Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

VCDL Firearm Bill Analysis
for the
2011 General Assembly Session

January 17, 2011
Philip Van Cleave, President
804-639-0600
president@vcdl.org
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
P.O. Box 513, Newington, VA 22122

Bills That VCDL Strongly Supports

SB 757, Senator Reynolds, provides the right to someone on private property to be able to discharge a pneumatic gun as long as they have permission from the property owner to do so and reasonable care is taken to ensure the projectile does not cross the bounds of the property. Right now in some localities a person cannot shoot a BB gun while in his own home

SB 839, Senator Petersen, allows a person to keep one firearm for household use if they are subject to a creditor process (updates Virginia’s Homestead laws)

SB 850, Senator Petersen, allows a person to hunt on Sundays

SB 1250, Senator Vogel, state agency preemption. Prohibits any state agency from enacting gun control without the permission of the General Assembly

HB 1471, Delegate Cole, allows a person to keep one firearm for household use if they are subject to a creditor process (updates Virginia’s Homestead laws)

HB 1552, Delegate Cox, specifies that the Circuit Court Clerk is to mail a certified concealed handgun application to serve as a temporary concealed handgun permit within 5 days of the expiration of the 45-day application processing period

HB 1731, Delegate Carrico, “Virginia Firearms Freedom Act,” states that firearms that are made in Virginia and sold in Virginia are not subject to Federal regulation as per the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

HB 1732, Delegate Carrico, requires Virginia to honor the concealed handgun permits from all other states. In turn, this will add to the number of states that will honor a Virginia permit

HB 1856, Delegate Anderson, clarifies that a Circuit Court Clerk is to replace a lost or stolen concealed handgun permit within five days of getting a notarized statement of the loss for a fee of $5

HB 2380, Delegate Pogge, gives certain civil immunities to all employers who do not prohibit their employees from storing their firearms in their private vehicles while such private vehicles are parked on company property

HB 2386, Delegate Jackson Miller, changes concealed handgun permits to concealed weapon permits. It makes no sense that someone who is trusted to carry a concealed handgun cannot be trusted to carry a less lethal defensive weapon



Bills That VCDL Supports

SB 754, Senator Reynolds, an improvement to current law dealing with abuse-based protective orders, which restrict purchase or transport of firearms. The bill would make such restrictions for an actual finding of abuse only. The bill would be better if the finding of abuse was required to be done at an adjudicatory hearing so that the order cannot be made ex parte

SB 758, Senator Reynolds, an improvement to current law dealing with abuse-based and neglect-based protective orders, which restrict purchase or transport of firearms. The bill would make such restrictions only after an actual finding of both abuse AND neglect (not just an accusation). However, it should be changed to require that the finding of abuse and neglect be made at an adjudicatory hearing (so that the order cannot be made "ex parte")

SB 786, Senator Stuart, “Castle Doctrine” exempts a person from civil liabilities if they must defend themselves within a dwelling that they are occupying. The bill would be better if it specified that it is not meant to interfere with case law and common law for self-defense outside of a dwelling

SB 1084, Senator Hanger, prevents the Circuit Court Clerk from release concealed handgun permit holder’s name or other identifying information if the applicant checks a box on the concealed handgun permit application saying such information is not to be released from his application. This bill would be Strongly Supported if the form were changed to have a check box for the applicant to indicate that he wants his information released. That would massively reduce the amount of work that the Circuit Court Clerks would need to do to implement this bill, as there are 250,000 permit holders already in the system

HB 1411, Delegate Wilt, limits the penalty for reckless handling of a firearm while hunting or trapping to a maximum of five years of prohibition from carrying while hunting/trapping, down from the current one year to life prohibition. However, if the person then hunts during the prohibition period, they can be prohibited from carrying while hunting/trapping for one year to life, up from one to five additional years

HB 1422, Delegate Albo, allows a person to keep one firearm of no more than $3,000 in value if they are subject to a creditor process (updates Virginia’s Homestead laws). The bill would be better if it allowed any number of firearms, up to the $3,000 limit in total value

