Democrats are pushing for new gun restrictions in several states, from an assault-style weapons ban to longer waiting periods, spurred in part by an election win and the response to another mass shooting, this time near the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally.
Maine lawmakers say they will tackle firearms legislation after a gunman killed 18 people there last October. New Mexico’s Democratic-controlled Legislature approved some new gun limits. Virginia Democrats have already passed several gun bills through at least one chamber after barely flipping the House of Delegates in November.
In the absence of new federal gun legislation, states are continuing to go it alone, with uncertain prospects for passage and with divergence among red and blue states, the Wall Street Journal reports.
“We have a responsibility, an obligation to make sure that we put these bills on the governor’s desk, and let him grapple with his own conscience,” said Don Scott, Virginia’s Democratic House speaker, alluding to expected vetoes from Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican. Youngkin has said he thinks Virginia’s gun laws are strong enough. His spokesman said he would review any bills passed by the Legislature.
Democrats have gained ground in recent state elections, and they have used their clout to pursue new firearms limits. They are helped by well-funded gun-control groups, as the National Rifle Association has weakened. They are also responding to public anger over mass shootings carried out with weapons such as AR-15 rifles
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Republicans control more state legislatures than do Democrats, and they have actively pursued new laws, too, including expanding the right to carry concealed handguns without a permit. More than half the states now have such a law, including a dozen passed since 2021, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, a gun-control group.
“The pro-gun side has been succeeding much more at the state level” than gun-control advocates, says law Prof. Adam Winkler of the University of California Los Angeles.
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