INTERVIEW – JOHN LOTT – President, Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “The War on Guns” – discussed Dems pushing more gun control in new Congress and in Virginia.

• NEW CONGRESS: Dems to Push Gun Control on Anniversary of Giffords Shooting. House Dems to introduce gun background checks bill on Tuesday.  Get ready for a massive fight over gun control in Congress in 2019. Days after reclaiming the House majority, Democrats are introducing gun control legislation timed for the anniversary of the shooting of former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords. Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats will introduce a bill to expand background checks for sales and transfers of firearms on Tuesday, the eighth anniversary of the day Giffords was shot at a constituent meeting in Arizona. Democrats promised swift action on gun control after the party regained the House majority following eight years of Republican rule.
• VIRGINIA: Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam is promoting a series of gun-control measures he says promote public safety while still respecting individual gun rights.  Virginia’s Democrat Gov. Pushes Gun Confiscation Orders, Criminalization of Private Sales.
• Sensing an opening, Virginia governor revives push for gun control. (Washington Post) –– Gov. Ralph Northam (D) is making an aggressive push to revive gun-control proposals that GOP lawmakers killed in last year’s General Assembly session, seizing what he senses to be Democratic momentum as the legislature convenes next week. Flanked by fellow Democrats from the House of Delegates and state Senate, Northam rolled out a package of bills Friday that would require universal background checks for firearms purchases, ban assault weapons and resurrect individuals’ purchase limits to one handgun per month, among other proposals. The bills Northam endorsed Friday covered topics that have failed multiple times before in the GOP-controlled legislature, but sponsors said they’ve been tweaked in ways to help build support. They include:

• The “Extreme Risk Protective Order,” sponsored by Del. Richard C. “Rip” Sullivan Jr. (D-Fairfax) and Sen. George L. Barker (D-Alexandria), which would allow a court to temporarily prohibit someone from access to his firearms if the person has been found to pose a danger to himself or others. In response to concerns raised by Republicans last year that such power could be misused, the proposal specifies that any removal order would have to be brought by law enforcement and approved by a judge or magistrate.
• A bill requiring background checks on all gun sales, including private sales at gun shows or online. The measure is sponsored by Del. Kenneth R. Plum (D-Fairfax) and Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth).
• A revival of Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month law, which had been in effect for nearly 20 years when it was repealed in 2012. Sponsored by Del. Jeion A. Ward (D-Hampton) and Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton), the measure would “prevent people from stockpiling firearms and transporting them for sale in other states,” Northam’s office said.

Other measures would keep guns out of the hands of someone who is under a protective court order; require gun owners to report the loss or theft of a firearm within 24 hours; and increase the penalty for leaving unsecured firearms near children. Del. Kathy Tran (D-Fairfax) and Sen. Adam P. Ebbin (D-Alexandria) are also sponsoring a ban on assault weapons, defining them as any firearm with a magazine that holds more than 10 rounds of ammunition.