Three More Bills Headed to Governor McDonnell

The General Assembly is winding down toward its closing day on March 10th.  As the House and Senate continue to take up each other's legislation, gun owners had more victories today and three more pro-gun bills are headed to Governor Bob McDonnell for his approval:

SB 67, removes the option for a locality to require an applicant for a concealed handgun permit to submit fingerprints with the application. This legislation was passed in the House of Delegates by a 72 to 24 vote.

SB 323 is the Senate companion bill to HB 940, repealing Virginia's handgun rationing law.  The gun ban lobby has long claimed that gun rationing keeps handguns out of the hands of criminals, yet there is no evidence this law has been effective, and its only affect has been to penalize law-abiding citizens. SB 323 passed the House  64 to 32. HB 940 was previously sent to the Governor for his approval.  He has said he would sign a repeal of the one gun-a-month law..

SB 563 alters certain application procedures to obtain a concealed handgun permit, including allowing for the submission of an initial application via U.S. mail. This bill would also restrict the clerk and the circuit court from requesting or requiring any information from an applicant other than that which is allowed on the concealed handgun permit application. This legislation was passed in the House of Delegates by a 79 to 20 vote.

Finally, another pro-gun bill, SB 4, the Senate bill tha would codify a version of the Castle Doctrine, was re-referred to the House Courts of Justice Committee.  It may remain in committee as the committee currently has no additional committee hearings scheduled. The House companion bill, HB 48 was passed by for the day today in the House of Delegates and will be on the calendar again tomorrow.