Firearm Background Checks in Virginia Up Nearly 100%

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) reports that firearm background checks in Virginia for the month of January 2020 were nearly 100 percent over the number of checks in January 2019.

Bearing Arms reports the NSSF figures, showing an 84.6 percent increase in background checks during January 2020.

That jump in firearm background checks came just over two months after Gov. Ralph Northam (D) intimated his war on guns and incoming Virginia Democrat lawmakers began filing gun control bill after gun control bill. The proposed controls did everything from outlawing private gun sales to banning ammunition magazines holding 12 rounds or more to limiting the number of firearm purchases Virginians can make per month.

One of the bills — HB 961 — initially required AR-15 owners to register their guns and acquire a license from the state police in order to retain ownership. That aspect of the bill had to be watered down in order to secure passage out of the committee, but Breitbart News reports that HB 961 still requires owners of magazines holding 12 rounds or more to surrender or destroy them. Refusal to comply is a felony.

The FBI reports that background checks set an all-time record in January 2020, with 2,702,702 checks performed. The only January to come close was 2016, when there were 2,454,802 checks performed.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.