HB 1573, Delegate Cleaveland, “Castle Doctrine” exempts a person from civil liabilities if they must defend themselves within a dwelling that they are occupying. The bill would be better if it specified that it is not meant to interfere with case law and common law for self-defense outside of a dwelling

HB 1699, Delegate Athey, cleans up conflicting/inconsistent wording dealing with a person who has been acquitted by reason of insanity from certain charges to have his gun rights restored upon discharge from treatment

HB 1779, Delegate Gilbert, an improvement to current law dealing with abuse-based protective orders, which restrict purchase or transport of firearms. The bill would make such restrictions for an actual finding of abuse only. The bill would be better if the finding of abuse was required to be done at an adjudicatory hearing so that the order cannot be made ex parte

HB 1857, Delegate Anderson, clarifies that someone with permanent orders to a Pentagon duty post can use their ID as photo-identification to purchase a firearm in Virginia

HB 2069, Delegate Athey, allows a person without a concealed handgun permit to carry a concealed handgun as long as they notify law enforcement of the fact they are carrying if they are detained. The bill would be much better if it removed the notification requirement as that requirement would make it too easy for someone to inadvertently be in violation. Law enforcement should assume anyone they are interacting with is armed


Bills That VCDL Strongly Opposes

SB 903, Delegate Deeds, make someone convicted of having a firearm on school property guilty of a VIOLENT felony. It is bad enough that a person who inadvertently brings a gun onto K-12 property can be turned into a felon without the state having to prove any kind of evil intent, but this makes it even more unjust

HB 1600, Delegate BaCote, allows libraries to ban guns. A solution in search of a problem

HB 1669, Delegate McClellan, requires any private sales at gun shows go through a background check. The Virginia State Crime Commission did not recommend this bill when asked two years ago. This requirement is just the first step in ultimately setting up a private sale registration scheme and it will unnecessarily raise the price of privately sold guns. It will make it much harder to hold a gun show in Virginia. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Justice, few guns used in crimes are purchased at gun shows, so this bill will have no noticeable affect on crime.

HB 1813, Delegate Hope, prohibits someone with a concealed handgun permit from being able to carry at the General Assembly. There is no advantage to disarming good, law-abiding people. Hypocritically, the bill exempts members of the General Assembly

HB 2343, Delegate Morrissey, adds those carrying a handgun openly to the list of those who cannot carry in a public places while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, while removing others from the restriction. The bill eliminates the restriction for police, Commonwealth Attorneys, the Harbormaster of Hopewell, etc., who can carry concealed without a permit. We do not need or want two classes of Citizens

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. This would allow localities to band together and repeal firearm preemption laws and dismantle the Dillon Rule
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Bills That VCDL Opposes

HB 2005, Delegate LeMunyon, requires that gun laws be posted at gun shows, handed out by dealers, made available by State Police on their web site. This bill makes unnecessary and cumbersome demands on gun shows and gun dealers. If the State Police want to put a document describing the Virginia gun laws on their web site for download by interested individuals, that would be fine

HB 2062, Delegate Bell, adds a correctional officer to the list of those who can carry without a concealed handgun permit. Since concealed handgun permits are available to correction officers on a shall-issue basis, this bill isn’t needed

SJ 306, Senator McEachin, joint resolution 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




Bills On Which VCDL is Neutral

HB 1777, Delegate Gilbert, cleans up some wording dealing with penalty for faking a birth certificate to obtain a gun illegally

HB 1889, Delegate Wilt, deals with retrieving certain wounded animals while hunting using tracking dogs and while armed with a gun



Bill Summary Sheet
KEY: (++)Strongly Support (+)Support ()Neutral (--)Strongly Oppose (-)Oppose

