Feb. 07--RICHMOND, Va. -- On a 21-19 vote, the Virginia Senate passed legislation Monday to allow the purchase of more than one handgun a month, foretelling what is likely to be one of the most significant changes in Virginia's gun laws in 20 years.
The Senate vote, coupled with passage last week by the House of Delegates, means the measure to repeal the one-gun-a-month law is likely to reach Gov. Bob McDonnell, who has indicated he would sign it into law.
Two Democrats, Sens. John S. Edwards of Roanoke and R. Creigh Deeds of Bath County, sided with Republicans. Sen. Thomas K. Norment Jr., R-James City, the GOP Senate leader, voted with Democrats.
Virginians currently are prohibited from purchasing more than one handgun a month. The law, backed by Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, was enacted in 1993 in response to problems with interstate gun trafficking. Attempts to repeal it in previous years had failed.
But this year, with Republican control of the evenly divided Virginia Senate and its committees -- as well as the backing of gun-friendly Democrats in rural areas -- the bill advanced through the Senate Courts of Justice Committee and made it to the floor.
Proponents argued that the law is no longer necessary thanks to an updated computerized background check system. They also said the current law provides for so many exceptions that it is already diluted.
Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, sponsor of Senate Bill 323, said the law would bring Virginia in line with most other states, noting that only Maryland, California and New Jersey have similar laws.
"Today, the Senate took a stand for the Second Amendment by eliminating an unnecessary and outdated law," Carrico said in a statement.
"We will continue to watch the one-handgun-a-month bills as they now flow through the opposite House," Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, wrote in an email alert to supporters that heralded the Senate passage with exclamation marks. "The albatross is almost dead."
Critics of the bill said lifting the ban would do away with reasonable controls that exist to thwart bulk-purchase gun trafficking between states.
Richard Cullen, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia and a Republican who co-chaired the commission that led to the abolition of parole in Virginia, supported the one-gun-a-month law.
"In 1993, when the legislation passed, gunrunning was a major problem up and down the East Coast and I am convinced that this law had a significant impact in reducing gunrunning, so I'm disappointed that it's being repealed," he said.
Cullen said the law was one weapon, along with tough sentences for repeat violent offenders and other measures enacted at the time, to combat violence.
"I think we should be giving law enforcement tools, not taking them away. This is one of the few times I disagree with my Republican colleagues," said Cullen.
Sen. Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said he didn't see how allowing the purchase of more than one handgun a month would make Virginia or any of its neighbors safer. He noted that under the current law, anyone who purchased one handgun a month over the 20 years of the ban would have 240 handguns.
"If you need more than 240 handguns, then I would submit something's wrong with you," he said. "Something's gone wrong in your life."
Lori Haas, mother of Emily Haas, a survivor of the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings, also decried the vote.
"Virginia has had more than its share of horrific tragedies perpetrated by criminals with easy access to firearms," she said. "It is a sad day when our legislators purposely make it easier for gun traffickers to do their dirty business."
[email protected] (804) 649-6061 Frank Green contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 - Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.
