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 PresidentView this information in original PDF format at: http://www.vcdl.org/pdf/VCDL_Gun_Bill_Analysis_2011.pdf
"Not to worry, I got this !!! " "Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here." Captain John Parker
