Tag Archives: Virginia

Richmond’s NBC News affiliate reports: A new poll from Monmouth University shows former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Bernie Sanders are tied for the lead in Virginia in the race to be the Democratic presidential nominee. Both Bloomberg and Sanders have 22% support with former Vice President Joe Biden close behind with 18% of the vote. Pete …

The Washington Post reports: A Virginia Senate committee killed a bill on Monday that would have banned the sale of assault-style weapons and possession of high-capacity magazines, handing gun-rights activists a rare win in a Capitol that Democrats won last year on the promise of sweeping gun control. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) backed the legislation, part of a package of …

The Associated Press reports: A highly-contested bill that would make it a crime to own an assault weapon in Virginia passed the House of Delegates on Tuesday by a slim margin. House Bill 961 made it past the House with a vote of 51-48. The bill expands the definition of an assault weapon and bans anyone from possessing, purchasing or …

The Virginia Mercury reports: Democrats walked off the floor of the House of Delegates Tuesday morning as the pastor invited to give the opening prayer delivered stinging remarks condemning abortion and gay marriage and said God would bring his “wrath” against those who don’t follow biblical principles. “Is this a prayer or a sermon?,” a delegate yelled from the Democratic …

Richmond’s ABC News affiliate reports: Virginia is moving toward decriminalizing simple possession of marijuana. The state House on Monday passed HB 972, a decriminalization bill, with bipartisan support. Delegates voted 64-34 for the measure, with a number of Republicans joining Democrats in favor. The state Senate is expected to pass its own version shortly. Gov. Ralph Northam has signaled his …

NBC News reports: Lawmakers are closing a legal loophole that could charge unmarried people with a crime for having consensual sex. The House of Delegates passed a bill this week that aims to repeal the crime of fornication, which makes it illegal for people to have consensual sex outside of marriage. Del. Mark Levine [photo], D-Alexandria, introduced House Bill 245 …

Michael Lavers reports at the Washington Blade: A bill that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to Virginia’s nondiscrimination law passed in the Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday. State Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County), the openly gay man who introduced the Virginia Values Act in the House, before the vote insisted the bill does not “interfere with anybody’s …

ABC News reports: The Virginia House of Delegates has passed a package of gun control measures they said were needed to improve public safety a week after tens of thousands of pro-gun advocates from around the country rallied at the state Capitol. The Virginia Senate passed their version of the bills last week. Those bills include limiting handgun purchases to …

Axios reports: Three Democratic state attorneys general filed a lawsuit against a federal government official on Thursday to certify the Equal Rights Amendment, which would ban sex-based discrimination, into the U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit follows the National Archives and Records Administration’s decision not to adopt the amendment, despite Virginia’s General Assembly approving the ERA in mid-January, becoming the 38th state …

The Independent reports: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, a Republican, appeared at a press conference on Tuesday and endorsed a proposal by evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr. that certain counties secede from Virginia and join Justice’s neighboring state. “West Virginia’s role is one thing, and that is to tell the world just how inviting we are and that we would …

So many advances in Virginia with more to come: Virginia’s House of Delegates on Tuesday officially repealed a 2006 amendment to the state constitution banning same-sex marriage. “We just voted for Del. @nancyguyva’s bill to repeal the statuary [sic] code that unconstitutionally and unenforceably bans marriage equality in Virginia,” tweeted Virginia Del. Danica Roem (D), the first openly trans woman …

The Washington Post reports: Virginia officially became the critical 38th state to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment on Monday, clearing the way for likely court fights over whether the measure can be added to the U.S. Constitution. State lawmakers made history earlier this month when each chamber of the General Assembly separately approved ratification resolutions. On Monday, the House and …

The Washington Post reports: The Virginia Senate on Tuesday passed a host of LGBT rights bills as Democrats continued to flex their new power in the Capitol. The Senate voted to ban conversion therapy on children, repeal the state’s now-defunct ban on same-sex marriage and establish statewide policies for the treatment of transgender students. The chamber also voted to replace …

Richmond’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Virginia Senate passed a bill that would eliminate Lee-Jackson Day as a state holiday in favor of making Election Day a state holiday. Celebrated on the Friday before Martin Luther King Jr. Day each January, Lee-Jackson Day honors Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. SB 601, introduced by Sen. Louise Lucas [photo], …

From Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire: The leftist American mainstream media tried to cast Monday’s pro-Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Virginia, as a white supremacist event that only extremists were planning on attending. It turned out that entire narrative was widely false. There were approximately 22,000 pro-freedom activists that showed up; the event concluded with no reported incidents occurring and only …

The Associated Press reports: Gun-rights activists — some making deliberate displays of their military-style rifles — began to descend on Virginia’s capital city Monday to protest plans by the state’s Democratic leadership to pass gun-control legislation. Several thousand activists — mostly white and male, many clothed in camouflage and waving flags with messages of support for President Donald Trump — …

The Hill reports: Virginia House Republican Leader Todd Gilbert is calling on hate groups that spread “white supremacist garbage” or violence to stay away from the State Capitol, as officials prepare for a gun rights rally that has prompted the governor to declare a temporary state of emergency. “Lobby Day is a time for people to peacefully assemble and petition …

The Virginian-Pilot reports: Two of Nathan Clark’s peers on the Portsmouth City Council criticized his decision to wear an AR-15 into a public meeting — without telling them ahead of time — to show his enthusiasm for the Second Amendment. One asked him to apologize. “It was a disgrace, disheartening and an embarrassment,” Vice Mayor Lucas-Burke wrote to the council …

Reuters reports: President Donald Trump took aim at Virginia Democrats and their push to stiffen the state’s gun laws, saying that the U.S. Constitution was under attack just as thousands of armed militia members began arriving in Richmond for a Monday gun rally. Trump doubled down with his support of gun enthusiasts in the state, which Hilary Clinton won in …

Roanoke’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Supreme Court of Virginia denied the petition by plaintiffs seeking to overturn Gov. Ralph Northam’s firearms ban at Capitol Square, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s office announced Friday evening. This comes after Herring filed a brief with the Supreme Court of Virginia Friday in response to an appeal made to that court by plaintiffs …