How to kill a bill without a vote

House Republicans are supposedly big fans of “proportional representation,” but their math skills must have failed them when handing out assignments for the Firearms subcommittee of Militia, Police, and Public Safety. The group’s lone Democrat is Del. David Poisson; the other 80% is comprised of GOP Delegates Tommy Wright, Morgan Griffith, Scott Lingamfelter and Dave Nutter.

As such, members don’t even have to vote against a bill to kill it – if no one seconds a motion to report, the bill simply dies right then and there.

In the videos below, Del. Poisson motions to report two bills pertaining to protective orders and firearms, which both promptly die when no one offers a second:

• HB281 (HB608 was also rolled into this bill), which would prohibit someone with a protective order issued against them from possessing a firearm

• HB814, which would help inform law enforcement if someone subject to a protective order is in possession of a firearm

The subcommittee also killed Del. Jim Scott’s microstamping measure, HB899 and Del. Jeion Ward’s HB810, which would require machine gun registrants to notify the State Police of a change of address.