Several City Council members are drafting a resolution to demand increased gun control from state and federal legislators.
Council members’ demands face several obstacles, however.
Preemption, or the Dillon’s Rule, states that local government cannot pass any gun control without permission of the Virginia General Assembly. Locality can only do what the General Assembly allows them.
City Council Member Kristin Szakos, who helped draft the resolution along with Vice-Mayor Wes Bellamy, said the proposal asks state legislators for the right to enact local gun controls.
“We are not writing the law, we are just asking the Congress to write the law,” Szakos said. “They should figure out what is the most effective.”
The resolution also calls for national legislation to be written with stricter gun regulations.
“Enact legislation to require comprehensive background checks for all gun purchases and move toward legislation to further prevent gun violence, including by regulating and/or banning the civilian purchase and sale of assault weapons,” reads the draft text of the resolution.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, or VCDL, said the Council’s resolution is unlikely to cause a change in legislation, and that the VCDL will directly oppose any efforts to increase gun control.
“We will certainly speak against it, that’s number one,” Van Cleave said about the resolution. “We will also oppose anything that would give them the power to make such a decision on their own. If they are trying to implement anything against the law, of course, we would sue them and force them to stop doing anything illegal, such as banning guns somewhere they can’t ban them.”
An increase in background checks has not been effective to prevent criminal acts, as guns held by criminals are likely stolen or obtained illegally, Van Cleave added.
Szakos said that although she believes the right to bear arms should be protected, there should also be firm regulations about the possession of firearms in the interest of public safety.
“I would say unfettered right to bear arms, not the right itself, but to have no control on it at all, in this case, certainly inhibits the rights of 49 people in Orlando to life,” Szakos commented. “People who like guns are not bad people, but we need robust regulations.”
Van Cleave, however, said he believes increased gun control would do little to reduce risks associated with gun violence.
“Chicago has a massive amount of gun control, and they have an equivalent two or three Virginia attacks every weekend. I don’t think we want that,” Van Cleave said.
After the recent Orlando mass shooting, community safety from gun violence has become both a local and national concern.
“We are suggesting getting rid of all gun free zones. Because these massive shootings are all happening in places where you can’t carry a gun, so the criminals are taking advantages of the fact that there’s nobody there that can fight back,” Van Cleave said. “While we can’t guarantee a criminal would strike, a person could at least do the best they can to survive by being in the position to fight back.”
The United States is the only country where repeated mass shootings continue to occur, and legislation should prompt change, Szakos said in opposition.
“Our country has such lacks of laws regarding gun ownership and gun sales. We are the only country that repeatedly has these mass shootings,” Szakos said. “There is certainly a connection there.”
City Council discussed the resolution in a council member meeting on Monday.
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