A measure that would have allowed firearms in places of worship in Virginia has been defeated.
The legislation was approved by the state Senate along a party line vote but never made it out of the House Rule Committee.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that the bill was aimed at repealing a law enacted in the 1950’s.
The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy is made up of more than 700 faith groups.
They opposed the measure saying that churches and other places of worship should be a refuge “free from violence”.
In recent years gun violence has struck religious institutions with the deaths of 11 at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and the 2017 killing of 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Southerland Springs, Texas.
