HoodaThunk?

I’ve written in the past couple of months of several bills that were making their way through the Virginia General Assembly that were of interest to supporters of the 2nd Amendment. The NRA has helpfully provided a list of those bills in this Action Alert. I’m passing it on here as a public service and with a request that you pop the Governor a note asking him to sign off on it.

Three pro-gun bills (HB1851, HB2144, and SB1035) were approved by the Virginia Senate yesterday and they are now on their way to the desk of Governor Tim Kaine (D) for his consideration.

House Bill 1851, sponsored by Delegate L. Scott Lingamfelter (R-31), passed out of the Senate by a 31-8 vote.  Simply stated, this NRA-backed bill would exempt active duty military personnel or Virginia National Guardsmen from Virginia’s “one gun a month” law on handgun purchases.

House Bill 2144 also passed the Senate by a 40-0 vote.  HB2144, introduced by Delegate David Nutter (R-7), would restrict access to the Virginia concealed carry permit holder list maintained by the Virginia State Police.  This bill would make that information confidential and put a stop to the abuses of the concealed carry permit holder list. As you may recall, the Roanoke Times abused this data by creating a public online database with information about Virginia’s Right-to-Carry permit holders, allowing criminals to target law-abiding gun owners.

The Senate agreed to the House Amended version of Senate Bill 1035, legislation championed by State Senator Emmett Hanger, Jr. (R-24).  This bill would permit a Right-to-Carry permit holder to carry concealed in a restaurant, provided he or she does not consume alcohol. The House amended SB1035, removing the notification requirement of CCW permit holders to the alcohol beverage manager.

Please contact Governor Kaine TODAY and respectfully urge him to sign HB1851, HB 2144, and SB1035.  The Governor can be reached by phone at (804) 786-2211, by fax at (804) 371-6351, or email ima@governor.virginia.gov.

Another one that was passed was HB1655 which was identical to SB1513. This law would allow a court to award reasonable fees, expenses, and court costs to any entity that brought a suit against a local government challenging an ordinance the locality passed that violated the state’s preemption laws. As I mentioned when I 1st wrote about this bill, it would keep a locality from basically bankrupting 2nd Amendment supporters by continually enacting ordinances in violation of the state preemption laws forcing their opposition to sue them in court. After Kaine signs this bill, the cost of overturning those ordinances would fall upon the locality that enacted them. If you would please mention this bill when you write about the other ones, that would be good.

More to come after the Governor makes his decisions.