---
type: "Bill"
title: "Trigger activators; prohibition, penalty."
description: "Trigger activators; prohibition; penalty. Prohibitsthe manufacture, importation, sale or offer to sell, possession,transfer, or transportation of a trigger activator, defined in thebill as (i) a device designed to be attached to a semi-automaticfirearm, which allows the firearm to discharge two or more shotsin a burst by activating the device, including a bump-fire deviceor a binary trigger, but does not convert the semi-automatic firearminto a machine gun or (ii) a manual or power-driven trigger activatingdevice designed so that when attached to a semi-automatic firearmit increases the rate of fire of that firearm, including a triggercrank, but does not convert the semiautomatic firearm into a machine gun. A violation is punishable as a Class 6 felony."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 14"
citation: "Virginia SB 14 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Richard L. Saslaw"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 32
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2019-11-18"
last_action: "2020-03-31"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/9deff9cd-22cd-4aba-9c0b-ccd8b619f469"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB14"
source_hash: "b09292b9390b90c9c16ba5e12d435cf8be4d03649b1d71d7ba83cd6b90f56821"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 14 (2020) — Trigger activators; prohibition, penalty.

Trigger activators; prohibition; penalty. Prohibitsthe manufacture, importation, sale or offer to sell, possession,transfer, or transportation of a trigger activator, defined in thebill as (i) a device designed to be attached to a semi-automaticfirearm, which allows the firearm to discharge two or more shotsin a burst by activating the device, including a bump-fire deviceor a binary trigger, but does not convert the semi-automatic firearminto a machine gun or (ii) a manual or power-driven trigger activatingdevice designed so that when attached to a semi-automatic firearmit increases the rate of fire of that firearm, including a triggercrank, but does not convert the semiautomatic firearm into a machine gun. A violation is punishable as a Class 6 felony.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0527)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0527)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB14ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB14ER)
3. **Impact statement from VCSC (SB14)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB14)
4. **Impact statement from VCSC (SB14S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB14S1)

## Votes

- Reported from Public Safety (14-Y 8-N) — **14–8** (pass) · lower
- Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N) — **21–18** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Judiciary with substitute (9-Y 5-N) — **9–5** (pass) · upper
- VOTE: Passage (55-Y 45-N) — **54–45** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Richard L. Saslaw — primary (person)
- Adam P. Ebbin — cosponsor (person)
- Kaye Kory — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-11-18** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100506D `introduction`
- **2019-11-18** Referred to Committee on the Judiciary `referral-committee`
- **2019-11-19** Impact statement from VCSC (SB14)
- **2020-01-08** Moved from Courts of Justice to Judiciary due to a change of the committee name
- **2020-01-31** Impact statement from DPB (SB14)
- **2020-02-03** Committee substitute printed 20106402D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-02-03** Reported from Judiciary with substitute (9-Y 5-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-03** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-05** Impact statement from VCSC (SB14S1)
- **2020-02-05** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-06** Impact statement from DPB (SB14S1)
- **2020-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-07** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-07** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-07** Committee substitute agreed to 20106402D-S1
- **2020-02-07** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB14S1
- **2020-02-10** Read third time and passed Senate (21-Y 18-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-18** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-18** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-18** Referred to Committee on Public Safety `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-21** Reported from Public Safety (14-Y 8-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-25** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-26** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-26** Passed House (55-Y 45-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-26** VOTE: Passage (55-Y 45-N)
- **2020-03-03** Enrolled
- **2020-03-03** Impact statement from DPB (SB14ER)
- **2020-03-03** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-03-04** Signed by President
- **2020-03-12** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on March 12, 2020
- **2020-03-12** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., April 11, 2020
- **2020-03-31** Approved by Governor-Chapter 527 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/9deff9cd-22cd-4aba-9c0b-ccd8b619f469`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).