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Today 3 bills progressed:

SB 903 - Senator Deeds - redrafted to only make it a violent felony if a person attempts or intends to use a gun in a criminal manner on K-12 school property - VCDL Neutral - passed out of the Senate Courts of Justice committee and heads to the Senate Floor for a vote in around 3 days.

HB 2380 - Delegate Pogge - gives certain civil immunities to businesses which allow their employees to store guns in their private vehicles on company property - VCDL Strongly Supports - was modified and passed out of subcommittee with new wording and heads to full committee on Monday.

In subcommittee today some lobbyists for businesses were complaining that their clients who ban guns in employee's vehicles also want the same immunities.  The decision that Delegate Pogge made was to offer immunities to all employers, whether they allow guns to be stored in employees vehicles or not.

Now bear with me on this:  the idea of doing so isn't actually bad (I had to chew on this one myself for a while).  Many businesses that do not allow their employees to store guns in their vehicles only do so because they don't want to be civilly liable if something goes wrong ("Gee - it wasn't our fault that the vehicle was broken into and the gun stolen and used in a crime, we have a policy against employees having guns in their vehicles in the first place").  This bill would remove any advantage to having such a "no guns in vehicle" policy.  Since all businesses would be equally immune, some businesses might therefore be more amenable to not barring employees from storing guns in their vehicles.  The bill puts the blame for the misuse of a firearm on the criminal and not on any business owner.

HB 2511 - Delegate Cleaveland - provides civil protections if a person who defended himself in or around his dwelling was investigated by the police and no charges were filed or if the person was charged, but acquitted - VCDL Supports - was modified and passed out of subcommittee with new wording and heads to full committee on Monday.

The new wording provides civil immunity without having to have an acquittal from criminal charges first.  This bill had significant debate between Delegates Athey, Iaquinto, Loupassi, Cleaveland, and Habeeb as they tried to hash out the problems with the original bill.

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Bills to be heard tomorrow:

SB 1084 - Senator Hanger - prevents Circuit Court Clerks from disseminating concealed handgun permittee information - VCDL SUPPORTS.  This bill will be heard at 7:30 AM (!!) in the Senate Courts of Justice Criminal subcommittee in Senate Room A.

These bills will all be heard starting at 5 PM in the 4th Floor Conference Room of the General Assembly Building.  Come show support!:

HB 1856 - Delegate Anderson - clarifies that the Circuit Court Clerk is to replace a lost or stolen permit within ten days of getting a notarized statement of the loss for a fee of $5 - VCDL Strongly Supports

HB 1857 - Delegate Anderson - clarifies that someone with permanent orders to a Pentagon duty post can use their ID as photo-identification to purchase a firearm in Virginia - VCDL Supports

HB 1699 - Delegate Athey - cleans up conflicting/inconsistent wording dealing with a person who has been acquitted by reason of insanity from certain charges to petition to have his gun rights restored upon discharge from treatment - VCDL Supports

HB 1600 - Delegate BaCote - allows localities to ban guns in libraries - VCDL Strongly Opposes

HB 1552 - Delegate Cox - specifies that the Circuit Court Clerk is to mail a certified concealed handgun permit application to serve as a temporary concealed handgun permit within 5 days of the expiration of the maximum 45-day application processing period - VCDL Supports

HB 1813 - Delegate Hope - bans guns at the General Assembly (except for legislators, of course) - VCDL Strongly Opposes

HB 2005 - Delegate LeMunyon - requires firearms shows, dealers, private sellers with a table to display and handout firearms laws pamphlet - VCDL Strongly Opposes

HB 2386 - Delegate Jackson Miller - changes concealed handgun permits into concealed weapons permits - VCDL Strongly Supports

HB 1411 - Delegate Wilt - limits the penalty for reckless handling of a firearm while hunting or trapping to a maximum of five years of prohibition from carrying while hunting/trapping, down from the current one year to LIFE prohibition. However, if the person then hunts during the prohibition period, they can be prohibited from carrying while hunting/trapping for one year to life, up from the current one to five additional years - VCDL Supports