Last Friday, May 23, Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) signed Senate Bill 377 into law as originally passed by the General Assembly. He did this one month to the day after the Virginia Senate rejected his anti-gun amendment, which would have created a de-facto gun registration scheme for those seeking to sell, trade or transfer their lawfully owned firearms to a gun dealer by requiring that all consent forms for transfer of a firearm determined to not be lost or stolen be kept by the dealer for at least ninety days, with no requirement to ever destroy them.
In its passed and now enacted form, SB 377, sponsored by state Senator Bryce Reeves (R-17), provides an optional process for gun dealers to determine if a firearm is lost or stolen through the Virginia State Police. SB 377 also requires gun dealers to destroy all submitted consent forms for transfer of a firearm determined not to be lost or stolen within two weeks. This legislation will take effect on January 1, 2015.