Follow WTOP’s coverage of the Virginia Election 2023.
The politics surrounding gun control have been at a standstill in Virginia due to its divided government, but the state could take a hard turn depending on what happens in its closely-watched election that’s coming up on Tuesday.
With Republicans currently controlling the House of Delegates and Democrats in control of the state Senate, lawmakers have essentially just been blocking each other with every piece of gun-related legislation.
If Republicans propose bills loosening gun laws, Democrats vote them down.
Similarly, when Democrats propose further gun restrictions, those are quickly defeated by Republicans.
“You really don’t see the opportunity for much of a middle-ground compromise on guns,” said Stephen Farnsworth, a political-science professor at the University of Mary Washington.
“Increasingly, the two political parties in Virginia really talk past each other,” Farnsworth said.
A few years ago, Democrats had the power to pass gun control legislation when they were in control of the General Assembly.
Some of those measures included a universal background checks on weapons purchases, a limit of one handgun purchase a month, a bill allowing local governments to establish some gun-free zones and a red flag bill allowing authorities to temporarily take guns away from people deemed dangerous.
Republicans have expressed interest in rolling back some of those laws, particularly the red flag law which some have called an “unconstitutional intrusion.”
All 140 General Assembly seats are on the ballot in the election.
With the legislature narrowly divided, both parties believe they have a path to a full statehouse majority, running through a little more than a dozen battleground districts centered in central Virginia, Hampton Roads and the outer D.C. suburbs.
If the GOP takes hold of both chambers of the state legislature, then it would clear the way for Gov. Glenn Youngkin to move swiftly on what he calls his “commonsense” conservative priorities — boosting pay and funding for law enforcement, protecting parental rights in education, overhauling the mental health system, enacting additional tax cuts and greater restrictions on abortion.
Democrats claim that total Republican control would lead to the repeal of legislation enacted in 2020 and 2021 while they ran the state government, such as measures that mandated a transition to cleaner cars and an electric generation, greatly expanded voting access and added restrictions to firearms purchases and ownership.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
