On Monday, January 27th, Virginia’s Senate Courts of Justice Committee advanced more than half a dozen anti-gun bills.
Exactly one week after the Lobby Day rally, where hundreds of pro-gun supporters showed up to drum up support against sweeping gun control legislation, gun control has begun to move through the Virginia General Assembly.
These bills passed along party-line votes, 9-5.
Among the bills that passed on Monday were:
- S.B. 749 – An “Assault Weapons” Ban that would prohibit the importation, sale, manufacture, purchase, possession, or transfer of so-called “assault firearms” and standard-capacity ammunition feeding devices. Firearms manufactured before July 1, 2026, would be exempt from the ban and would not retroactively ban firearms already legally owned. The committee amended the bill to eliminate a grandfather clause for existing magazine owners, which means possession of one magazine capable of holding more than ten rounds would be a Class 1 misdemeanor and carry a penalty of up to 12 months in jail.
- S.B. 272 – A Campus Carry ban, which would limit where firearms may be carried in buildings owned or leased by the commonwealth, including public colleges and universities. The bill has been passed through the House and Senate a handful of times, but was previously vetoed.
- S.B 312 – A Public Carry ban that would expand Virginia’s prohibition on carrying certain semi-automatic firearms in public places, including streets and parks.
- S.B. 323 – A ban on homemade firearms which would prohibit manufacturing, selling, or possessing unserialized firearms or unfinished frames and receivers.
- S.B. 496 – This bill would mandate that all handguns left in unattended vehicles to be stored in locked, hard-sided containers out of view, criminalizing victims of them.
Due to time constraints, the committee did not take up additional gun control proposals that remain pending before the committee.
Most of these bills will now go over to the Senate Finance Committee.
If you live in Virginia and want to fight back, please click here to contact key legislators in Richmond.
Read more at Virginia Mercury.
