Governor calls for extraordinary legislative session on gun control following Virginia Beach massacre

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on Tuesday called for a special emergency session of the state legislature to take action on gun control following a massive shootout against a building in the state. government in Virginia Beach that left 12 dead.

"Once again, hearts are broken, lives are shattered and families are crushed," Northam said, alongside government leaders, during a speech in Richmond, the state's capital. .

"Once again, a community is in shock, pain and sorrow, and once again, we will hear people expressing their thoughts and prayers," he said. "We must do more than our thoughts and prayers, we must give action to the Virginians."

The governor exercised his powers under the state constitution to summon the legislature in extraordinary session to tackle problems, asserting that the state could not afford to postpone the challenge of protecting its citizens from armed violence.

Bob Brown / Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP

"There are already those who say that it is too soon after the tragedy to talk about the answers, I would say to these people:" when is the right moment? "

"I want it to be the last time," said Northam, a Democratic governor elected in 2018.

Northam, a former US Army doctor, said many of the proposals he had in mind were recommended after an armed man killed 33 people at the Virginia Tech University in April 2007.

The recommendations he will make now, he said, will include the prohibition of assault weapons and ammunition magazines that may contain 10 or more cartridges, requiring universal background checks and limiting purchases a rifle per month.

He also said that he would like to see laws passed requiring people to report stolen weapons within 24 hours, allowing law enforcement to seek court orders to hold the weapons at the police station. Distance of persons who represent a clear danger for themselves and for others; and allow local governments to regulate firearms in their own communities.

L. Todd Spencer / The Virginian Pilot via AP

"None of these ideas is radical, none violates the second amendment," Northam said.

The National Rifle Association said the governor "followed the gun control handbook by exploiting a tragedy to advance his failed political agenda."

"The fact is that none of the governor's gun control proposals would have prevented the terrible tragedy of Virginia Beach," said Jennifer Baker, director of public affairs at the Institute. legislative action of the NRA, in a statement. "If Governor Northam is truly interested in pursuing policies that will save lives, he should focus on prosecuting violent criminals and repairing our failing mental health system, instead of blaming property owners. Virginia-law firearms for disturbed murder. "

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun advocacy organization, called on the governor's demands to hold a special session of "political theater" designed to divert the attention of "his recent weaknesses "on pictures published in his yearbook of the School of Medicine of 1984. page of an individual dressed in blackface and another dress dressed in a hood and d & # 39; a Ku Klux Klan dress.

Northam denied that the photos are from him and says he does not know how they were published on his directory page.

Kris Brown, chairman of the Brady campaign for the prevention of gun violence, praised the governor's decision to call a special session.

"Time and time again, members of the Virginia legislature have chosen to place profits at the expense of people, lining up on the gun lobby to protect people from gun violence, and now have the opportunity to rectify the situation, "Brown said in a statement. . "Governor Northam is quite right to say that gun violence in Virginia is an emergency, and that the time has come for elected officials from both parties to come together and move on, not to take a stand, and if they choose to reject this opportunity, Virginia voters will remember and act on their side in November. "

Northam said that after the Virginia Tech assassination, none of the proposed gun control measures had been passed by the state's General Assembly controlled by the Republicans.

"In fact, some have failed with only four votes against in subcommittees," said Northam.

Northam said he would also like to see a ban on fire extinguishers – like the one legally purchased and used by the gunman during the Virginia Beach Massacre.

Friday afternoon, the suspect – identified by authorities as the city's public service engineer DeWayne Craddock, 40 – would have been a victim of a shootout in Building 2 of Virginia Beach's Civic Center.

Missing a pair of .45 caliber pistols, legally purchased by the suspect, and a security pass to access interior offices and conference rooms, Craddock shot dead 11 city employees and a private contractor before the police do not kill him in a shootout.

Just hours before the unleashing, Craddock resigned from his work in an email, citing "personal reasons" about which he did not give details.

"The tragedy of this weekend must instill us a new urgency to act," Northam said. "The Virginians deserve leadership and they will watch, the nation will watch."