01/26/11 - Legislative Update! 1/26/11

[allingeneral]

Today 3 bills progressed:
SB 903 - Senator Deeds - redrafted to only make it a violent felony if
a person attempts or intends to use a gun in a criminal manner on K-12
school property - VCDL Neutral - passed out of the Senate Courts of
Justice committee and heads to the Senate Floor for a vote in around 3
days.
HB 2380 - Delegate Pogge - gives certain civil immunities to
businesses which allow their employees to store guns in their private
vehicles on company property - VCDL Strongly Supports - was modified and
passed out of subcommittee with new wording and heads to full committee
on Monday.
In subcommittee today some lobbyists for businesses were complaining
that their clients who ban guns in employee's vehicles also want the
same immunities. The decision that Delegate Pogge made was to offer
immunities to all employers, whether they allow guns to be stored in
employees vehicles or not.
Now bear with me on this: the idea of doing so isn't actually bad (I
had to chew on this one myself for a while). Many businesses that do
not allow their employees to store guns in their vehicles only do so
because they don't want to be civilly liable if something goes wrong
("Gee - it wasn't our fault that the vehicle was broken into and the gun
stolen and used in a crime, we have a policy against employees having
guns in their vehicles in the first place"). This bill would remove any
advantage to having such a "no guns in vehicle" policy. Since all
businesses would be equally immune, some businesses might therefore be
more amenable to not barring employees from storing guns in their
vehicles. The bill puts the blame for the misuse of a firearm on the
criminal and not on any business owner.
HB 2511 - Delegate Cleaveland - provides civil protections if a person
who defended himself in or around his dwelling was investigated by the
police and no charges were filed or if the person was charged, but
acquitted - VCDL Supports - was modified and passed out of subcommittee
with new wording and heads to full committee on Monday.
The new wording provides civil immunity without having to have an
acquittal from criminal charges first. This bill had significant debate
between Delegates Athey, Iaquinto, Loupassi, Cleaveland, and Habeeb as
they tried to hash out the problems with the original bill.
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Bills to be heard tomorrow:
SB 1084 - Senator Hanger - prevents Circuit Court Clerks from
disseminating concealed handgun permittee information - VCDL SUPPORTS.
This bill will be heard at 7:30 AM (!!) in the Senate Courts of Justice
Criminal subcommittee in Senate Room A.
These bills will all be heard starting at 5 PM in the 4th Floor
Conference Room of the General Assembly Building. Come show support!:
HB 1856 - Delegate Anderson - clarifies that the Circuit Court Clerk
is to replace a lost or stolen permit within ten days of getting a
notarized statement of the loss for a fee of $5 - VCDL Strongly Supports
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 - VCDL Supports
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 petition to have his gun rights restored upon
discharge from treatment - VCDL Supports
HB 1600 - Delegate BaCote - allows localities to ban guns in libraries
- VCDL Strongly Opposes
HB 1552 - Delegate Cox - specifies that the Circuit Court Clerk is to
mail a certified concealed handgun permit application to serve as a
temporary concealed handgun permit within 5 days of the expiration of
the maximum 45-day application processing period - VCDL Supports
HB 1813 - Delegate Hope - bans guns at the General Assembly (except
for legislators, of course) - VCDL Strongly Opposes
HB 2005 - Delegate LeMunyon - requires firearms shows, dealers,
private sellers with a table to display and handout firearms laws
pamphlet - VCDL Strongly Opposes
HB 2386 - Delegate Jackson Miller - changes concealed handgun permits
into concealed weapons permits - VCDL Strongly Supports
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 the current one to five
additional years - VCDL Supports
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