Virginia’s new gun control bills in effect beginning July 1

HARRISONBURG, Va. (WHSV) — Many of the bills passed by Virginia’s General Assembly and signed into law by the governor are set to take effect on July 1.

Several gun control laws were passed after Democrats took control of the House of Delegates, Senate, and the governor’s mansion for the first time in decades.

“Any of the laws that they have [passed] aren’t going to change anything for the better,” Dubby Carr, the owner of Dubby’s Fishing and Hunting, said. “It’s not going to make anything different than it already is, except make it harder.”

Some of Virginia’s list of new gun control laws include universal background checks, establishing an Extreme Risk Protective Order and reinstating Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month law, all of which Carr said won’t have a huge impact on shop owners.

“It really won’t increase my paperwork other than having to do the additional background checks for [private sellers], which I’m feeling like there’s not going to be a lot of those,” Carr said.

He said all in-store gun purchases must already pass a comprehensive background check first, so the new universal background check law will impact private sellers or people attending gun shows.

“But, who is going to police that? How are they going to make sure that’s happening?” Carr said. “Unless neighbor one and neighbor two say, ‘Hey let’s go into Dubby’s and get a background check.‘”

He said shop owners do a lot behind the scenes that people may not realize.

“If you come in here today and buy two handguns, or within a five day period, I have to send ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) a paper, called a Multiple Gun Purchase paper, gotta do that no matter what,” Carr said. “I’ve always had to do that.”

With many 2020 bills tabled at the Virginia General Assembly, more gun control could be coming to the commonwealth in 2021.

“It worries me to death, it worries me,” Carr said. “This is not the Virginia I grew up in.”

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