Virginia Governor Ralph Northam (D) has been pushing to ban assault-style weapons since taking office in 2018. However, some of his fellow Democrats voted against him on Monday in a proposed ban that has set Democrats back on one of their major priority issues.

A crowd of gun-rights activists packed into the committee room cheered as the vote came in, with four moderate Democrats joining Republicans to shelve the bill until next year. Heated exchanges over guns have dominated this year’s legislative session. They were also a key topic of last year’s legislative elections – particularly after a mass shooting in Virginia Beach claimed a dozen lives – and gun control groups heavily funded Democratic candidates.

State senators voted to table the issue for the year and let the state’s crime commission study the issue further. Four Democrats joined Republicans in Monday’s committee vote to reject the proposed legislation, which would have prohibited the sale of certain semiautomatic weapons, including AR-15 style rifles, and banned the possession of magazines that hold more than 12 rounds.

During last year’s state elections, Democrats ran heavily on gun control. They took the majority in the General Assembly for the first time in more than two decades.

Second amendment rights have been a contested debated in Virginia. Some counties have even become “second amendment sanctuaries.”

Some citizens have even started “Vexit” petitions, citing the fact that West Virginia is willing to welcome Virginia cities and counties that are fed up with the leadership in Richmond.