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1. Ides of "Marsh"
2. State Forests
3. Gun education bill advances!
4. Wyoming to recognize Virginia permits!
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1. Ides of "Marsh"
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The Ides of Marsh - cold-blooded murder of some excellent pro-freedom bills by a Kangaroo subcommittee
As expected almost any gun bill that either hadn't already passed the Senate in a matching bill, or that was relatively minor, was given a vote to be "Passed By Indefinitely" (PBI) by the anti-freedom packed subcommittee.
There was an unusually high Capitol Police presence. I guess Marsh was worried that the hot tempered antis might cause trouble, but they behaved themselves. ;-)
A few bills did get passed out (in order of significance):
HB 1191, Delegate Griffith, allows a Circuit Court Clerk to be able to issue CHPs as long as the judge is OK with it and there are no problems with the application. This bill should speed up the issuance of CHPs in some localities
HB 109, Delegate Cole, removes an unused, but egregious law that allows counties to tax and register handguns when sold by a dealer in that county. No counties are doing this, but the fact that they could is a problem
HB 1092, Delegate Crockett-Stark, allows retired law-enforcement officers to carry everywhere they go
HB 505, Delegate Gilbert, restaurant ban repeal was conformed to the Senate version of that bill (SB 334). The fact that HB 505 passed out of subcommittee is really irrelevant since SB 334 is going to be signed into law anyway
HB 885, Delegate Athey, allows a non-CHP holder to have a gun secured in a container or compartment in a vehicle or vessel. It was conformed to the version that passed the Senate (SB 408), making it a LOCKED container or compartment, and passed out. Again, this bill was irrelevant since SB 408 is already on its way to the Governor's desk.
And many were voted down:
HB 171, Delegate Pogge, allows someone to be able to keep a gun in their locked vehicle on private property, prohibiting employers or landlords from banning such guns. The bill died by 5 to 0, with even Senator Quayle voting against it.
Those of you who use COMCAST might want to consider calling them to CANCEL your service. Comcast had a representative there to speak against your Constitutional right to self-defense by opposing HB 171. Gun owners should not reward such behavior by remaining loyal customers. And if you do cancel, be sure to tell them why.
HB 79, Delegate Ware, prohibits Circuit Courts from giving our CHP applicant information. Only Senator Quayle voted for it. HOWEVER, this bill did NOT get a fair hearing as promised by Marsh. They let one anti-self-defense person talk, but cut off the comments the second I stepped to the microphone. I was not allowed one single word on that bill nor was anyone else who supported it!
HB 49, Delegate Lingamfelter, repeals one handgun a month. Only Quayle voted for it. Lingamfelter did a superb job in presenting his bill
HB 1070, Delegate Athey, allows CHP holders to carry in an emergency shelter. There was an amendment to add a "battered woman's shelter" exception before the bill was killed by a 4 to 1 vote. Yeah, let's disarm a woman whose husband in coming to the shelter to kill her - brilliant
HB 236, Delegate Janis, allows someone to shoot within one-half mile of a subdivision if they do so safely
HB 108, Delegate Cole, requires localities which have gun buy-ups to auction such guns to dealers. As an ex-law enforcement officer I am embarrassed by some of the baloney spouted by uniformed officers on this bill. They were either lying or ignorant. One after the other they said this would "put guns back on the streets." WRONG - the bill required that only dealers could bid on such guns, meaning the guns would only be sold to the public after the buyer has passed the NICS background check. They acted like the bill required the guns to be sold in a dark alley to a drug dealer. The police also said how they wanted to destroy those guns. Perhaps they should start by destroying those on their own hips first, since they don't see the importance of self-defense. The purpose of law enforcement is not to lobby against a citizen's right to self-defense, to own guns, to carry guns, or to buy guns. Those officers were a disgrace to their badges and the public trust
HB 490, Delegate Lingamfelter, directs the State Police to put together a plan for lifetime CHPs. Marsh complained that the State Police didn't have the personnel to work on such a thing with the budget crunch, Lingamfelter said they had plenty of resources to do such a project. Funny, when the One Handgun a Month repeal came up, I told the committee by passing that bill the State Police could save a lot of money as they would no longer have to waste their time tracking the number of guns a person purchased. Suddenly Marsh wasn't concerned about the budget of the State Police, as he then voted to kill that bill. Once again the antis prove that logic isn't their strong suit.
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The real puppet strings are being pulled by Senate Majority Leader - Senator Saslaw in conjunction with Senator Marsh. In the Washington Post Saslaw admitted that this whole death star committee was a childish attempt to "get even" with the House for their subcommittees:
"Va. Senate panel kills House bill that would have repealed gun purchase limit"
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/va_senate_panel_begins_killing.html
[SNIP]
Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) on Wednesday was not shy about saying that a special subcommittee in the Senate Courts of Justice would effectively serve as an elephant graveyard to bury a host of gun-related bills passed by the Republican-controlled House.
Saslaw also acknowledged that the subcommittee was a FORM OF REVENGE against its counterpart in the state Capitol and would kill several bills passed by the entire House just as House subcommittees have killed bills adopted by the entire Senate.
"We're going to do just like the House did," Saslaw said. ***"If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us."*** [PVC: So the ends justifies the means? Just trample the Rules of the Senate?]
Lawmakers from both parties and both the House and Senate criticized the escalating tit-for-tat skirmishing by which committees composed of a handful of lawmakers in one chamber can kill bills passed by large majorities on the other side of the Capitol. ''
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BTW, the Governor, to his credit, has been very public in his criticism of BOTH Houses for letting subcommittees kill bills:
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On Monday at 9 AM the full Senate Courts of Justice Committee will meet and we will see if they will violate their own rules and not hear the bills that the subcommittee said should be killed.
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2. State Forests
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Board member Bruce Jackson represented VCDL at the State Park hearing today on the proposed regulation change to allow for carry in forests. Bruce said that VCDL wanted not only concealed carry, but also unlicensed open carry as well.
VCDL EM and blogger, Clint Kritzer (blog.vcdl.org), sent this to the EM email list:
"The hearing went well. Only nine folks showed up, all of whom were VCDL.
All nine of us spoke in favor of amending the proposal to allow open carry.
Ronald Jenkins, Assistant State Forester, was the spokesman for their 6 representatives there. He was very cordial.
The meeting lasted one hour and Mr. Jenkins was very open to our questions afterward.
Don Litten, Old Virginia News blog, was there and captured some video that he will be putting on line."
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3. Gun education bill advances!
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HB 1217, Delegate Lewis, which allows elementary school to offer a firearms education/Eddie Eagle class passed out of the Senate Education and Health committee by a 10 to 5 vote and with an amendment. It now goes to the Floor of the Senate.
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4. Wyoming to recognize Virginia permits!
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The Wyoming Governor has signed a bill today that will recognize all statewide CHPs from other states. Member Aaron Stevenson says the bill will take effect immediately.
I will keep an eye out for official word on the Wyoming web site and let everybody know when something shows up.