The Virginia Senate is poised to pass legislation today to lift the state's 18-year-old restriction on purchasing more than one handgun a month.
Approval of Senate Bill 323 would send the measure to the House of Delegates, where similar legislation passed earlier in the week. Gov. Bob McDonnell has indicated he would sign the bills.
The one-gun-a-month bill is the keystone of a series of firearms-related measures that gun advocates — emboldened by GOP control of both legislative chambers and a wave of conservative lawmakers elected in November — are aggressively pursuing this session.
Proponents say the federal and state background-check system is sufficiently updated to track illegal firearms transactions. Critics worry the bill would open the door to the kind of bulk-purchase interstate gun trafficking that the law was implemented to address in 1993.
The Virginia Senate on Thursday sent several other bills friendly to the gun lobby to the House for approval, among them:
- Senate Bill 4, the "Castle Doctrine" bill, which would effectively provide civil immunity to homeowners who use deadly force against an intruder. The measure passed 23-17.
- Senate Bill 67, which prohibits localities from requiring first-time applicants for concealed-handgun permits to provide fingerprints. The bill passed 26-14.
- Senate Bill 563, which forbids circuit court judges or clerks from requiring information from concealed-permit applicants other than what is required on the application. The legislation was approved 32-8.
A number of Democrats, most from rural areas, sided with Republicans on each of the bills.
But Republicans joined Democrats in the evenly divided Senate to approve Senate Bill 554. It would forbid people with a protection order issued against them from carrying a firearm in the home of their alleged victim. The bill passed 29-11.
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