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We have two issues we need to get moving on: the Nutter/Freelance-Star privacy invasion loophole and at will arrests for misdemeanors.
Delegate Nutter has introduced a bill that prohibits the Virginia State Police from disseminating personal information, such as name and address, of CHP holders.
HOWEVER, the bill intentionally leaves a loophole wide open that allows newspapers like the Fredericksburg Freelance-Star to get that same information from courthouses AND PUBLISH IT!
Several other papers are using that loophole to publish the names and addresses of CHP holders in their readership areas. That endangers lives, as many CHP holders carry guns because they are under serious threat from ex-spouses and others. It has also intimidated some people into not getting their CHP.
Currently an Attorney General's Opinion has done everything that Delegate Nutter's bill does and that is not good enough.
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Once again, Delegate Jackson Miller has introduced a bill that will allow an officer to arrest a citizen AT WILL for a class 1 or class 2 misdemeanor. Currently, unless the person is a danger to others, will continue doing the illegal act, is drunk, or won't sign a summons promising to appear in court, the officer has to write a summons and let you go. A misdemeanor is a minor crime, by definition, and generally does not necessitate putting someone in cuffs and taking them to jail for the weekend. This kind of new police power, VCDL is convinced, would have put several of our members, like Chet Szymecki and Danladi Moore, in jail for an arrest that was improper to begin with.
Click on the links below to send messages to your Delegate:
**Send an email to your Delegate asking that Delegate Nutter's bill, HB 2144, be MODIFIED to close the Nutter/Freelance-Star privacy loophole or the bill should be KILLED:
**Send an email to your Delegate asking that Delegate Miller's bill, HB 2136, be KILLED:
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NEW BILLS THAT JUST HIT:
HB 2631, Delegate Caputo, is a bill that would allow Fairfax County to pass an ordinance that would require ALL gun sales at gun shows in Fairfax County to go through a dealer that the gun show promoter would HAVE to provide to do background checks. VCDL STRONGLY OPPOSES THIS Private Sale Registration Scheme BILL.
SB 1513, Senator Smith, is a matching bill to Delegate Carrico's HB 1655. Both bills put teeth in Virginia's Preemption law - allowing localities who knowingly violate preemption laws to be sued and if they lose, they must pay the legal bills of the winning party. VCDL STRONGLY SUPPORTS THIS BILL.
SB 1528, Senator Cuccinelli, makes it clear that electronic, video, or on-line firearm training courses offered by an NRA certified instructor are acceptable for getting a concealed handgun permit. VCDL SUPPORTS THIS BILL.
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AUDIO OF VCDL MEETING FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2009
Thanks to Matt Gottschalk for the audio recording: