This post was been corrected on 1/30/20. I was unaware of Article IV, Section 13 of the Virginia state constitution. That provision specifies that laws passed “shall take effect on the first day of July following the adjournment of the session.” This was brought to my attention by Richard Hutchison, whom I thank for correcting me. Accuracy is important, and I blew it due to a false assumption.
I’ve noticed a victim-disarming legislative tactic that seems to be becoming a standard.
Last year, a bill was introduced in Congress By Ted Deutch of Florida would make any rifle or shotgun capable of accepting a detachable magazine an NFA firearm. You would have to register and get your tax stamp for those you already own. The tricky part of HR 1263 was that you only get 120 days to do so. Good luck with that.
Then there is Virginia’s HB 961, which bans “assault firearms, but pretends to grandfather existing weapons. The trick there is that the ban goes into effect immediately on signing on July 1, making unpermitted possession unlawful, but you have to lawfully possess the firearm on the day it becomes unlawful, before you can get a permit making it lawful.
Now Oregon has dropped HB 4005, a “safe” storage bill. Again, the storage requirement goes into effect immediately. But you have use an approved device to secure firearms. Until the Oregon Health Authority creates standards and approves devices, compliance is impossible. HB 4005 is the same bill that directs OHA to do that, and gives them until July 1, 2020 to do so.
The gun-grabbers have adopted the tactic of proposing allegedly “reasonable” restrictions, and mocking gun owners for griping, while making compliance unrealistically difficult at best, to downright impossible.
By the way, the approved storage devices in the Oregon bill? It isn’t just a trigger lock, cable lock or safe. As written it has to be both a trigger or cable lock and a “container,” all of which must be “approved.” If you spent good money on a safe, pray it ends up on the allowed list or you’ll be buying another one.
Catch-22.
