Attend a Governor McDonnell Townhall on Government Reform

Last week, NRA-ILA sent an email alert encouraging gun owners to attend one of the town halls that Governor Bob McDonnell is holding around the Commonwealth on the subject of Government Reform. One suggesting for reforming Virginia government and saving taxpayers money would be to scrap the current Virginia Instant Check System for gun purchases and use the National Instant Check System (NICS). In April, I posted about the problem of background checks taking longer and the impact is has had on gun shows. The Richmond Times Dispatch reported at that time the reason according to the State Police:

Officials say it is tied to increased demand for firearms at the same time that budget and funding constraints have reduced the number of staffers available to handle the transactions.

Spokeswoman Corinne Geller said that since May 2009, the agency has lost 11 people from its 28-person staff at the Virginia Firearms Transaction Center, including two federally funded full-time workers who used to attend gun shows and conduct the computerized checks on-site.

NRA believes that the best way to alleviate the problem is not allocate more money to the State Police, but to scrap the state system and have Virginia use the NICS. Such a suggestion is likely the type of government reforms ideas that Governor McDonnell may find appealing.

There are a number of town halls coming up in the next week and gun owners are encouraged to attend and suggest to Governor McDonnell that one efficient reform idea is for Virginia to stop doing its own checks and instead have them go through NICS. If you live near one of the town hall locations, please attend, then let VSSA know the Governor's response by posting a comment on this blog post.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 24
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
412 Lee Hall at University of Mary Washington
1301 College Avenue in FREDERICKSBURG

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
CIT Auditorium
2214 Rock Hill Road, Suite 300 in HERNDON


THURSDAY, AUGUST 26
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Montpelier Room of East Campus Dining Hall
James Madison University in HARRISONBURG

MONDAY, AUGUST 30
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Great Hall of Institute for Advanced Learning and Research
150 Slayton Avenue in DANVILLE

TUESDAY, AUGUST 31
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
J. Henry Kegley Meeting Room in Bristol Public Library
701 Goode Street in BRISTOL

VSSA had the opportunity to discuss this with NRANews.com last week.