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VA Supreme Court Upholds The George Mason University Building Gun Ban – Good And Bad News

Virginia Citizens Defense League

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- Yesterday the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the George Mason University gun ban was constitutional because it was narrowly tailored and applied to a school or government building or special event.

It does not ban lawful carry outside of the school buildings.

The bad news is, of course, that the GMU ban was upheld. One key question that was NOT appealed to the Supreme Court was if GMU was even allowed to CREATE such a ban under Virginia law.

The Court only ruled on whether the ban, however it got put in place – rightly or wrongly, was constitutional.

The good news is that for other public universities and colleges, such as VCU, which have a gun ban outside of their buildings and special events, those bans have been **effectively** invalidated.

However, they won’t actually be invalidated until the university or college has been taken to court.

For GMU law-abiding gun owners, including students, can have a gun outside of the school buildings or special events constitutionally, including stored in a vehicle. For other universities or colleges the same won’t apply until a court rules their ban to be invalid. I would be quite surprised if any of those schools were to even attempt to enforce their ban outside of a school building or special event as they are virtually guaranteed to lose in court. I’m betting that they keep their bans on the books to intimidate the unknowing, but do so without any attempt at actual enforcement.

This isn’t necessarily over, either. A new lawsuit can explore many areas of the legality of the ban that the previous suit did not.

Attorney General Cuccinelli said last year that when the suit was over he would explain why he sided with GMU and didn’t abstain from defending GMU (an outside counsel could have been used to do so). I will advise when we know more on this.

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

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Virginia Pro Gun Bills Introduced

Virginia Citizens Defense League

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- The General Assembly begins its 2011 session today.

First, I had a wrong bill number in a previous alert: SJ 307 should have been SJ 306:

• SJ 306 - Senator McEachen – Senate Joint Resolution which resolves that a Virginia Constitutional Amendment be made that allows NON-VIOLENT felons to get their voting rights back, BUT NOT THEIR FIREARMS RIGHTS BACK, upon completion of their sentence. VCDL Opposes this resolution as introduced because it specifically denies someone their Second Amendment rights, but would Strongly Support it if firearms rights would be restored, too

MORE BILLS INTRODUCED SINCE LAST ALERT

Two identical “Castle Doctrine” bills have been introduced. Similar to bills introduced in the past, they apply within a dwelling only. It would be better if the bills also stated that they are not attempting to change common law or case law for self-defense outside of a dwelling.

The danger is that a future court might say that the only place we can defend ourselves is inside a dwelling because of this targeted law. Our position will be to Support the bill, but we would shift to Strongly Support if wording is added to clarify that it is not meant to change case or common law outside of a dwelling.

• HB 1573 – Delegate Cleaveland – Castle doctrine. Exempts a person from civil liabilities if they must defend themselves within a dwelling they are occupying – VCDL Supports this bill
• SB 876 – Senator Stuart – Castle doctrine. Exempts a person from civil liabilities if they must defend themselves within a dwelling they are occupying – VCDL Supports this bill
• HB 2005 - LeMunyon – requires that gun laws be posted at gun shows, handed out by dealers, made available by State Police on their web site – VCDL Opposes this bill because it makes unnecessary and cumbersome demands on gun shows and gun dealers. If the State Police want to put gun laws up on their web site for download by interested individuals, that would be supported by VCDL
• HB 2062 - Delegate Bell – adds a correctional officer to list of those who can carry concealed without a CHP – VCDL Supports this bill as the more good people carrying guns, the better
• HB 2069 - Delegate Athey – Constitutional Carry. A person without a permit can carry concealed as long as they notify law enforcement of the fact they are carrying if they are DETAINED – VCDL Supports the bill, but we want the requirement to notify the officer removed before we will Strongly Support the bill
• HB 2343 - Delegate Morrissey – Adds open carriers to those who cannot carry in a public places while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, while removing others from the restriction – VCDL Strongly Opposes this bill as it once again carves out special exemptions and privileges for police, Commonwealth Attorneys, the Harbormaster of Hopewell, etc. who can carry concealed without a permit
• SB 1084 - Senator Hanger – keeps a Circuit Court Clerk from releasing permit holder’s name or other identifying information if the permit holder checks a box on the application saying that such information is not to be released - VCDL Supports the bill, BUT we would Strongly Support the bill if the bill is reversed so that a person checks a box only IF they want their information released
• HJ 604 - Delegate Surovell – If enough cities and counties get together and represent enough of Virginia’s population, they can repeal any state law or regulation – VCDL Strongly Opposes this bill, as localities could bad together and repeal firearm preemption laws and turn the Dillon Rule into mush.

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

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