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Here are the first stories on the State Park gun ban repeal that was ordered by the Governor. There will be more and I will let you know as they come to light.
Warner: Concealed weapons, with permits, OK in parks
By Terry Scanlon
Daily Press
September 25, 2002, 4:51 PM EDT
Gov. Mark R. Warner has decided to allow concealed weapons in state parks. The governor followed the advice of Attorney General Jerry Kilgore and overturned a decades-old regulation that banned gun owners with permits from carrying concealed handguns in state parks.
"This is a big win for gun owners," said Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League.
In a two-page letter to the director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation, which oversees Virginia's 34 state parks, Warner directed the agency to abide by the opinion of the attorney general.
In an advisory opinion two weeks ago, Kilgore said that only the General Assembly, and not a state agency, can regulate where permit-holders can carry guns.
The battle now shifts to municipal parks.
Van Cleave's group is challenging ordinances in several localities throughout the state, including Hampton and Isle of Wight County.
Signs are posted at Isle of Wight parks alerting visitors that firearms are prohibited.
Terry Scanlon can be reached at 247-7821 or by e-mail at tscanlon@dailypress.com
Copyright � 2002, Daily Press
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Here is the AP wire coverage from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Brady Bunch is upset - I'm surprised, how about you? All the more reason to tell the Governor that he has done the right thing. There aren't many Brady's out there, but there are sure a lot of us!:
Warner accepts Kilgore ruling allowing concealed weapons in parks BOB LEWIS
Associated Press Writer
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) _ Gov. Mark R. Warner has signed off on a state attorney general's opinion that the Department of Conservation lacks the authority to bar people with concealed weapons permits from carrying firearms into state parks.
In a letter Monday to Conservation and Recreation Department Director Joseph H. Maroon, Warner deferred to Attorney General Jerry W. Kilgore's opinion that holders of valid permits should be allowed to go armed in the parks.
Kilgore's opinion, issued earlier this month, held that Virginia's concealed weapons law permitted firearms to be banned only at schools, churches, courthouses, establishments that hold alcoholic beverage licenses and private property where owners object.
There's no statutory concealed weapons ban for parks, and a state agency can't put one in place through a regulation, the attorney general's office reasoned.
While Warner told Maroon he could no longer enforce the firearms ban, he said he expected aggressive enforcement of laws against pointing or brandishing a gun in a reckless or menacing way, or shooting a gun in a public gathering.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence promptly criticized the Democratic governor's order.
"If Mr. Warner thinks parks are bound by the attorney general's opinion, then we expect him to use the power of his office to change that through the Legislature, and we remind him that not doing so will alienate a lot of his base, especially here in northern Virginia," said Nancy Hwa, a spokeswoman for the Brady Campaign in Washington.
Kilgore, a Republican, issued his opinion after Del. Richard H. Black, R-Loudoun, asked him in May to reconsider an opinion interim Attorney General Randolph A. Beales issued in July 2001 upholding the department's ban on guns in state parks.
"I felt it was so obviously incorrect that I asked for reconsideration," Black said.
Should Warner or anyone else try to amend the law to ban guns in parks, Black said he would have plenty of help killing it in a strongly pro-gun House of Delegates next winter.
The National Rifle Association praised Kilgore's ruling and Warner's decision to not contest it.
"Just because an individual or a family may be in a state park, it doesn't mean they're more immune to an attack. It's important for any law-abiding individual to defend himself and his loved ones whenever or wherever the need may arise," said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.