Virginia Democratic Sen. Chap Petersen said Tuesday he was surprised that a controversial assault weapons ban bill was brought to the state's Senate from the House of Delegates.

H/T: Fox News

During an appearance on Fox & Friends, Chapman said he took issue with the broadness of the bill — too many categories of weapons and parts were included — and he thought the retroactive nature of the bill was unfair.

"In other words, if you went out and legally purchased a weapon or legally purchased a particular part, just simply by owning that you could become a class VI felon or class I misdemeanant. And that, to me, it's not fair, it's not due process, and that was what really bothered me the most," he said.

Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, went on Fox and Friends this morning to explain why he voted against the assault weapon bill.



"I was surprised, frankly, that the bill came over from the House of Delegates," he sayshttps://t.co/ptZXyeXR6W — Graham Moomaw (@gmoomaw) February 18, 2020

The Virginia Senate rejected Gov. Ralph Northam's so-called assault weapons ban in a bipartisan vote — four Democrats joined with six Republicans — during a session of the Judiciary Committee on Monday.

Be sure to thank every senator who has a green “yes” to the left of his name. 6 Republicans and 4 Democrats. pic.twitter.com/Qvkzf7B2sa — Phil Van Cleave VCDL (@VCDL_ORG) February 17, 2020

“We did have a rally in Richmond on January 20th and a lot of folks that were at the rally came and visited me in my office, and in some cases it was people I had gone to high school with and people that were friends back home from church,” Chapman said.

“It was helpful to hear from people, and I don't want people to think ‘if I go to a rally or I send an email or call my representative’ it doesn't matter. It does matter,” he said, before further adding, “It was important to hear from people.”

In January, Second Amendment activists and supporters flooded the capital city for Virginia's “Lobby Day” rally, which took place inside and just outside of Richmond's Capitol Square.