Support Bill Num	Patron 	Summary 	VCDL Position
+  HB 1411    Wilt 	Modifies penalty for reckless firearm handling while hunting
+  HB 1422    Albo 	$3,000 firearm homestead exemption
++ HB 1471   Cole 	Firearm Homestead exemption
++ HB 1552   Cox 	Mailing of temporary concealed handgun permit
+  HB 1573    Cleaveland Castle Doctrine
--  HB 1600   BaCote 	Localities can ban guns in libraries
--  HB 1669   McClellan Private firearm sale registration at gun shows
+   HB 1699   Athey 	Restoration of gun rights after discharge from treatment
++ HB 1731   Carrico 	Virginia Firearms Freedom Act
++ HB 1732   Carrico 	Recognition of concealed handgun permits from all states 
     HB 1777   Gilbert 	Faking birth certificate to obtain a firearm
+   HB 1779   Gilbert 	Abused-based protective orders
--  HB 1813   Hope 	Prohibits concealed handguns at General Assembly
++ HB 1856   Anderson 	Speedy replacement of lost permit
+   HB 1857   Anderson 	Pentagon duty post photo-ID valid for gun purchases
     HB 1889   Wilt 	Retrieving wounded animals while hunting
-    HB 2005   LeMunyon Requires gun shows and dealer to distribute gun laws
-    HB 2062   Bell 	Correctional officers exempted from concealed carry laws
+   HB 2069   Athey 	Concealed carry without a permit if officer notifed on detention
--   HB 2343  Morrissey Redefines those who cannot carry a handgun while intoxicated
++  HB 2380  Pogge 	Civil immunity for employers not banning guns in vehicles
++  HB 2386  J. Miller 	Change concealed handgun to concealed weapon permit
--   HJ 604    Surovell Localities can band together to repeal any state law
+    SB 754    Reynolds Abuse-based protective orders
++  SB 757    Reynolds 	Pneumatic gun discharge on private property
+    SB 758    Reynolds Abuse-based and neglect-based protective orders
+    SB 786    Stuart 	Castle Doctrine
++  SB 839    Petersen 	Firearm Homestead exemption
++  SB 850    Petersen 	Hunting on Sundays
--   SB 903    Deeds 	Carry on K-12 school grounds a VIOLENT felony
+    SB 1084  Hanger 	Protects concealed handgun permit information
++  SB 1250  Vogel 	State agency firearm preemption
-     SJ 306   McEachin Non-violent felon rights restoration, except gun rights

Printed with permission of Philip Van Cleave, VCDL President

View this information in original PDF format at: http://www.vcdl.org/pdf/VCDL_Gun_Bill_Analysis_2011.pdf

So far I really like, HB 2386, turn concealed pistol permit into concealed weapon permit, SB1250, restricts regulation of firearms by state agencies. I think this reversed things like the GMU gun ban, not positive though. HB1732 recognition of all out-of-state permits.

HB2380 limits liability for property owners for allowing parking lot storage of guns. Last session Del. Pogge introduced a bill to keep an employer from banning guns, but it ended up with so many loop-holes it would have been somewhat useless. I do not know enough about the leg. rules to know if a similar bill to last year could not be introduced or if the delegate is just trying to get something less controversial passed as a first step.

There are some good bills there. I wonder how many the Senate will extra-legally kill this time?

I can think of some that I;d like to see repealed from last session, BTW they were anti gun bills that IMO were compromises cause they got accepted unanimously in both Houses....

gunderwood wrote:I wonder how many the Senate will extra-legally kill this time?

Now they know they can get away with it, probably every one. There's nothing and no one that can/will stop them.

This year ALL of them are up for re eelction so PayBack can at least be directed at those that choose to abuse their position and legislate with their heads up their asses while claiming to promote Public Safety or some other agenda,,, Until we get a majority in the Senate and House we will be open to attack and the under handed tricks of a less than supportive crew of rule breaking SOB's that will be allowed to get away with it like last year.The other side shrugged and did nothing while good bills died an untimely death at the hands of a Senate Committee that was appointed specifically to kill them........

That's a message that I certainly drove home to the ones I went and saw today, especially the Democrats under the "command" of Sens. Saslaw and Marsh. Naturally both of them were "unavailable" to meet with us. I also (politely) let my own Senator know that he'd better oppose any such attempt.

BTW, we did get some clarification regarding SB 903 introduced by Sen. Deeds. Looks like he didn't mean malicious intent (it's a language clean-up bill), but there's a terrible unintended consequence (felony now is *violent* felony for carry on K-12 property). We're working on it.

