McAuliffe says he'll seek new gun restrictions in Virginia after Las Vegas massacre
Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced Friday that he will seek new gun-control legislation in Virginia in the aftermath of the mass shooting in Las Vegas, including bans on bump stock devices, high-capacity magazines and “military-style assault rifles.”
McAuliffe, who will leave office early next year under Virginia’s term limit, has already pushed unsuccessfully for universal background checks and restoring the state’s scrapped one-handgun-a-month law, but the Republican-controlled General Assembly has routinely blocked new gun restrictions.
The legislation McAuliffe called for Friday would also face steep odds, but the announcement might put Republican lawmakers on the defensive with all 100 seats in the House of Delegates up for grabs in next month’s election.
“The terrible tragedy we witnessed in Las Vegas earlier this week should be a wake-up call to leaders in every corner of this country, particularly here in Virginia, where the mass shooting at Virginia Tech taught us the heartbreak of these events firsthand,” McAuliffe said in a news release. “Elected officials who have the honor of serving here in Richmond have a responsibility to do everything we can to prevent the next mass shooting from happening in our commonwealth.”
Read more: http://www.richmond.com/news/virginia/government-politics/mcauliffe-says-he-ll-seek-new-gun-restrictions-in-virginia/article_9030b7de-06f3-5d7f-a0c5-d3e89275b0cf.html
