A Good Night For Virginia Gun Owners
Virginia – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Militia, Police, and Public Safety subcommittee met tonight and vetted and then voted on a bunch of gun bills.
Delegates Lingamfelter, Griffith, Nutter, and Wright, all Republicans, voted pro-gun.
Delegate Keam, a Democrat, voted mixed – supporting some pro-gun bills and some anti-gun bills.
Keam seemed genuinely interested in learning more about the whole gun debate.
We had a good turnout, with lots of people wearing GSL stickers. The antis were there as well.
Here is the status of the bills.
Note: the bills that passed out of the subcommittee will be voted on by the full committee next Friday.
- HB 8, Carrico, allows CHPs to be renewed by mail. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed 4 to 0!
- HB 26, Wright, clarifies that Circuit Court Clerk can only ask for certain information from CHP applicants and nothing more. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed 5 to 0!
- HB 52, Cole, sets the penalty for not having your CHP with you when carrying concealed to a $25 civil penalty (not a crime), and that penalty can be waived by the Court upon presentation of your CHP. SUPPORT: Passed 5 to 0, but was also referred to Courts of Justice to have the bills’ wording tweaked.
- HB 79, Lee Ware, block Circuit Court Clerks from giving our CHP information except to police for legitimate police purposes. It will keep newspapers from printing CHP holder’s names and addresses. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed by 4 to 0 with 1 abstention!
- HB 108, Cole, requires localities to auction off guns purchased in a “buy-up”. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed 4 to 1, with a pro-gun amendment!
- HB 109, Cole, repeals a law allowing counties to require the reporting of handgun sales. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Not heard, I believe (I had to step out of the room to talk to the press)
- HB 152, O’Bannon, lets electronic security employees carry concealed with a CHP when working. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Killed by a 5 to 0 vote
- HB 171, Pogge, allows a person to have a firearm in their locked vehicle while on private property, including the parking lot of a person’s employer. The bill also legally immunizes the employer from the misuse of such a firearm. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Not heard this week
- HB 637, Armstrong, waives the CHP fee for designated US Coast Guard boarding members. NEUTRAL: Passed by a 5 to 0 vote.
- HB 684, Jackson Miller, makes carrying a butterfly knife concealed illegal. OPPOSE: Passed by for the week so the bill could be improved. The committee didn’t like adding butterfly knives as a concealed weapon generally and they are working on some other qualification – such as one with a very long blade.
- HB 870, Cline, removes the option for a locality for fingerprint new CHP applicants. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed by 4 to 0 with 1 abstention!
- HB 871, Cline, clarifies that a person has the right to an ore tenus hearing under certain circumstances if the CHP is denied. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed by until next week.
- HB 879, BaCote, allows firearms to be banned in a library by local ordinance. STRONGLY OPPOSE: Killed by a 5 to 0 vote!
- HB 885, Athey, allows a person to have a concealed handgun in a private car or boat if secured in a container or compartment. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed by a 3 to 1 vote with 1 abstention!
- HB 995, Nutter, allows military ID or a CHP to be used as proof of citizenship for purchase of an “assault firearm.” STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed by for a week to improve the language.
- HB 1092, Crockett-Stark, allows retired law enforcement officers to carry anywhere they go. NEUTRAL: Passed by a 5 to 0 vote, with wording to be improved before the full committee votes on it.
- HB 1151, Iaquinto, makes carrying a butterfly knife concealed illegal. OPPOSE: This bill was rolled into HB 684.
- HB 1191, Griffith, allows the Circuit Court Clerk to be authorized by a judge to issue CHPs. STRONGLY SUPPORT: Passed by for the week for wording improvements
- HB 1209, Ward, requires the State Police to be notified of change of address of a machine gun owner or change of location of the machine gun. STRONGLY OPPOSE: Passed by for the week.
- HB 1210, Loupassi, allows judges to carry concealed wherever they may go. NEUTRAL: Killed by a 3 to 2 vote.
- HB 1234, McClellan, gun show bill, requires private sales be done through a dealer and puts other burdens on the gun show promoter. STRONGLY OPPOSE: Killed by a 4 to 1 vote!! Good coverage on local Richmond TV. Same baloney from anti-gunners and same outcome. Anti- gun Richmond Mayor spoke for the bill. A reporter asked me what I thought might happen with the Senate version of the bill. I said it was the same bill as was just killed and if it passed the Senate it would go to this same subcommittee. I pointed out that Einstein said insanity could be defined as doing the same thing twice in a row and expecting a different result. 😉
- HB 1256, P.J. Miller, widens the number of retired police officers who qualify to carry concealed without a CHP. NEUTRAL: Passed by a 5 to 0 vote.
- HB 1257, P.J. Miller, allows a retired law-enforcement officer to purchase their duty gun for $1 (maybe we just need to pay our officers better) NEUTRAL: Passed by a 5 to 0 vote.
About:
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right. Visit: www.vcdl.org