Virginia Democratic governor seeks new gun controls after deadly office shooting

(Reuters) – Virginia’s Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, called on Tuesday for the state’s Republican-controlled legislature to reconvene in a special session to consider new gun control laws following a massacre of 12 people last week.

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“I will be asking for votes and laws, not thoughts and prayers,” he said at a news conference announcing his proposed legislation.

Northam has previously faced resistance from the legislature to increase restrictions on guns.

A Virginia Beach city engineer shot dead 12 people at a municipal building on Friday in one of the deadliest workplace shootings in the United States.

The gunman used two handguns, purchased legally, that he reloaded with extended ammunition magazines and had a silencer on one of the weapons, according to the police.

Northam said he wanted to ban assault-style rifles, to require people to report lost and stolen guns and to expand local authority to regulate guns, including in government buildings.

“None of these ideas are radical,” he told reporters.

Northam said earlier efforts at passing similar legislation had died in committees under political pressure. He said he wanted the proposed legislation to be put to the entire General Assembly.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Scott Malone, Bill Trott and Bill Berkrot)