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| Virginia Beach Shooting Leads Governor to Call Special Session on Gun Violence | Virginia Beach Shooting Leads Governor to Call Special Session on Gun Violence |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| Citing the shooting in Virginia Beach in which 12 people were killed, “as well as the tragedies that happen every day across Virginia,” Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday called for a special session of the General Assembly to vote on gun control bills. | Citing the shooting in Virginia Beach in which 12 people were killed, “as well as the tragedies that happen every day across Virginia,” Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday called for a special session of the General Assembly to vote on gun control bills. |
| The governor listed a number of measures he intended to propose, including universal background checks and a requirement that people report lost or stolen firearms. Those ideas were floated in the past but died in committee before reaching the floor of the Legislature. | |
| This time, the governor said, he was demanding that the measures be put to a vote by the entire General Assembly. | |
| “I will be asking for votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers,” Mr. Northam said. | |
| On Friday, a city engineer who had resigned earlier that day stormed the Virginia Beach municipal complex and killed 11 of his former colleagues, along with a contractor who was seeing about a permit. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police officers. | On Friday, a city engineer who had resigned earlier that day stormed the Virginia Beach municipal complex and killed 11 of his former colleagues, along with a contractor who was seeing about a permit. The gunman was killed in a shootout with police officers. |
| [Virginia Beach authorities have maintained near-silence about the gunman’s identity. Here’s why.] | |
| “It is right to respond to this tragedy with decisive action,” added Mr. Northam, a Democrat. “Let Virginia set an example for the nation that we can respond to tragedy with action.” | |
| In a statement, the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, Kirk Cox, a Republican, called the governor’s request for a special session “hasty and suspect when considered against the backdrop of the last few months,” apparently referring to a scandal in which Mr. Northam gave conflicting accounts about appearing in blackface when he was younger, then responded to widespread calls for his resignation by pledging to focus on issues of inequity. | |
| Mr. Cox said that at a special session, Republican lawmakers would address gun violence “by holding criminals accountable with tougher sentences — including mandatory minimums,” rather than “infringing on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.” | Mr. Cox said that at a special session, Republican lawmakers would address gun violence “by holding criminals accountable with tougher sentences — including mandatory minimums,” rather than “infringing on the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.” |
| Mr. Northam just last month pledged not to sign another mandatory minimum bill as governor after vetoing two such bills and writing in an op-ed that “mandatory minimums are disproportionately harming people and communities of color.” | |
| All seats in the Virginia legislature are on the ballot in November. Republicans hold slim majorities in both houses. | All seats in the Virginia legislature are on the ballot in November. Republicans hold slim majorities in both houses. |
| A 2017 Quinnipiac poll showed that a slim majority of voters in Virginia supported stricter gun control laws in general, while an overwhelming majority — 91 percent — supported universal background checks. | |
| Among the other measures that Mr. Northam outlined in his speech on Tuesday were protective orders that would give the authorities the ability to remove guns from people deemed a serious risk; a ban on so-called assault weapons, including sound suppressors and bump stocks; and reinstating a law, repealed in 2012, that would limit handgun purchases to one a month. | |
| Many Democrats immediately welcomed the governor’s announcement. Cheryl B. Turpin, who represents part of Virginia Beach in the House of Delegates, said in a statement that she had called for such measures nearly a year and a half ago. | |
| “Now I have two grieving families in my backyard and many more affected by the trauma of this tragedy,” she said. “We cannot wait, we were elected to protect our communities.” | |
| Justin Fairfax, the state’s lieutenant governor, stood alongside the governor on Tuesday morning, as did the state attorney general, Mark Herring. This was their first appearance together since February, when all three became bogged down in a succession of scandals — Mr. Fairfax facing accusations of sexual assault, which he denied, and Mr. Herring admitting that he had worn blackface to a party in college. | |
| Both spoke in support of the governor’s plan. | |
| “It is one of the callings of our time, and we must rise to this moment in our history,” Mr. Fairfax said. |