VA-ALERT: Legislative Update 1/27/10

[OakRidgeStars]

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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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Two bills that VCDL opposed are now dead:

HB 183, Del. Morrissey, allowed for automatic expungements of criminal
records, but excluded misdemeanor domestic violence, which
legitimatizes a bad federal law that disarms a person for life for a
minor crime. The Courts of Justice Criminal subcommittee in the House
voted to pass the bill by indefinitely (PBI).

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SB 268, Senator Whipple, allowed localities to pass ordinances banning
guns on their property. It died by a 6 to 9 vote in the Senate Local
Government committee yesterday.

Voting pro-gun:

Quayle, Martin, Hanger, Reynolds, Ruff, Obenshain, Herring, Smith,
Stuart

Voting anti-gun:

Lucas, Marsh, Ticer, Puller, Locke, Marsden

The Chief of Police for Falls Church and a captain from ***Fairfax
PD*** spoke in favor of the bill! I have a call into a contact at FFX
PD to see what that was all about.

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One bill is being fixed:

HB 84, introduced by Delegate Bob Marshall, wasn't on our radar, but
is now after Delegate Jackson Miller said in the House Courts of
Justice Criminal subcommittee that the bill could inadvertently leave
Virginia gun dealers and manufacturers open to mischief by people like
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Delegate Marshall, who clearly had no intention of that potential
problem, agreed to work on the bill and return to the committee with a
corrected version.

Thanks for Delegate Jackson Miller for the catch and Delegate Marshall
for hopefully fixing the problem.

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HB 681, Jackson Miller, passed out of the House Courts of Justice
Criminal subcommittee by a vote of 6 to 1. The bill allows a police
officer full discretion to arrest for a class 1 or 2 misdemeanor
instead of just writing a summons and letting the person go (with 7
exceptions in current law). One problem was fixed in subcommittee (a
part that actually took discretion away from an officer and *required*
him to arrest somebody if they wouldn't stop what they were doing).
It was pointed out that in subcommittee that the bill doesn't apply to
misdemeanor traffic violations (as covered under another code section).

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SB 331, Senator Stuart, was stricken by Senator Stuart, as it was
almost a duplicate of his other bill, SB 89 (next).

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SB 89, Senator Stuart, which requires that the Commonwealth Attorney
be notified of any restoration of rights in his jurisdiction and have
the power to have input on such restoration, passed the Senate
unanimously and heads to the House.

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This afternoon two Castle Doctrine bills will be heard in the House
Courts of Justice Criminal subcommittee:

HB 251, Delegate Merricks
HB 854, Delegate Morefield

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You can watch the progress of all the gun bills by clicking here:

http://www.vcdl.org/static/2010leg.html




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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/]