McAuliffe, General Assembly Republicans reach deal on restoration of concealed carry reciprocity

According to Jenna Portnoy at the Washington Post, Governor McAuliffe intends to announce a deal with General Assembly Republicans to restore concealed weapons permit reciprocity arrangements with nearly all states.  This reciprocity was endangered in December when Attorney General Mark Herring unilaterally ended reciprocity with 25 states.

The Governor’s announcement is expected tomorrow, and will lay out what was exchanged for the restoration.  According to the Post, those concessions include:

If an individual’s Virginia concealed-carry permit is revoked, a permit from another state will not be honored in Virginia — a practice known as “state shopping.”

State police must be present at all gun shows to administer background checks in private sales of guns on a voluntary basis.

Anyone subject to a permanent protective order for a domestic violence offence will be prohibited from carrying a firearm for the two-year life of the order.

The policy changes will come in the form of bipartisan legislation before the General Assembly.

This seems like a good deal for gun owners, at least from the details currently available. Several Republican legislators had moved to fix the problem legislatively, but such efforts—even if they were passed by the General Assembly—seemed doomed fall under the weight of the Governor’s veto pen. So, a cautious preliminary kudos to leadership in the House and Senate for finding a way to get this done that involved only modest and sensible concessions.

Stay tuned for more developments.