Below is the text of the latest legislative update from the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL):
1. ACTION ITEM: Senator Stuart leads anti-gun charge against pro-gun bill 🙁
With friends like these…
I was shocked when Senator Richard Stuart (King George, Prince William, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Westmoreland) actually led the charge to kill a pro-gun bill in the Senate Courts of Justice!
There are enough anti-freedom votes on that committee without Senator Stuart helping them out.
He wasn’t the only bad vote, but he took the lead in killing the bill, and thus deserves extra scrutiny.
The bill was Senator Tom Garrett’s SB 368, which would have made Virginia gun laws more uniform by making it legal for someone with a CHP to have a loaded long gun in his vehicle anywhere in the Commonwealth. Currently some localities allow loaded long guns and some don’t. Yet, Senator Stuart led the charge to kill a bill seeking uniformity!
To justify his bad vote, Senator Stuart said to the committee, “I struggled to teach my children the responsible handling of firearms and that [Garrett’s bill] flies in the face of everything I try to teach them, so…I move to PBI [kill the bill]…”
To which a visibly upset Senator Garrett said to Stuart, “The citizens of the Commonwealth are NOT your children.”
Ouch! Touche, Senator Garrett!
If you live in Senator Stuart’s district, you need to contact him to show your displeasure for his very bad vote and for leading the charge for more gun-control, of all things! Please be polite, but firm.
Senator Stuart’s phone number is 804-698-7528. His email is: district28@senate.virginia.gov
Other bad votes on the bill include: Norment, Marsh, Howell, Lucas, Edwards, Puller, Obenshain, McDougle, McEachin, and Vogel.
If your Senator is anyone of the above, contact them and ask them why they are against making Virginia’s gun laws uniform. Without uniformity it is hard to drive from one place to another without being a good citizen part of the time and a criminal for the other part. Their vote is simply unacceptable! Again, be polite, but firm.
Finally, be sure to thank these three Senators for being the only ones on the committee with the guts to vote pro-liberty on SB 368: Stanley, Reeves, and, of course, Garrett.
To get the contact information for the above Senators, click here:
http://leg1.state.va.us/141/mbr/MBR.HTM
2. Other bills heard today
Bad bills:
SB 39, Senator Mardsen, requires all private sales at gun shows go through a background check – carried over until next year (dead for this year) by a vote of 14 to 1 in committee. The carry over is probably to make this a contentious issue next year, which will be an election year for the Virginia House and Senate.
SB 287, Senator Deeds, creates a new felony if a private seller doesn’t have a background check run against a purchaser and the purchaser turns out to be prohibited. Same if the gun is just transferred temporarily to someone that turns out to be prohibited. Killed by a vote of 6 to 8 in committee.
Voting pro-liberty: Norment, Obenshain, McDougle, Stuart, Vogel, Stanley, Reeves, Garrett
Voting anti-liberty: Saslaw, Marsh, Howell, Lucas, Edwards, Puller
Good bills and neutral bills:
HB 66, Delegate Ramadan, requires K-12 schools to have at least one resource officer. Neutral. Passed out of subcommittee unanimously.
HB 127, Delegate Fariss, allows hunting during certain times with a .50 caliber muzzleloading pistol. Support. Struck from the docket in subcommittee because HB 1042 is similar.
HB 307, Delegate Lingamfelter, allows K-12 schools to offer hunter safety courses. Strongly Support. Passed out of subcommittee unanimously.
SB 377, Senator Reeves, changed to allow a VOLUNTARY stolen check by a gun dealer on guns he buys or transfers from a non-dealer. Strongly support. Passed out of committee unanimously.
SB 600, Senator Cosgrove, allows a Circuit Court Clerk to not redact CHP information from 2004 through 2008, only if there is no confidential information in those records. Neutral. Passed out of committee unanimously.
SB 610, Senator Cosgrove, allows certain criminal information to be released to the federal government for use in the NICS system. Neutral. Killed by a vote of 13 to 2 in committee.
HB 1042, Delegate Ed Scott, allows hunting during certain times with a .45 caliber muzzleloading pistol. Support. Passed out of subcommittee unanimously.
