Four days after a gunman opened fire at a Virginia Beach Municipal Center and killed 12 people, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam said he wants to bring lawmakers together in an official capacity to address gun violence.
Surrounded by members of the state Democratic party, Northam on Tuesday called for a special session, saying he hoped to find a compromise with Republicans — who hold a narrow majority in both houses and traditionally have blocked moves by Democrats to tighten gun laws — to pass “common-sense safety laws.”
“We must do more than give our thoughts and prayers,” he said to a room of gun-control advocates and reporters in Richmond. “We must give Virginians the action they deserve.”
He also was joined by Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax and Attorney General Mark Herring. It was the first time the three top Democrats had been seen standing side by side since a trio of national scandals rocked the administration in February.
Democrats in Virginia — nearly 20 of whom joined Northam Tuesday — have tried unsuccessfully for years to pass tighter gun laws. All 140 lawmakers face a challenge in this November’s elections.
In a statement Tuesday, Speaker of the House Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights, called Northam’s special session hasty and suspect.
Cox said under his leadership, the special session will focus on ways to be tougher on criminals. One way he’d like to do that is by requiring mandatory minimum sentences. Northam has vowed not to sign any more such bills, saying they unfairly hurt people of color.
“The governor’s call to Special Session is more likely to inflame political tensions than produce substantive public policy changes that will keep people safe,” Cox said.
He said he also wants to focus on laws that improve the state’s behavioral and mental health system. After the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, Cox convened a committee to address school safety, but said the committee wouldn’t focus on guns.
Senate Republicans accused Northam of “political posturing.” Senate Majority Leader Thomas K. “Tommy” Norment, R-James City, said in a statement Tuesday the special session was being called without a specific plan or a legislative agenda that hasn’t already been considered.
Northam said he wants to see laws passed that are similar to a legislative package he proposed in January. He called for reinstating the one-handgun-a-month law — repealed in 2012 — and allowing prosecutors or police officers to ask the court to issue an emergency substantial risk order to stop someone who poses a risk of injury to themselves or others from purchasing, possessing or transporting a gun.
He also called for universal background checks, requiring lost or stolen handguns to be reported within 24 hours, and banning the sale, purchase, possession and transport of assault firearms.
“There will be those — there are already those — who say its too soon after the tragedy to talk about responses,” he said. “I would ask those people: When is the right time?”
He said he doesn’t want to just focus on how to prevent mass shootings like the one in Virginia Beach and at Virginia Tech, where 32 people and the gunman died in 2007. He’s also focused on preventing deaths that happen daily via gun violence. More than 1,000 people died from gun violence in 2017, according to the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.
Most of the proposed bills — carried by Democrats — failed this year, as they traditionally have under a Republican-controlled General Assembly.
“None of these ideas are radical,” Northam said, adding he wants Virginia to be a “model” for other states that are trying to prevent mass shootings.
In a phone interview Monday, Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, the House minority leader who also attended the press conference, said she’s not sure how Republicans will react to her party’s renewed pitch to tighten gun laws after the Virginia Beach shooting.
“There has been tragedy after tragedy and we’ve had session after session and they have still not moved forward,” she said. “It’s been more than frustrating.”
Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler — who represents Virginia Beach and whose husband works as a sheriff’s deputy at the complex but was off that day — said after the press conference her constituents have asked her why the shooting happened and what could’ve been done to prevent it.
“If everything was lawful, we need to change the laws,” she said.
Northam — who was joined by lawmakers from both parties at press conferences in Virginia Beach immediately following the shooting — said he didn’t speak to the Virginia Beach Republican senators and delegates about his plans for a special session or proposed legislation last weekend.
Del. Cheryl Turpin is teacher at Cox High School in Virginia Beach, and she said in a phone interview following the press conference that she spent about three hours Monday listening to students.
“It’s just been an exhausting time,” she said, adding two of the victims’ families live in her district.
She wants to address gunowners’ ability to modify their firearms — the shooter used a silencer in Building 2 — and stop guns from entering government buildings.
She said the mandatory minimum sentences Republicans have pitched as a way to crack down on gun violence wouldn’t have prevented the shooting in Virginia Beach.
“Mandatory minimums would not have saved the grieving families in my district. Mandatory minimums would not have had any effect on them,” Turpin said.
The governor can call a special session at any time, but state lawmakers can gavel in and end the session immediately if they want.
He said he’s hopeful the proposed legislation gets a fair hearing — many of the bills pitched this year were killed without a hearing in committee — and a vote on the floor.
Northam pointed to his proposal to stop revoking driver’s licenses for people who haven’t paid their court fees as an example of bipartisan success. The measure had been rejected by Republicans, but got enough support this year to pass. Starting July 1, thousands of people will get their licenses back.
This is the third special session of Northam’s term. Legislators convened last year after they couldn’t agree on a budget in the regular session, and then again in the fall when Northam asked them to figure out new legislative district lines.
The session is tentatively scheduled for sometime in late June.
