Gun-control advocate Andy Parker argued in the Richmond Times-Dispatch that centerfire semi-automatic long guns should be outlawed even when they are widely possessed. Parker, whose daughter Alison Parker and videographer Adam Ward were killed in 2015 by a former colleague during a live Roanoke broadcast, has long pushed for stricter firearm laws.

The 2015 attacker used a handgun. Parker cited several mass shootings involving AR-15-style rifles while stating that millions of Americans who legally own such rifles bear no responsibility for those crimes.