RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A Virginia lawmaker wants to make gun registration a reality in Virginia. It’s not a proposal to register your weapon when you buy a gun, but it is a step in that direction.

“I think it’s a good practice for law enforcement officials to know where firearms are throughout their communities,” Senator Barbara Favola said.

Favola has introduced a resolution that would direct the Crime Commission to look at what it would take to create a gun registry here in the state.

The move would also study the potential of cutting down on gun related deaths by creating such a registry.

“So often data helps us in solving problems, data helps us in finding trends, data actually helps save lives,” Favola said.

The senator says the resolution is not an attack on anyone’s second amendment rights, saying she’s focused on public safety.

“We are not affecting an individual’s ability to purchase a firearm,” Favola said. “All we’re saying is if you purchase a firearm we would like that firearm registered with law enforcement.”

Philip Van Cleave with the Virginia Citizens Defense League, though, calls the move a political stunt.

“Baloney it’s got nothing to do with safety, it’s got everything to do with politics,” Van Cleave told 8News. “Washington D.C. and Chicago, Illinois both have gun registrations and we’ve seen the horrendous crime rates they have there.”

Van Cleave says if a registry was ever created, criminals wouldn’t be the ones registering.

“The only people that have to go through registration would be the good guys so where’s the benefit in that,” Van Cleave added.

For full text of the resolution, click here.

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