SB 848 Virginia Senate · 2025 Regular Session

Firearms, certain; age requirement for purchase, penalty.

Summary
Purchase of certain firearms; age requirement; penalty. Prohibits any person under 21 years of age from purchasing an assault firearm, with exceptions for the purchase of an assault firearm by a law-enforcement officer, correctional officer, jail officer, or member of the Armed Forces of the United States, the Virginia National Guard, or the National Guard of any other state. Accordingly, the bill prohibits a licensed dealer from selling, renting, trading, or transferring from his inventory an assault firearm to any person under 21 years of age. A violation of either prohibition is a Class 6 felony. The bill also expands the definition of assault firearm as the term applies to criminal history record information checks.
Bill status passed both 4 of 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
House of Delegates Passage
Feb 2025
Vetoed
Mar 2025
Introduced Jan 2, 2025 Vetoed Mar 25, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced → Enrolled · 1 edit · Feb 20, 2025
MINOR
The bill progressed from introduction to enrollment with no substantive policy changes. The text content remains identical between versions, with only formatting differences such as session headers, page numbers, and line breaks added during the legislative process. All provisions regarding assault firearm age requirements, background check procedures, dealer obligations, and penalties remain unchanged.
TECHNICAL

Added session headers (Introduced vs Enrolled), page numbers, and line breaks for official publication formatting. No substantive text changes to the legislative provisions.

Floor votes · Senate Jan 27, 2025 · House of Delegates Feb 12, 2025

How they voted

20–18
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 40
Jan 27, 2025
D Democratic21
20 Yea 1
95% Yea
R Republican19
18 Nay 1
94% Nay
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
31
Key actions
11
Committee
5
Apr 2, 2025
Vetoed
Senate sustained Governor's veto
upper
Apr 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day
upper
Mar 25, 2025
Vetoed
Vetoed by Governor
executive
Feb 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
Signed by President
upper
Feb 17, 2025
Lower · Passed
Signed by Speaker
lower
Feb 17, 2025
Upper · Passed
Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB848ER)
upper
Feb 12, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed House (50-Y 47-N)
lower
Feb 7, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported from Public Safety (11-Y 10-N)
lower
Feb 4, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee on Public Safety
lower
Jan 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read third time and passed Senate (20-Y 18-N)
upper
Jan 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
Read third time and passed Senate (19-Y 18-N)
upper
Jan 23, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed by for the day
upper
Jan 22, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported from Finance and Appropriations (10-Y 5-N)
upper
Jan 17, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported from Courts of Justice and rereferred to Finance and Appropriations (9-Y 6-N)
upper
Jan 2, 2025
Committee
Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
upper
1 primary · 0 co-sponsors

Sponsors

Role
Legislator
Party
State
District
P
Photo of Saddam Salim
Saddam Salim
DDemocratic
VA
37