Article

New member portal

May 30, 2012

Whether you have a CHP or not, this is good news for all of us.

Several months ago I had asked my Delegate, Lee Ware, to put in a request to the Attorney General to clarify the law on someone without a CHP having a firearm "secured" in a container or compartment in a motor vehicle.  As it turns out Senator Stephen Newman beat me to the punch.  He asked the same question and also a couple of other related questions, making Senator Newman's request a better one for the Attorney General to answer than my less encompassing question submitted by Lee Ware.

The main question centers around the word "secured."  Does it mean the container or compartment must be locked?  (VCDL has always contended "no" to that question.)  This had become an important issue as some people had been arrested and charged because either the police, the Commonwealth Attorney, or the judge had felt that "secured" meant locked.  Others were not arrested or charged because "secured" was not interpreted to mean locked.

Cuccinelli's opinion says, correctly, that the container does NOT need to be locked!

The opinion says that the gun can be loaded while secured in the container or compartment and can be within reach of both the driver and passengers.  Again VCDL concurs.

This is good news for permit holders, too.  For example, it would prevent a spouse or passenger without a permit from being charged for a gun left in a glovebox or console by a permit holder who has stepped away from the vehicle.

The opinion also says that private property owners can ban guns in vehicles if they so choose.   We need to fix that one.  A gun stored in a vehicle should always be allowed so that the gun owner is not disarmed while traveling to and from the private property.  This is a clash of rights - the private property owner's right to control who and what is on his property vs someone else's right to be able to protect themselves while NOT on that private property.  Allowing guns to be stored in vehicles is a good compromise position for both parties.  In fact there are some states that consider a person's private vehicle to be an extension of their home.

Thanks to Senator Newman and Delegate Lee Ware for asking the question and to Attorney General Cuccinelli for a clear and concise opinion.

Here is a link to the actual opinion from the AG's web site:   http://tinyurl.com/6nu474c

Here is coverage in the Washington Times:   http://tinyurl.com/bt9mm7z

Cuccinelli opinion clarifies gun-transport law
By David Sherfinski
The Washington Times
Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Virginians who can lawfully possess firearms do not need concealed-weapons permits to keep loaded handguns within reach in vehicles, according to Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II.

The official advisory opinion does not codify anything new — that job would be the General Assembly’s — but clarifies what some had seen as a potentially nebulous recent change to state gun law.

Before 2010, absent certain exceptions, the law that prohibited carrying a concealed weapon without a permit also barred transporting a handgun “in a concealed manner” in a vehicle. This included guns that were stored in glove compartments or center consoles.

The 2010 legislature, however, added another exemption for “any personwho may lawfully possess a firearm and is carrying a handgun while in a personal, private motor vehicle or vessel” — an exception that applies when the gun is securedin a container or compartment. Itneed not be locked, according to Mr. Cuccinelli.

The opinion, released this week, was in response to an inquiry from state Sen. Stephen D. Newman, Lynchburg Republican.

“You have what appears to some to be contradictory sections of the code now, and I think the attorney general did a really good job,” he said.

Mr. Newman asked for the opinion because a constituent was having trouble getting a clear answer on the applicability of the law, he said.

“This individual had gone to numerous law enforcement agencies and had asked the same question and had gotten different answers from each one,” he said. “On something like a gun charge, you just can’t have that. It’s important to have law laid out very clearly.”

Employers can still bar firearms on their property, Mr. Cuccinelli said.

“The Constitution of Virginia protects the right to bear arms, but it also recognizes the importance of property rights,” he wrote. “Moreover, the Second Amendment acts as a restraint on government, not private parties. Employers can, like any other owner of private property, restrict or ban the carrying of weapons.”

Mr. Cuccinelli couched his response with the caveat that it is limited to Virginia. Federal law may differ on transporting handguns across state lines.

The state legislature passed several gun-rights measures during the 2012 General Assembly session, most notably a bill repealing the law, dating back to the governorship of Democrat L. Douglas Wilder, banning the purchase of more than one handgun per month. The law was passed in the 1990s in an effort to reduce gun trafficking from the state to others along the East Coast, primarily New York. Proponents of the repeal argued improved background-check technology and numerous exemptions in the law rendered it unnecessary.

The legislature also passed a bill sponsored by Delegate Brenda L. Pogge, Newport News Republican, preventing local governments from passing rules preventing their employees from storing lawfully possessed firearms and ammunition in personal vehicles at the workplace. The measure makes exceptions for publicly appointed bodiesthat provide mental-health and substance-abuse services in cities and counties around the state.

share this

Related Articles

Related Articles

ALL ARTICLES