Democrats in the Virginia House of Representatives easily passed a handful of anti-gun bills, including a proposed ban on so-called “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines, handing House Republicans and lawful gun owners a huge defeat.
In the House floor vote held on February 5, the vote on House Bill 217, the sweeping gun and magazine ban, was 58-34. And as the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) pointed out, the measures were rushed through the process.
“Today, the Virginia House of Delegates added half a dozen gun control bills to the floor agenda for votes and promptly passed the bills, giving little notice to the public,” NRA-ILA wrote in an action alert. “These extreme gun control measures will now move to the Senate, clearing a major hurdle in reaching the Governor’s desk.”
In a nutshell, HB 217 bans certain semi-automatic firearms, including many semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns, arbitrarily limits magazine capacities and prohibits possession by legal adults under the age of 21.
“This bill is an attempt to redefine and ban firearms that are in common use by law-abiding citizens—plain and simple gun confiscation by definition,” NRA-ILA stated.
According to the measure’s language: “Any person who imports, sells, manufactures, purchases, or transfers an assault firearm is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.” Additionally: “Any person younger than 21 years of age who imports, sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses, transports, or transfers an assault firearm is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.”
The bill also prohibits so-called “high-capacity” magazines, which are simply normal capacity magazines that come standard with most semi-automatic firearms.
“As used in this section, a ‘large capacity ammunition feeding device’ means a magazine, belt, drum, feed strip, or similar device manufactured on or after July 1, 2026, that has a capacity of, or that can be readily restored or converted to accept, more than 10 rounds of ammunition but does not include an attached tubular device designed to accept and capable of operating only with .22 caliber rimfire ammunition,” the measure states. “Any person who imports, sells, barters, or transfers a large capacity ammunition feeding device is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.”
During debate on the House floor, Republican Delegate Tom Garrett framed the debate as a fundamental struggle between citizens and government power.
“The government did not give me the right to defend myself, to defend my family, or to defend my freedom,” Garrett said, adding that the government “cannot take it away, try though it may.”
Other anti-gun measures passed by the House on the same day included HB 21, which creates sweeping new standards of “responsible conduct” for members of the firearms industry; HB 40, which ends the common practice of individuals building lawful firearms for personal use without government interference; HB 110, which would further restrict the ability of law-abiding gun owners to keep a firearm in their vehicle for self-defense; 229,, which would prohibit any weapon in a hospital that provides mental health services; HB 871, which would create a mandatory storage requirement for homes where minors or prohibited persons are present.