02/03/11 - Legislative Update 2/3/11

[allingeneral]

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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Good News!

Yesterday Senator Reynold's pneumatic gun bill, SB 757, passed the Senate a
nd heads to the House, where it starts working its way through the committe
e structure all over again.

The following anti-gun bills were KILLED, er, actually, CRUSHED, tonight in
the House Militia, Police and Public Safety subcommittee #1:

HB 1699 - Delegate McClellan's "gun show loophole" bill died by a vote of 4
to 1 (Delegate Keam voted for the bill).

HB 2343 - Delegate Morrissey's bill to criminalize the consumption of an al
coholic beverage in a restaurant by someone who is openly carrying a handgu
n died **unanimously.** A Richmond police officer in UNIFORM came to speak
for all the gun control bills, including this one. That was awfully rich
from someone who is allowed by the law to carry a concealed handgun and dri
nk. What a hypocrite.

HB 2524 - Delegate Carr's bill to ban the sale, barter or transfer of magaz
ines that hold 20 or more rounds died **unanimously.**

And Some Bad News

HB 1732 - Delegate Carrico's full recognition of out-of-state permits was w
ithdrawn without comment

HB 2069 - Delegate Athey's Constitutional Carry bill (no CHP required) was
withdrawn. Athey stated that he had drawn up the bill himself and didn't u
se Legislative Services. The bill is fatally flawed, he said, and could n
ot be fixed unless it is reintroduced with a different description and all
the technical mistakes fixed. That, he vowed to do next year.

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Tomorrow (Friday) Delegate Jackson Miller's bill to change our concealed ha
ndgun permits into concealed weapon permits will come up in the full Militi
a, Police and Public Safety committee at 9 AM. It was recommended by subco
mmittee #1 to be sent off to the Crime Commission (which is a nice way of k
illing it). VCDL is asking that it be passed out of the Committee.

Also, Senator Vogel's state agency preemption bill comes up in front of the
full Senate Rules Committee tomorrow at 10 AM. This committee has very fe
w pro-gun members, so it faces an uphill battle. The bill was clearly sent
to this committee by the Senate Democratic leadership to die. The good new
s is that Virginia has elections in November and hopefully we can elect mor
e pro-gun Senators to replace the plethora of bad ones in the Senate.





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