VA-ALERT: Governor's first veto targets gun owners

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VA-ALERT: Governor's first veto targets gun owners
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MCAULIFFE POKES GUN OWNERS TO REPAY A DEBT TO MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

Governor McAuliffe, as a partial payment to Michael Bloomberg for helping him get elected the Governor of Virginia by a whopping 2.5% margin, used his very first veto on a bill that simply CLARIFIED A CURRENT GUN LAW!

The Governor vetoed HB 962, which clarifies that someone who doesn’t have a CHP can store a loaded handgun in an CLOSED compartment or container within a vehicle or vessel. The word used in the current law is “secured” instead of “closed.”

The more I think about it, the more it is actually pretty funny: McAuliffe has played Bloomberg for a sucker! Mcauliffe's VETO CHANGES NOTHING!

Remember that our Governor hails from New York and is clearly more than a little liberty and freedom challenged. He had zero legislative experience prior to being elected and has no idea about what Virginians expect from him when it comes to protecting our right to keep and bear arms.

It gets better: because of a technicality in how the House handled voting down the Governor’s attempt to require the compartment or container be locked, it’s possible that HB 962 may not be brought up during the veto override session in April. Why is that good? Because the legislative record now shows that both the Senate and the House voted overwhelmingly for the clarification and that the House overwhelmingly and specifically rejected the Governor’s “locked” wording (the Senate didn’t have to take the issue up since the House already rejected the wording change). That actually strengthens our position and is a good place to leave things for now.

BOTTOM LINE: Current law stands, so storing a loaded handgun in a CLOSED compartment or container in a vehicle remains legal for all gun owners.

SOME HISTORY

Delegate Ben Cline’s introduced HB 962 at VCDL’s request. The idea was to avoid false arrests by police officers who might erroneously think that “secured” means “locked,” even though an Attorney General, the Courts, and the General Assembly have said that it does NOT mean locked, but CLOSED.

Such false arrests have happened, BTW, and VCDL felt that this bill was needed.

But, it looks like the Governor wants people to sue the pants off localities over such false arrests rather than just make sure they don’t happen.

So be it - ignorance of the law is no excuse to falsely arrest someone.

PRESS COVERAGE

Thanks to member Kevin Hix for the link:

From pilotonline.com: http://tinyurl.com/pggbyqt

Gov. McAuliffe uses first veto on "guns in cars" bill
By Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot

Gov. Terry McAuliffe's first use of the veto pen - on a gun rights bill he previously sought to weaken with an amendment - is more symbolic than substantive.

While its effect doesn't change the law on storing guns inside a private vehicle, it's a clear reminder to McAuliffe's gun control base that he's in their corner.

He vetoed Del. Ben Cline's HB962, intended to clarify that gun owners without concealed handgun permits can keep the weapons in their vehicles if they're secured in compartments that aren't locked. McAuliffe considers that broadened definition a public safety risk.

An amendment from McAuliffe had required storage of weapons in locked containers but was rejected by the Republican-run House of Delegates earlier this month. Cline, R-Rockbridge County, has said the legislation is necessary to make it clear that a storage container needn't be locked to comply with the law.

McAuliffe's veto is the final action on Cline's bill this year, legislative officials said.

Ordinarily, bills vetoed or amended by a governor go back to the General Assembly for consideration, typically in April. Because the legislature rejected McAuliffe's amendment, however, members don't get a chance to respond to his veto.

Normally, overriding a veto takes a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate - Cline's bill passed each by wide margins - and failure to reach that threshold in either chamber means the veto stands.

Cline's goal was to update the "guns in cars" law from 2010, which created an exemption to Virginia's policy on concealed handgun permits to allow owners to store them in closed compartments inside private vehicles.

That law initially specified that the container had to be locked. But an amendment from Gov. Bob McDonnell to one of the "guns in cars" bills softened its language so the compartment only had to be "secured."

McDonnell didn't seek to amend a companion bill, leaving the "locked" wording intact.

Gun rights advocates who perceive McAuliffe as unfriendly to their cause bristled at his proposed alteration to Cline's bill earlier this month.

"The amendment is clearly meant to poke gun owners in the eye! Not a good way for McAuliffe to start off his tenure as Governor, but not unexpected either," the Virginia Citizens Defense League wrote in a March 4 email to members.

McAuliffe's gubernatorial campaign in October received roughly $1.75 million in advertising support from Independence USA PAC, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonpartisan tracker of money in state politics. The political committee started by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent the money on television advertising critical of former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli's stance on criminal background checks before certain gun purchases.

"I am disappointed that Governor McAuliffe's first use of the veto is in opposition to a bill defending the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Virginians," Cline said in a statement. "The Governor is clearly listening to his friends in the gun control lobby instead of the majority of Virginians who support the Second Amendment."




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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]
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[Winever]

Going to be a long 4 years

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