The Virginia House of Delegates Committee on Public Safety is taking up several gun bills Friday morning.
A bill banning assault weapons passed through the House of Delegates Committee on Public Safety with a vote of 12-9. HB961 would allow people to keep their assault weapons if they already own them.
The bill expands the definition of "assault firearm" and prohibits any person from importing, selling, transferring, manufacturing, purchasing, possessing or transporting an assault firearm. A violation would be a Class 6 felony.
The bill also prohibits a dealer from selling, renting, trading or transferring from their inventory of an assault firearm to any person.
It would prohibits a person from carrying a shotgun with a magazine that will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered in a public place; under existing law, this prohibition applies only in certain localities.
This article was written by Julia Varnier for WTKR .