Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

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VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
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Who would have thought that anti-gun Senators Saslaw and Marsh would
break the Senate rules to get their way?

Ok, ok - just kidding. Pretty much everybody expected them to do so.

This morning in the full Senate Courts of Justice committee,
Republican Senator Obenshain butted heads with committee chair,
Senator Marsh, and Senate Majority Leader, Senator Saslaw, over a
parliamentary move by Obenshain to bring HB 79 (Delegate Ware's bill
to keep courts from disseminating CHP applicant information) and HB 69
(Virginia Firearm Freedom Act) in front of the committee for a vote.

I thought Saslaw was going to blow a fuse (Marsh just seemed to be
confused). Whatever Senator Saslaw lacked in understanding the rules
of the Senate, he certainly made up for with the loud volume of his
voice!

Saslaw said the Chair can decide what bills come up before the
committee and it wasn't debatable.

HB 79 was denied a fair hearing as Marsh only let an anti speak on the
bill and didn't allow me or anyone else to speak in favor of the bill
last Friday. It would be interesting to see Marsh's face if the House
does that to him next year on a few of his more important bills.

Hats off to Senator Obenshain for at least trying to make Marsh do the
right thing.

Here is the status of gun bills this morning (no surprises):

HB 109, Delegate Cole, removes authority for a county to tax and
register handgun sales - passed out of committee

HB 505, Delegate Gilbert, restaurant ban repeal - modified to look
like SB 334 and passed out of committee

HB 870, Delegate Cline, removes the option for fingerprinting first
time CHP applicants - killed

HB 885, Delegate Athey, loaded gun in unlocked container or
compartment - changed to "locked" to match SB 408 and passed out of
committee

HB 1092, Delegate Crockett-Stark, allows retired law enforcement
officers to carry wherever they may go in Virginia - passed out of
committee

HB 1191, Delegate Griffith, allows a Circuit Court Clerk to issue CHPs
if there is no problem with the application - passed out of committee

HB 1379, Delegate Sickles, allows small child-care facilities in NoVA
to have the same rules of gun storage as large child-care facilities

Short of some kind of Hail Mary pass, the rest of the gun bills that
are in that committee are dead.

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HB 1271, Delegate Lewis' bill to allow elementary school children to
be taught gun safety, was modified in the Senate Education and Health
committee to add an anti-gun amendment. The bill passed the Senate
and we are working on getting the anti-gun amendment stripped from the
bill. For now, just standby on this bill.

(The amendment would allow school to alternatively teach materials
from an anti-gun organization.)

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Here is some coverage of this mornings meeting of the Courts of Justice:

http://tinyurl.com/ykwu8mz

Split decision in Senate panel on death-penalty bills
By Jim Nolan
Published: March 8, 2010

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee today rejected a House of
Delegates version of a bill that would have expand those eligible for
the death penalty to include accomplices and accessories to the murder
of a law enforcement officer.

But the panel approved an expansion of the death penalty for the
murder of fire marshals and auxiliary police officers.

House Bill 502, sponsored by Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, was a
narrower version of a previously defeated Senate bill that would have
repealed the so-called "Triggerman" law that stipulates, with limited
exceptions, that only the actual killer can be eligible for the death
penalty upon conviction of capital murder.

Gilbert's bill, defeated by a 9-6 vote, would have only applied to law
enforcement officers, essentially adding their category to the other
exceptions to the statute, which include murder for hire, terrorism
and organized crime killings. The committee's action means the
"Triggerman" legislation is essentially done for the year. Last year
it narrowly passed the Senate and vetoed by then-Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

The committee approved House Bill 166, which would add fire marshals
with law enforcement powers to the capital murder statute. Also
approved was House Bill 934, which adds the murder of auxiliary police
to the capital murder statute. Both measures now come before the full
Senate.

The meeting, the last of the committee for this year's General
Assembly session, was packed to capacity and included a share of drama.

Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, attempted to reintroduce
before the full committee several bills to expand gun rights that were
defeated in a special subcommittee last week and not placed on the
full committee agenda.

Committee Chairman Henry L. Marsh III, D-Richmond rejected Obenshain's
effort to overrule the chair, raising the ire of committee member and
Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw, D-Fairfax.

With slightly less fanfare, the committee also dispatched a number of
other House Bills, including:

•House Bill 870, which would have prohibited localities from requiring
fingerprint checks of applicants for concealed handgun permits. •House
Bill 1197, which would have required the installation of an ignition
interlock device upon the first conviction for driving under the
influence. •House Bill 1338, which would have charged defendants who
can't speak English court costs for interpreters if the defendant is
found guilty. •House Bill 728, which would have forced courts to
require people with prior felony convictions who are not indigent to
secure bond rather than permitting release to pre-trial services
without bond.



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VA-ALERT is a project of the 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.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]