Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I've asked my CCW course instructor for his interpretation about this, but he didn't have one.

A little known fact (to some) is that pilots and passengers of private aircraft are not subjected to TSA screening (yet...and let's hope it stays that way). Unless it is a chartered flight, passengers are pretty much allowed to bring whatever they wish on the aircraft as long as it isn't categorized as hazmat.

The way the law, § 18.2-287.01, reads, is that "It shall be unlawful for any person to possess or transport into any air carrier airport terminal in the Commonwealth any (i) gun..."

The building through which the passengers pass to board the private or chartered aircraft is typically called a Fixed Base Operator, or FBO for short, but it is open to interpretation as to whether or not it could possibly be categorized as a terminal building.

Now here's the tricky part. Private charter and fractional operators (NetJets, Flight Options, etc) operate as "Air Carriers" just like United, Delta, Southwest, etc. They are subject to different operating rules, but they are all still painted with a broad brush by the FAA and have a document hanging on the wall in their headquarters that says "Federal Air Carrier Certificate".

The other line in the law that catches my eye is "The provisions of this section shall not apply...to any passenger of an airline who, to the extent otherwise permitted by law, transports a lawful firearm, weapon, or ammunition into or out of an air carrier airport terminal for the sole purposes, respectively, of...(ii) checking such firearm, weapon, or ammunition with his luggage, or (iii) retrieving such firearm, weapon, or ammunition from the baggage claim area."

A couple of things about that section; passengers of private aircraft don't "check luggage". They pass it off to the flight crew or FBO employee, who then loads it into the baggage compartment in the aircraft. There also isn't a baggage claim area. When the baggage is offloaded, the reverse is done; it is wheeled to the passenger's vehicles on a baggage cart.

Lastly, I do possess a Security Identification Display Area (SIDA) badge which is labeled General Aviation Only. I can freely walk around the general aviation ramp (which at my base airport is separated by about a mile, and lots of grass, from the airline terminal). I cannot access the airline ramp or pass through the TSA checkpoint without a boarding pass as airline crew and employees can.

All that being said, what's the general consensus on concealed carry in private "terminals"/FBOs and on the respective ramp areas? Am I making this more complicated than it needs to be?

The phrase as used in Va. Code § 18.2-287.01 is, "air carrier airport terminal", presumably using the term, "terminal" to refer to the building at the end of a route, as opposed to the general use of that term. I think it's bad drafting, since "terminal" clearly refers to the endpoint of a scheduled route by a common carrier, and can include an entire city by its popular usage. ("But mister, this train don't stop at Tucumcari.")

Since "terminal" refers to the endpoint of a common carrier route, the statute must not apply to intermediate stops, which, given the kind of business National or Dulles airports do, makes no sense at all. Any particular airport can be both a terminal and an intermediate stopover.

That being the case, I suggest that the only sensible way to read the statute is that firearms are prohibited only in the areas designated for certain common carriers for which that airport functions as the terminus, and not in the building as a whole. I'd be willing to argue that as a defense, in an appropriate case.

Va. Code § 5.1-89, in the title on Aviation defines:

...(f) The term "air carrier" includes a common carrier by aircraft, a restricted common carrier by aircraft, and a contract carrier by aircraft. ...

So private charter flights are included.

By the way, the pilot of the plane is designated as a conservator of the peace, a type of law enforcement officer, with powers of arrest when actually engaged in his duties as a pilot.

Va. Code § 5.1-21:

The pilot of any aircraft carrying passengers for hire while actively engaged in the operation of such aircraft shall be a special policeman and have all the powers of a conservator of the peace in the enforcement of order on such aircraft and while in pursuit of persons for disorder upon such aircraft and until such persons as may be arrested by him shall have been placed in confinement or delivered to the custody of some other conservator of the peace or police officer.

And a conservator of the peace is entitled to carry a gun concealed without a permit while engaged in his duties as such.

Va. Code § 18.2-308 (the concealed carry statute):

...C. This section shall also not apply to any of the following individuals while in the discharge of their official duties, or while in transit to or from such duties:
...
4. Conservators of the peace, ... However, the following conservators of the peace shall not be permitted to carry a concealed handgun without obtaining a permit as provided in subsection D hereof: (a) notaries public; (b) registrars; (c) drivers, operators or other persons in charge of any motor vehicle carrier of passengers for hire; or (d) commissioners in chancery; ...

As to the concealed carry section, is an aircraft a "motor vehicle carrier of passengers for hire"? Of course, if the pilot has a CHP, it doesn't matter, but code sections in titles 58.1 and 46.2 suggest that this phrase only applies to vehicles that can be operated on the highways of the Commonwealth, and not to aircraft.

Va. Code § 18.2-287.01 states,

...The provisions of this section shall not apply to any ... conservator of the peace employed by the air carrier airport...

Of course, the question then becomes one of the nature of the employment. What does it mean to be "employed by the air carrier airport" in the context of a small private charter landing facility?

