VA Senate Committee for Courts of Justice

Last week, the House of Delegates passed numerous pieces of legislation on to the State Senate for consideration. With the exception of a couple of those, all of them have been forwarded to the Committee for Courts of Justice.

This committee is chaired by Senator Henry L. Marsh III, a member of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus. Senator Marsh is an NRA "F" rated politician who opposes most of the reforms being presented. In the Richmond Free Press article last week on the "One gun a month" repeal, Senator Marsh was depicted as follows:

The fate of the repeal now depends on what happens in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee headed by a prominent member of the Caucus, Richmond Sen. Henry L. Marsh III.

He’s appalled that the House passed the repeal, but he said Wednesday he’s not sure he has the votes to halt the wipeout of the law.

Still Sen. Marsh is vowing to do all he can to stop the momentum of the bill.

“We’ve got too many guns already,” Sen. Marsh told the Free Press. “Anyone who wants a gun can get one. Who needs more than one gun a month?”

The make-up of the Committee is 10 Democrats and 5 Republicans. And, although the VLBC has 3 members on this committee, the overall composition with regard to gun rights is not in line with party affiliation. I mention the VLBC here specifically because I find it appalling that they continue to support gun control even though the history of gun control is overwhelmingly racist in nature. (For additional reference, go HERE, HERE, and HERE.)

Below are the members of the Senate Committee for Courts of Justice, along with their NRA Ratings for their most recent election cycle. Please contact these Senators and politely request that they approve and pass out to the floor the House gun control reform bills which are pending before them.

Henry L. Marsh III (D-16) (VLBC) NRA "F"
Richard L. Saslaw (D-35) NRA "D"
Janet D. Howell (D-32) NRA "F"
L. Luise Lucas (D-18) (VLBC) NRA "F"
Linda T. Puller (D-36) NRA "F"
Donald McEachin (D-9) (VLBC) NRA "F"
J. Chapman Petersen (D-34) NRA "C"
W. Roscoe Reynolds (D-20) NRA "A"
John S. Edwards (D-21) NRA "A"
R. Creigh Deeds (D-25) NRA "A"
Frederick M. Quayle (R-13) NRA "A"
Thomas K. Norment, Jr. (R-3) NRA "B"
Mark D. Obershain (R-26) NRA "A"
Ryan T. McDougle (R-4) NRA "A"
Robert Hurt (R-19) NRA "A"

Pax,

Newbius