We can be glad Deeds didn;t get the nod in the last governor election,, if he can;t get the wording right on this I would be leery of anything else he proposes too.

CowboyT wrote:That's a message that I certainly drove home to the ones I went and saw today, especially the Democrats under the "command" of Sens. Saslaw and Marsh. Naturally both of them were "unavailable" to meet with us. I also (politely) let my own Senator know that he'd better oppose any such attempt.

BTW, we did get some clarification regarding SB 903 introduced by Sen. Deeds. Looks like he didn't mean malicious intent (it's a language clean-up bill), but there's a terrible unintended consequence (felony now is *violent* felony for carry on K-12 property). We're working on it.

Yeah that violent rap is a real winner. I honestly cant believe they have this kind of law to begin with and then some dim bulb wants to add "violent" to it.

zephyp wrote:

CowboyT wrote:That's a message that I certainly drove home to the ones I went and saw today, especially the Democrats under the "command" of Sens. Saslaw and Marsh. Naturally both of them were "unavailable" to meet with us. I also (politely) let my own Senator know that he'd better oppose any such attempt.

BTW, we did get some clarification regarding SB 903 introduced by Sen. Deeds. Looks like he didn't mean malicious intent (it's a language clean-up bill), but there's a terrible unintended consequence (felony now is *violent* felony for carry on K-12 property). We're working on it.

Yeah that violent rap is a real winner. I honestly cant believe they have this kind of law to begin with and then some dim bulb wants to add "violent" to it.

Adding "violent" makes as much sense as the law allowing non-violent felons to regain the right to own firearms passes (that is probably the reason for adding "violent" to the law description). I can see it now..."violent" passing bad checks over $200..."violent" fraud...etc.

WRW wrote:

zephyp wrote:

CowboyT wrote:That's a message that I certainly drove home to the ones I went and saw today, especially the Democrats under the "command" of Sens. Saslaw and Marsh. Naturally both of them were "unavailable" to meet with us. I also (politely) let my own Senator know that he'd better oppose any such attempt.

BTW, we did get some clarification regarding SB 903 introduced by Sen. Deeds. Looks like he didn't mean malicious intent (it's a language clean-up bill), but there's a terrible unintended consequence (felony now is *violent* felony for carry on K-12 property). We're working on it.

Yeah that violent rap is a real winner. I honestly cant believe they have this kind of law to begin with and then some dim bulb wants to add "violent" to it.

Adding "violent" makes as much sense as the law allowing non-violent felons to regain the right to own firearms passes (that is probably the reason for adding "violent" to the law description). I can see it now..."violent" passing bad checks over $200..."violent" fraud...etc.

+1

wally626 wrote:So far I really like, HB 2386, turn concealed pistol permit into concealed weapon permit, SB1250, restricts regulation of firearms by state agencies. I think this reversed things like the GMU gun ban, not positive though. HB1732 recognition of all out-of-state permits.

HB2380 limits liability for property owners for allowing parking lot storage of guns. Last session Del. Pogge introduced a bill to keep an employer from banning guns, but it ended up with so many loop-holes it would have been somewhat useless. I do not know enough about the leg. rules to know if a similar bill to last year could not be introduced or if the delegate is just trying to get something less controversial passed as a first step.

Does anyone know anything current about concealed guns at GMU? I must accompany my wife there this evening...

zephyp wrote:

wally626 wrote:So far I really like, HB 2386, turn concealed pistol permit into concealed weapon permit, SB1250, restricts regulation of firearms by state agencies. I think this reversed things like the GMU gun ban, not positive though. HB1732 recognition of all out-of-state permits.

HB2380 limits liability for property owners for allowing parking lot storage of guns. Last session Del. Pogge introduced a bill to keep an employer from banning guns, but it ended up with so many loop-holes it would have been somewhat useless. I do not know enough about the leg. rules to know if a similar bill to last year could not be introduced or if the delegate is just trying to get something less controversial passed as a first step.

Does anyone know anything current about concealed guns at GMU? I must accompany my wife there this evening...

Bad news - http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/virgini ... ban-011311

Ugh...