Open Carry in State Parks Rule to be Published May 7th

Open Carry in state parks is set to be officially published May 7th.  In 2002, Jerry Kilgore, Attorney General at the time, issued an official opinion concluding that the department exceeded its authority by banning the concealed carry of handguns by permit holders.  Mark Warner, who was Governor, told the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the department responsible for state parks, to amend the regulation in line with the opinion, and the amendments allowing concealed carry became effective in February 2003. That was followed with an opinion by Bob McDonnell, who was Attorney General in 2008 that also said the department could not ban open carry.  Tim Kaine, who is currently a candidate for U.S. Senate and who was Governor at the time, disregarded the opinion and told the department to continue enforcing the ban.  Governor McDonnell has finally gotten the department to follow through on changing the regulation.

It should be noted that since Governor McDonnell ordered the department to stop enforcing the regulations, Virginia officials have not had any incidents directly related to the law no longer being enforced, according to regulatory documents.

Hat tip to the DC Gun Rights Examiner.

Update: Heard from Virginia State Parks via twitter Thursday morning (May 3rd) that the policy was actually changed in January 2011, that this was actually just code cleanup.