3. Bills coming up on Thursday, January 23
At 4 PM in the 4th Floor West Conference Room, the Militia, Police, and Public Safety subcommittee #3 will hear the following gun bills at 4 PM:
HB 736, Delegate Lingamfelter, a lifetime CHP bill. As written VCDL opposes for a variety of reasons, including excessive fees, more penalties, too much power to the State Police as sole CHP issuing source, too long to issue CHPs, etc. Delegate Campbell’s HB 644 is a far superior bill, but it has not yet been assigned to a subcommittee. We are watching HB 644 carefully for a “pocket veto” where it either never gets assigned to a subcommittee or is just never heard by a committee.
HB 1118, Delegate Wilt, exempts CHP holders from the state background check and associated paperwork for a CHP holder. VCDL strongly supports this bill.
4. Bills that have just passed the House and are heading to the Senate
HB 357, Delegate Anderson, allows a CHP holder to see his own record as kept by the Circuit Court Clerk. Strongly support. Unanimous
HB 878, Delegate LaRock, requires the Chief Law Enforcement Officer to sign off on a Form 4 if he knows of no reason the applicant would be prohibited from legally owing a Class III item. Passed 64 to 32.
The following voted pro-liberty: Adams, Anderson, Austin, Bell, Richard P., Bell, Robert B., Berg, Byron, Campbell, Chafin, Cline, Cole, Comstock, Cox, Davis, DeSteph, Edmunds, Fariss, Farrell, Fowler, Garrett, Gilbert, Greason, Habeeb, Head, Helsel, Hodges, Hugo, Ingram, Joannou, Jones, Kilgore, Knight, Landes, LaRock, Leftwich, Lewis, Lingamfelter, Loupassi, Marshall, D.W., Massie, Miller, Morefield, Morris, O’Bannon, O’Quinn, Orrock, Peace, Pogge, Poindexter, Ramadan, Ransone, Rush, Rust, Scott, Stolle, Taylor, Villanueva, Ware, Webert, Wilt, Wright, Yancey, Yost, Mr. Speaker
The following voted anti-liberty: Albo, BaCote, Brink, Bulova, Carr, Dance, Filler-Corn, Futrell, Herring, Hester, Hope, Howell, A.T., James, Keam, Kory, Krupicka, LeMunyon, Lopez, Mason, McQuinn, Morrissey, Plum, Rasoul, Robinson, Sickles, Simon, Spruill, Surovell, Torian, Toscano, Ward, Watts
HB 962, Delegate Cline, codifies that a non-CHP holder can have a loaded handgun in a closed, but not necessarily locked, compartment or container in a vehicle. Strongly support. Passed 70 to 27.
The following voted pro-liberty: Adams, Albo, Anderson, Austin, Bell, Richard P., Bell, Robert B., Berg, Byron, Campbell, Chafin, Cline, Cole, Comstock, Cox, Davis, DeSteph, Edmunds, Fariss, Farrell, Fowler, Garrett, Gilbert, Greason, Habeeb, Head, Helsel, Hodges, Hugo, Ingram, Joannou, Jones, Kilgore, Knight, Landes, LaRock, Leftwich, LeMunyon, Lewis, Lingamfelter, Loupassi, Marshall, D.W., Mason, Massie, Miller, Minchew, Morefield, Morris, O’Bannon, O’Quinn, Orrock, Peace, Pogge, Poindexter, Ramadan, Ransone, Rasoul, Robinson, Rush, Rust, Scott, Stolle, Taylor, Villanueva, Ware, Webert, Wilt, Wright, Yancey, Yost, Mr. Speaker
The following voted anti-liberty: BaCote, Brink, Bulova, Carr, Dance, Filler-Corn, Futrell, Herring, Hester, Hope, Howell, A.T., James, Keam, Kory, Krupicka, Lopez, McQuinn, Morrissey, Plum, Sickles, Simon, Spruill, Surovell, Torian, Toscano, Ward, Watts
HB 100, Delegate Lingamfelter, allows a Circuit Court Clerk to not redact CHP information from 2004 through 2008, only if there is no confidential information in those records. Neutral. Passed unanimously.