This shouldn't be all this complicated, and that's the result of bad statutory drafting. The good thing about is that as a person potentially on the receiving end of a criminal charge, that complexity and whatever other smoke, mirrors, horse-excrement, and fog you can produce is going to work to your benefit. Tie goes to the runner, at least in theory. But the bad part is what a circuit court judge in Prince William County called his "pishtosh" theorem. All that complexity and stuff is "pishtosh" (onomatipoeia: the sound urine makes upon hitting the base of an empty chamberpot, for those who don't remember what things were like before indoor plumbing). His view was that the way he saw things was truth. And in the mind of such a person, my guess would be that any aircraft landing area that includes a building into which members of the public might go in order to get on or off of aircraft is a terminal from which firearms are prohibited.

So my conclusion is that if you're a pilot with a CHP, then you're cool. If you're a passenger, the gun had better be unloaded and stored in the luggage.

Interesting analysis. Thank you for taking the time...

What's important to remember is that 18.2-287.01 only applies to 9 of the 72 airports in Virginia., those 9 being identified as the "air carrier airports" in Virginia:

Reagan National - Arlington,
VA Charlottesville Regional - Charlottesville, VA
Dulles International - Chantilly, VA
Lynchburg Municipal - Lynchburg, VA
Newport News . Williamsburg Regional - Newport News, VA
Norfolk International - Norfolk, VA
Richmond International - Richmond, VA
Roanoke Regional - Roanoke, VA
Shenandoah Valley Regional - Staunton, VA

Dan, you da' man, bud!

I've open carried at Hampton Roads Executive, Suffolk Municipal, Chesapeake Regional, and Wakefield Municipal. No problems, but then there aren't really terminals there so there shouldn't be any problems.
Recently open carried at Newport News International's drop off area... no problems.

ProShooter wrote:What's important to remember is that 18.2-287.01 only applies to 9 of the 72 airports in Virginia., those 9 being identified as the "air carrier airports" in Virginia:

Reagan National - Arlington,
VA Charlottesville Regional - Charlottesville, VA
Dulles International - Chantilly, VA
Lynchburg Municipal - Lynchburg, VA
Newport News . Williamsburg Regional - Newport News, VA
Norfolk International - Norfolk, VA
Richmond International - Richmond, VA
Roanoke Regional - Roanoke, VA
Shenandoah Valley Regional - Staunton, VA

That's interesting that you should have a list like that - how'd you come up with that; where's that list come from, and on what criteria? Not that it's not a valid list, but there must be something I missed in order to have a definitive list like that, 'cause I didn't see anything in the Code that would have resulted in such an exclusive list, and some stuff (e.g., the definition of private charter carriers) that made me think it would be more inclusive (such as the private airports in Manassas and Bealeton, which do serve charter air carriers). So I'd be interested to know where that information comes from.

user wrote:That's interesting that you should have a list like that - how'd you come up with that; where's that list come from, and on what criteria?

http://www.vcdl.org/aircarrier.html

I came across the same in my research.

My question posed is/was regarding one of those 9 airports.

To my knowledge, those are the only 9 airports in the state with scheduled airline service.

user wrote:

ProShooter wrote:What's important to remember is that 18.2-287.01 only applies to 9 of the 72 airports in Virginia., those 9 being identified as the "air carrier airports" in Virginia:

Reagan National - Arlington,
VA Charlottesville Regional - Charlottesville, VA
Dulles International - Chantilly, VA
Lynchburg Municipal - Lynchburg, VA
Newport News . Williamsburg Regional - Newport News, VA
Norfolk International - Norfolk, VA
Richmond International - Richmond, VA
Roanoke Regional - Roanoke, VA
Shenandoah Valley Regional - Staunton, VA

That's interesting that you should have a list like that - how'd you come up with that; where's that list come from, and on what criteria? Not that it's not a valid list, but there must be something I missed in order to have a definitive list like that, 'cause I didn't see anything in the Code that would have resulted in such an exclusive list, and some stuff (e.g., the definition of private charter carriers) that made me think it would be more inclusive (such as the private airports in Manassas and Bealeton, which do serve charter air carriers). So I'd be interested to know where that information comes from.

as PistolPilot already found out, the list comes courtesy of the Governor's Office, by way of the VCDL. From my understanding, "air carrier" means that they have regularly scheduled commericial passenger service. I have never found any other source of info on the matter, and its not one that comes up very often so we generally just go with what we've got.

14 CFR 139 (otherwise known as Part 139) are the regulations for certification of an air carrier airport.

Here is the FAA's general run down of what a Part 139 airport is:
http://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_saf ... t139_cert/

Here's a link to an Excel spreadsheet listing all Part 139 airports in the US:
http://www.faa.gov/airports/airport_saf ... _table.xls

Notice, again, that the 9 airports listed previously are the only ones in this spreadsheet. For some reason, IAD and DCA are listed under District of Columbia instead of VA. DCA is on the VA side of the river for what it's worth.

That may be what the people drafting the Virginia statute had in mind, but without any code provision copying or incorporating the FAA's definitions by reference, it don't mean spit. And even if they wrote about it, legislative history cannot be considered by a Virginia court in construing a Virginia statute. Reminds me of what Sigourney Weaver's character said in Galaxy Quest where she and Tim Allen had to jump through a bunch of choppy banging things with gas fires in amongst them - "This is a badly written episode!"