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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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It is now legal to shoot pneumatic guns on your own property in Fairfax County, as long as you take reasonable measures to ensure that none of the projectiles leave your property!
Last night over 30 VCDL members showed up at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hearing on modifying a county ordinance on pneumatic guns.
Antis were a no show unless, of course, you count the Board of Supervisors.
The four other speakers all did an outstanding job in addressing the Board of Supervisors. When I spoke I asked those in the audience who agreed with VCDL's position to stand. A good portion portion of those attending where standing.
The Fairfax County Attorney, David Bobszien, had prepared his legislative package to fix not only the pneumatic gun issue, but to also get Fairfax County fully caught up with other changes to Virginia gun laws over the last 7 years.
Several of the Supervisors looked like they were chewing on lemons as the discussed the changes to the County ordinances. The County Attorney pointed out that they had to act on these measures by July 1st or they wouldn't have any valid ordinances on pneumatic guns at all.
Supervisor McKay fixated on one change, which would have struck the current Fairfax County prohibition on someone traversing K-12 school grounds while possessing an air gun. The County Attorney said the County has no authority under current law for such a prohibition. He said that the Board should approve all the changes and, if the County Attorney could find authorization somewhere in the state code, the school prohibition could be restated before school starts in September.
That indeed would have been the smart way to handle it.
But Mr. McKay would have none of it. Instead he convinced the Board to NOT make the change to traversing school property for the time being while the County Attorney confirms the County's lack of authority.
In the end, all the changes but that one were passed. But by not listening to their attorney, the Board screwed things up royally because they forgot to put back in some exemptions to traversing school property with a pneumatic gun that were in the existing ordinance.
So now school air gun team members cannot bring their guns to a Fairfax County school at all.
Lesson number one for the Board of Supervisors: LISTEN TO YOUR ATTORNEY!
Anyway, we need to keep an eye on that one item. Fairfax County needs to strike it this summer, as I'm sure they will confirm that they have no authority for that prohibition.
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Here is some excellent video coverage: by Julie Carey with NBC.
When Julie was interviewing me, she said she was going to upload the video to the station using the WiFi system at the Government Center.
I said that knowing the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, they would have only the best WiFi system available to man.
She said they did and it was fast, but that there were so many restrictions she was having a hard time using it.
I said, "Lots of restrictions? Why, welcome to the Fairfax County!"
We both laughed.
NBC Washington: http://tinyurl.com/5t7blqu
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And here is some coverage in the Washington Post:
http://tinyurl.com/3j8gxyz
Virginia gun-rights group urges Fairfax County to embrace BB guns as supervisors ease rules on pneumatic guns
By Fredrick Kunkle
The Virginia Citizen Defense League, whose members are well-known for their aggressive lobbying on behalf of the right to carry firearms almost anywhere in the Commonwealth, showed up Tuesday at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting to make their case for the right to keep and bear BB guns.
With their round, fluorescent orange ''Guns Save Lives stickers a-blazin', VCDL president Philip Van Cleave and about a dozen other members spoke in favor of a new state law that bars local
jurisdictions, such as Fairfax, from prohibiting people from shooting pneumatic guns on private property as long as the shooting is done safely. The new law becomes effective July 1.
(They were also on alert for crybabies, at least according to the summons issued by Van Cleave in advance of the meeting:
''We need to be at this hearing in numbers to express our SUPPORT for the new law, so Fairfax can't go crying to the General Assembly about how most people they heard from hated this new law,'' Van Cleave said in an alert to VCDL members Monday.)
Until now, the county restricted BB guns to more open areas of the county and required their owners to register them with police. But the new state law, sponsored by Sen. Roscoe Reynolds (R-Martinsville),
trumps local ordinances.
So after lengthy debate, the board, as expected, voted to align its county code with the state law, although its members did not seem happy about it. At the urging of Supervisor Jeffrey C. McKay (D-Lee), the board did retain a provision in the local code that would allow the county to forbid people from bringing BB guns or pellet guns to schools.
''We believe this is an excellent law for a lot of good reasons, and should be embraced,'' Van Cleave told the board. ''It's got a good balance of freedom versus responsibility.''
Thomas Pike, of Centreville, who represented the NOVA Sharpshooters' junior rifle club, listed several young people whose prowess with air rifles won them college scholarships. (He also mentioned that athletic directors love rifle team kids because they also tend to be good students who raise the overall GPA average of student athletes.)
In his testimony, Van Cleave also allowed a peek at his childhood, saying he grew up toting a BB gun in Chicago.
''It's a very American way of doing things, and it's a lot of fun,'' Van Cleave said.
Supervisor Gerald W. Hyland (D-Mount Vernon) expressed amazement that Van Cleave fired BB guns in Chicago. He expressed more amazement that Van Cleave fired BB's in his house.
''You fired BB guns inside the home?'' Hyland asked.
''You bet,'' Van Cleave replied.
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