rounds of ammunition.
"This bill will save lives" asserted Delegate Mark Levine the bill chief patron but never in all the deliberation in the House ever demonstrated how it would exactly save lives. The motive of Levine and his Progressive wing of the Virginia Democratic Party has simply been to disarm Virginians at any means necessary.
Four Democrats joined the Republican minority on the Judiciary Committee to table the measure until the next session in 2021 and determined to send the bill to the Crime Commission for review. The Republicans did the same thing when asked to hold a special session to address gun violence last summer following the Virginia Beach shooting incident in May of 2019. With all the media criticisms and the social media firestorm fueled by Blue Virginia and the Progressive advocacy groups like Mons Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety last summer after the Republicans deferred any action last summer the Virginia Democrats have done the exact same thing.
While the Democrats may have stemmed off the Republican protests, Democrats may have actually infuriated the Progressive base. Delegate Mark Levine was steaming on Monday morning following the vote given he believed the Democrats had the votes to send the measure to the Senate floor for a vote. Virginia Democrats control the Virginia Senate 21-19 and with majority very well may have been able to secure passage.
Did the moderates in the Democratic Party betray the Virginia Progressives? Betray Governor Northam?
Certainly appears so.
While Senator Dick Saslaw (D) from Fairfax voted to send the bill to the Senate, it seems ironic that the very man who triggered much of the protest by calling Virginia 2A supporters "delusional" faced hundreds of the delusional Virginians in the gallery this morning and with the help of Saslaw's fellow Democrats defeated him.
The Virginia Democrats blinked this morning. The question is what will the 124 Virginia 2A Resolution counties/cities do now that they have seen that staying engaged in the process in Richmond can in fact create successful opposition.
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