Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

by **OakRidgeStars** » Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:01:51

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VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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1. Longer delays spur gun debate
2. Discount code for free VA CHP training for students/faculty/staff of colleges and universities

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1. Longer delays spur gun debate
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From the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I would add to the article that VCDL views gun owners having to pay $2 for a background check for purchasing a gun to be exactly like a "poll tax." Such a fee should be paid out of general funding and in sufficient amounts to backup the statements by the government that instant check would be just that - instant, not 4 hours or days.

Look at it this way, how do gun owners benefit from having a background check run on them every time they buy a gun?

They don't.

I, for example, know I'm not a criminal. So the background check doesn't tell me a single thing I don't already know.

The background check for gun purchases was supposed to be a "public safety" issue. If so, then the public needs to pay for it:

http://tinyurl.com/ybh2xeq

Background checks for gun buys taking longer By Jim Nolan Media
Published: April 4, 2010

Prospective gun buyers in Virginia are waiting longer for background checks to clear their firearms purchases.

Gun advocates say the waits — which, in some cases, used to take a matter of minutes — can now take several hours to several days depending on the time and location of the purchases.

“This is not acceptable,” said Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun nonprofit group Virginia Citizens Defense League.

The Virginia State Police, the agency that administers the checks, acknowledges that there has been an increase in processing time.

Officials said it is tied to increased demand for firearms at the same time that budget and funding constraints have reduced the number of staffers available to handle the transactions.

Spokeswoman Corinne Geller said that since May 2009, the agency has lost 11 people from its 28-person staff at the Virginia Firearms Transaction Center, including two federally funded full-time workers who used to attend gun shows and conduct the computerized checks on-site.

She said the delays during peak periods can take four to six hours, with a few that require research into out-of-state records taking overnight.

Van Cleave said the delays are costing dealers money and keeping firearms out of the hands of people who need them.

“It is a safety issue,” Van Cleave said. “A person experiencing a death threat and who is denied a lawful gun purchase overnight would be left helpless at the hands of an assailant.”

He said he has received reports of dealers at gun shows losing up to half their business because purchasers’ background checks have not been completed by the time the show closes.

“We cannot afford to have our dealers weakened by artificially sagging sales and purchasers unreasonably inconvenienced,” he added.

In Virginia, buyers who purchase firearms from a licensed dealer are subject to a criminal background check. Individuals in the state can still conduct private sales of their guns without submitting their buyers to a background check.

People with mental illness, felony convictions or a record of spousal abuse are not permitted to possess firearms.

Restrictions notwithstanding, Virginia firearms transactions processed by the state police have boomed across the state in the past decade, rising from 182,170 in 2000 to a record 287,462 in 2009. Nearly 4 million legal firearms transactions have taken place in the state since 1989, according to agency figures.

Prospective gun buyers are required to pay a $2 fee for each background check — a figure that has not increased since it was passed in 1989. Last year, legislation to increase the fee from $2 to $5 easily passed the state Senate but was killed in the House of Delegates, due in no small part to lobbying against the measure by the gun groups such as Van Cleave’s VCDL.

“Mr. Van Cleave and some other folks were among those who worked diligently against it — I couldn’t even get it out of subcommittee,”
said Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, who carried the 2009 legislation.
“They want to have it both ways.” [PVC: Actually we don't want to have it both ways. We don't want to pay for it at all, much less increase what we are paying by 150%!]

State police said a fee increase would enable them to reduce wait times and process more checks, which have become more labor-intensive as the number of conditions under which someone can be disqualified from owning firearms have expanded.

Technicians now run the purchaser’s information through 13 different databases. If one of the databases hits on a name, the application is automatically given what is called a “pending status” for the technician to do further research. That is where the delays are piling up.

From July 1, 2008, to June 30, 2009, state police said their Firearms Transaction Center processed nearly 300,000 gun background-check transactions.

It collected roughly $620,000, and the cost to operate the center was roughly $860,000. About 11 percent of the background checks arose out of gun shows.

“A $3 increase in the processing fee would enable the FTC to fill its vacant positions, and possibly once again staff the gun shows,” Geller said.

Despite the increased waits, advocates like Van Cleave are not willing to yield on a fee increase. He called it a “250 percent” tax on gun owners and questioned how the state was spending the money it received for the checks.

“If they’ve had record sales of guns in Virginia, they should have record income to easily cover this,” he said, noting that it recently took him four hours to be cleared for a purchase.

“I question the whole principle of gun owners paying for this.”

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2. Discount code for free VA CHP training for students/faculty/staff of colleges and universities
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From Students for Concealed Carry on Campus:

The Students for Concealed Carry on Campus Board of Directors is pleased to announce that for all of empty holder protest week (Now - April 10 @ 11:59 PM ET), there is an opportunity for anyone with a .edu email address to obtain a FREE CHP TRAINING COURSE for Virginia.
Both residential and non-residential permits are available in Virginia.

Online training is valid under Virginia law for a Virginia CHP permit (VA Code §18.2-308 (G)(7) and (P1)(7)). Education and training are key goals of SCCC. By making training available to students, faculty, and staff on campus, we will further a goal shared by both sides of the gun rights debate: to educate about the core safety aspects of firearms and self-defense.

Here's what you do:

1) Visit: http://www.onlineconcealedcarry.com/
2) Register with a .edu email address
3) Use the following discount code: 923726
4) Finish the course before April 10 @ 11:59 PM ET.

Upon completion of the course, you will be given a printable certificate of completion. Instructions on how to submit this certificate to Virginia authorities is available at:
http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms.shtm . Please note that you will be responsible for any state fee(s) and compliance with all legal standards that Virginia requires.

A Virginia CHP permit is currently valid in AK, AR, AZ, DE, FL, ID, IN, KY, LA, MI, MO, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NM, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, and WV. Please note however that currently Michigan (MI), South Carolina (SC), and Florida (FL) only honor permits from residents of the issuing states.

SCCC encourages you to spread word about this program far and wide.
Please, tell your friends on campus. Post this information on your SCCC campus mailing lists. Post it on your campus SCCC Facebook groups. Let's get the word out!

Let's make this empty holder protest week the best one yet!

Cheers,

The Board of Directors
Students for Concealed Carry on Campus

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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/]