02/04/11 - Legislative Update 2/4/11

[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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Sadly two more pro-gun bills are gone:

HB 2386 - Jackson Miller's concealed *weapon* permit bill was not voted on
by the House Courts of Justice full committee today, and thus heads off to
the Crime Commission. I'm sure this bill will be back next year.

SB 1250 - Senator Vogel's state agency preemption bill was voted down (12-2
) in the Senate Rules committee. This, too, will be back.

Here are the Senators who voted ANTI-GUN on SB 1250:

Whipple, Colgan, Saslaw, Miller, Y.B., Howell, Marsh, Lucas, Ticer, Puller,
Locke, Puckett, Newman

Here are the Senators who voted PRO-GUN on SB 1250:

Wampler, Norment


Pro-gun bills that are still alive as of Friday, February 4th:

SB 757 - Senator Reynolds - allows someone on private property to be able t
o discharge an air gun as long as they have permission from the property ow
ner to do so and reasonable care is taken to ensure the projectile does not
cross the bounds of the property. Any local ordinances to the contrary, su
ch as Fairfax County has, would be preempted

SB 754 - Senator Reynolds - an improvement to current law dealing with abus
e-based protective orders, which restrict purchase or transport of firearms
.. The bill would make such restrictions only after an ACTUAL FINDING of abu
se (not just an accusation). However, the bill should be changed to require
that the finding of abuse be made at an adjudicatory hearing (so that the
order cannot be made "ex parte")

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 stat
ement of the loss for a fee of $5

HB 1573 - Delegate Cleaveland - exempts a person from civil liabilities if
they must defend themselves within a dwelling they are occupying

HB 1699 - Delegate Athey - cleans up conflicting/inconsistent wording deali
ng 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 tre
atment

HB 1779 - Delegate Gilbert - an improvement to current law dealing with abu
se-based protective orders, which restrict purchase or transport of firearm
s. The bill would make such restrictions only after an ACTUAL FINDING of ab
use (not just an accusation). However, the bill should be changed to requir
e that the finding of abuse be made 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 purchas
e a firearm in Virginia

HB 2511 - Delegate Cleaveland - provides civil protections if the self-defe
nse was investigated and no charges were filed or the person was acquitted


Pro-gun bill with unknown status as of Friday, February 4th:

SB 839 - Senator Petersen - allows a person to keep one firearm for househo
ld use if they are subject to a creditor process (updates Virginia's Homest
ead laws)


Anti-gun bills that are still alive as of Friday, February 4th:

SB 1395 - Senator McEachin - Prohibits open carriers from drinking while at
a restaurant or a club and adds a penalty for open carriers who are carryi
ng while intoxicated


Neutral bill still alive as of Friday, February 4th:

SB 903 - Senator Deeds - makes it a violent felony for someone to intend to
harm, or attempt to harm, someone else with a gun on k-12 school grounds (
fixed with input from VCDL)


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Another bill we were opposing late in the game was HB 1574, Delegate Garret
t's "stop & ID" bill, requiring one to identify oneself to law-enforcement.
That bill died in a House Courts of Justice subcommittee.

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Thursday, February 9th, is cross-over day. Any bills that have not passed
the legislative body they were introduced in will be DEAD. After February
9, the House and Senate will then consider only each other's bills. We'll
be halfway there!

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Here is a story in the Virginian-Pilot on Senator Reynolds's pneumatic gun
bill:

http://tinyurl.com/4nxvkpy

Va. Senate passes bill allowing air guns at homes
By Dena Potter

RICHMOND

Localities would be prohibited from banning the firing of BB guns,
paintball guns and other air-propelled weapons on private property
under a bill approved Tuesday in the Senate.

The Senate voted 25-14 in favor of Sen. Roscoe Reynolds' bill, which
would allow the use of pneumatic weapons when fired with "reasonable
care" to prevent shots from going outside of the property.

Opponents argued that the weapons, some with the same firing power as
a small rifle, are dangerous.

The guns were responsible for 39 deaths nationwide from 1990 through
2000, including 32 people under the age of 15, according to the U.S.
Consumer Product Safety Commission.

"Is the National Rifle Association so powerful that we can't stop this
kind of dangerous, reckless use of guns?" Sen. Dave Marsden,
D-Fairfax, asked his colleagues before the vote. "I don't care if it's
discharged by powder or discharged by air, the result is the same =97
injury, death, danger."

Marsden said he still has "dents in my head and other parts of my
body" from BB gun fights with his friends when he was young, when
advertisements for Daisy air rifles were found on the backs of comic
books.

"But these little pellets, these little BBs, they didn't go very far
and they didn't go very fast. They could take an eye out, but nobody
died," he said.

Today's air rifles can fire projectiles at more than 1,400 feet per
second. They come with warnings that they could cause serious injury
or death, he said.

"It's not the air rifle of my youth," Marsden said.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense
League, said opponents are wrong to focus on the velocity instead of
the projectile itself. There's a difference in throwing a marshmallow
or a baseball, he said.

But Van Cleave said the group's position boils down to one word: freedom.

"Why is the government crawling around in someone's home?" he said.
"It's about freedom, liberty, and trying to back the government down."

Van Cleave said he agrees that if the shot goes outside of the
property the shooter should be held responsible.

Currently, localities can prohibit shooting the guns in highly
populated areas or require those under 16 to be monitored by an adult.
Localities are prohibited from banning their use at shooting ranges
and other areas designated for discharging firearms.

Reynolds, a Democrat from Henry County, said his bill would simply
extend that to private property.

The NRA helped draft the legislation. A lobbyist for the organization
did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"For one of those firearms to be allowed to be shot into someone's
back yard is unacceptable," said Lori Haas, who became a gun control
activist after her daughter was shot four times but survived at
Virginia Tech. "Accidents to neighbors and friends and children and
pets are likely."

The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled House of Delegates,
which traditionally favors bills expanding gun rights.


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