No Wonder the Gun Ban Lobby is Upset by McAuliffe's Concealed Carry Deal With GOP

Late Friday afternoon, the Governor's office emailed out the press release detailing the specifics of the deal reached to restore recognition of concealed carry permits for 25 states that had been listed by

The deal encompasses the following bills:

Voluntary Background Checks at Firearms Shows: Delegate Lingamfelter (HB1386) and Senator Edwards (SB715)

• Currently, only firearms dealers with a federal firearms license (FFL) can access the National Instant Checks System (NICS) to perform background checks on firearms purchases/transfers.
• The Virginia State Police cannot access the system on behalf of private citizens selling or transferring firearms.
• This bill would give the Virginia State Police statutory authority to perform background checks on behalf of private citizens at firearms shows, which is required by the FBI. 
• Private sellers feel it is their civic duty to obtain the results of a background check prior to selling or transferring a firearm and they currently do not have the ability to access background checks for this purpose.  This would allow them access on voluntary cases.
• This bill requires the Virginia State Police to be present at every firearms show in the Commonwealth to perform background checks on a voluntary basis.

This bill had already cleared Senate Courts of Justice on Thursday night and rereferred to Finance as it has a fiscal impact. Delegate Lingamfelter's bill is currently awaiting action in the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee

Protective orders: Delegate Murphy and Senator Howell (SB49)

• Currently, a person subject to a protective order is prohibited from purchasing or transporting a firearm, but not from possessing a firearm.
• This bill would prohibit a person subject to a permanent protective order from possessing a firearm for the duration of the order. 
• Permanent protective orders are issued by a judge and are served to the subject.  They can last up to 2 years and can be extended by the judge as necessary.
• This bill allows the subject of the protective order 24 hours to transfer or sell the firearm to a non-prohibited person.  The subject of the protective order may possess or transport the firearm during that 24-hour period only for the purposes of selling or transferring the firearm.
• If a person violates this section, they could be guilty of a class 6 felony.

Senator Howell's bill is still awaiting action in Senate Courts of Justice

Reciprocity: Delegate Webert (HB1163) and Senator Reeves (SB610)

• Reciprocity for all states with a concealed carry permitting process.
• Prevents state-shopping. If a person has ever been revoked in Virginia, they cannot go to another state to get a permit and have that permit be recognized in Virginia.
• Retains the 24-hour verification clause for law enforcement purposes which allows the VSP or other law enforcement agencies to verify the validity of a permit for an out-of-state person 24 hours a day when states that offer that process.  Permit-holders must carry another valid state-issued ID for the purpose of verification.
• Governor McAuliffe will also extend the effective date for the planned implementation of the revocation of reciprocity agreements with other states to March 1^st.

SB 610 is now before the full Senate and will be on final passage on Tuesday.  HB1163 has been heard by the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Subcommittee #1 and the subcommittee recommended reporting the bill.  It now awaits action by the full committee.

The reciprocity portion of this deal is the most important part.  This isn't just undoing Herring's action of unrecognizing the permits of 25 states, this is expanded recognition.   Delegate Webert was on Friday's NRANews' Cam and Company and explained how this will work.

It should be noted that none of this is a completely done deal until the bills pass and are signed into law by the Governor.  VSSA was in consultation with one of the negotiating legislators before the deal was announced and the legislative team will continue to monitor developments.  For now however, not withstanding reports to the contrary from the media, gun owners came out on the better end of this deal.  Background checks are not "expanded" the way McAuliffe and the gun ban lobby would like.   They are simply voluntary.  He can spin this any way he wants but he backed down on reciprocity/recognition of out-of-state concealed carry permits and got little in return, which is why gun ban advocate Andy Parker and Everytown for Gun Safety are so upset with McAuliffe.