VA-ALERT: Legislative Update 3/2/10

[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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1. Marsh's Death Star committee - fat lady hasn't sung just yet
2. State Forests
3. Chicago vs McDonald being heard today in the Supreme Court
4. Open Carry in Starbucks in the news
5. CHP renewal by mail on its way to the Governor's Desk
6. The restaurant ban repeal, guns in locked containers to be voted on today


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1. Marsh's Death Star committee - fat lady hasn't sung just yet
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I haven't seen gun owners this angry since the Roanoke Times published
a database of CHP holders information on their web site!! Senators
Saslaw and Marsh have opened one hell of a can of worms.

IMPORTANT: *** Don't count us out on this just yet - we're working it
hard as I write this. ***

The Senate Death Star subcommittee is meeting Thursday at 2 PM in the
4th Floor East Conference room of the General Assembly Building.

-

Article from the Roanoke Times:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/238307

[SNIP]
Democratic Sen. Henry Marsh's quest to establish certain gun rights
restrictions places several bills that would expand those rights
before a firing squad.

During a Courts of Justice Committee meeting Monday, committee
chairman Marsh announced the creation of a new subcommittee where a
number of those bills will be sent.

Its lone Republican is Sen. Fred Quayle of Suffolk, who expressed some
confusion about how the subcommittee will function, but not its
composition.

"Obviously, the committee is slotted to people who generally are
opposed to gun measures," he observed.

Philip Van Cleave of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League was
more blunt in his assessment.

He dubbed it the "death star" subcommittee and labeled Marsh a "gun-
hater" Monday in an e-mail denouncing the change.

"The anti-gun Democrats who control the Virginia Senate know that in
the end they are outnumbered," Van Cleave wrote in another e-mail. "So
they are left to playing games with our Constitutionally protected
rights. While that is unconscionable, sadly it is not surprising."

The new Courts of Justice subcommittee is scheduled to meet Thursday.

Before it was established, however, several gun rights bills passed
the Senate this year.


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2. State Forests
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The public hearing for State Forests allowing concealed carry is on
the same day and about the same time that the "special" subcommittee
in the Courts of Justice is going to meet to attempt to kill gun bills.

I would say it is probably more useful for the rank-and-file to attend
the State Forests hearing rather than the Courts of Justice
subcommittee hearing. If one is too far, then come to the other.

We are supporting the proposed State Forests regulation change to
allow concealed carry in State Forests and also urging that State
Forests allow unlicensed open carry, too.


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3. Chicago vs McDonald being heard today in the Supreme Court
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Today the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on Chicago vs
McDonald, which could overturn Chicago's handgun ban and other gun
control based on whether the Court says that the Second Amendment
applies to states. That doesn't directly affect Virginia, as we have
our own equivalent in our Constitution (Article I, Section 13).

CNN has a poll about half-way down the page here - let's hit this one
hard:

http://www.cnn.com/

And some coverage here:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/01/sup ... tml?hpt=C2


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4. Open Carry in Starbucks in the news
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VCDL EMs in the news - Ed Levine, John Pierce, Mike Stollenwerk, and
Dale Welch. BTW, kudos to Starbucks for continuing to stand their
ground!

http://www.wtvr.com/videobeta/?watchId= ... 9720c1f295

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/gun-owne ... ?id=998153
4


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5. CHP renewal by mail on its way to the Governor's Desk
**********************************************************************

Congratulations to Delegate Carrico - his bill to clarify that CHPs
can be renewed through the mail, HB 8, passed the Senate by a 30 to 10
vote and will be on the Governor's desk as soon as some final
formalities are concluded in the House and Senate.


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6. The restaurant ban repeal, guns in locked containers to be voted
on today
**********************************************************************

The House should vote on Senator Hanger's SB 334 (restaurant ban
repeal) and Senator Vogel's SB 408 (handguns in locked containers/
compartments) today. If they pass unchanged, we will be on the last
leg of the journey towards becoming law.





***************************************************************************
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/]

[gregj]

Tried hitting the CNN poll, having problems voting from work. We need to hit this poll!!

Should the Supreme Court uphold Chicago's 1982 handgun ban?
This is not a scientific poll
Yes 51% 59241
No 49% 57653

[MountainCat]

Does anyone know if the McDonald case will be broadcast online?

Today the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments on Chicago vs
McDonald, which could overturn Chicago's handgun ban and other gun
control based on whether the Court says that the Second Amendment
applies to states. That doesn't directly affect Virginia, as we have
our own equivalent in our Constitution (Article I, Section 13)

Illinois has a Right to Arms section also:

SECTION 22. RIGHT TO ARMS
Subject only to the police power, the right of the
individual citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.
(Source: Illinois Constitution.)

I'm not sure what "Subject only to the police power" means. Is that the phrase they use to ban guns? Or is there something else in their constitution?

[VBshooter]

If you have trouble finding that CNN poll ,hit the Justice tab at the top of the page and then it will be about half way down,, We do need to bury that thing,as of now the Yes's are slightly ahead but that is to be expected at CNN.

[BluemontGlock]

its 50 50!!


Should the Supreme Court uphold Chicago's 1982 handgun ban?
This is not a scientific poll
No50% 66892
Yes50% 66860

and you do have to goto the "justice" page...