Congressman Randy Forbes Co-sponsors Interstate Transport Bill

Earlier this year, H.R. 131, a bill to more comprehensively address the interstate transportation of firearms or ammunition, was introduced in Congress.  This important piece of legislation is sponsored by Virginia Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA9th). 

Current federal law guarantees the right of law-abiding persons to transport firearms between two locations where they have a legal right to possess and carry them, regardless of state or local laws that would otherwise apply. The firearm must be cased or otherwise not readily accessible. Unfortunately, there have been some high profile instances where anti-gun local officials in places like D.C. and New Jersey have used overly restrictive state licensing laws to harass and prosecute travelers who have made every effort to comply with the law.  This has resulted in charges being filed, seized firearms that are sometimes never returned, delayed travel, legal fees, and sometimes even unnecessary guilty pleas.

H.R. 131 would ensure the law has the effect Congress intended when it passed more than 25 years ago. Specifically, the legislation would make clear that transportation of both firearms and ammunition is federally protected, as well as expand the protections afforded to travelers to include "staying in temporary lodging overnight, stopping for food, fuel, vehicle maintenance, an emergency, medical treatment, and any other activity incidental" to the trip. Additionally, the bill would place the burden of proof clearly on the state to prove that the traveler failed to comply with the law.

Yesterday, Congressman Randy Forbes (R - VA4th) informed VSSA that he had co-sponsored the bill.  If you live in the 4th Congressional District, please take a moment to call or email Congressman Forbes to let him know you appreciate his co-sponsoring H.R. 131 as well as his support for our Second Amendment Rights.

U.S. Senate, Congressional Primary, Tuesday June 12.

Tomorrow, June 12, Virginia will hold a primary to choose candidates for U.S. Senate and several contested congressional districts.

Candidates for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate are former Governor and former U.S. Senator George Allen, former Richmond Tea Party President Jamie Ratke, Delegate Bob Marshall, and E. W. Jackson.  Two of the four have held elective office and have voting records on issues important to gun owners and sportsmen.

There are also several incumbent congressmen that are being challenged for nomination as well as primaries for opposing candidates.  Below is a list of those races that will also be on the ballot tomorrow. 

In the 7th Congressional District, 2010 "Independent Green" candidate Floyd C. Bayne is challenging House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, for the GOP nomination. Cantor has used Bayne's "Independent Green" label in this year's campaign to question whether Bayne is really a Republican.  Bayne has responded that he cut ties with the Independent Green Party after the 2010 election and that he also submitted a letter to the Chesterfield County Republican Committee repudiating his ties to the Green Party and making clear his desire to return to the Republican Party.

Cantor has been a good friend to gun owners since his time as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.  He recently signed on to a letter to President Obama urging him to have Attorney General Eric Holder to comply with a congressional subpoena regarding Operation Fast and Furious.  Cantor spoke at the 2012 NRA Annual Meetings in April.


The winner of the Cantor - Bayne primary will face Democrat E. Wayne Powell, a Richmond-area attorney, in the fall.

In another Richmond-area GOP contest, Bonnie Girard of Petersburg is challenging 4th District Rep. Randy Forbes for the Republican Party's nomination.  Forbes is another pro-rights elected official, having voted numerous times in the House of Delegates, State Senate, and now Congress, for legislation that would protect or expand our rights.

Also in the 4th District, Democrats Ella P. Ward and Joe T. Elliott are battling to take on the winner of the Forbes-Girard match-up.

In the 6th Congressional District, Republican Rep. Bob Goodlatte faces Karen U. Kwiathowski, a retired Air Force colonel from Harrisonburg.
In the 8th Congressional District, anti-rights Democrat Jim Moran is being challenged for the party's nomination by Bruce B. Shuttleworth, a former Navy fighter pilot.

In the 11th District, Chris S. Perkins, a retired Army colonel, faces Ken L. Vaughn, a traffic engineer, for the Republican nomination. The winner will face Rep. Gerald E. Connolly, D-11th, for the party's nomination.

As the NRA state affiliate, the Virginia Shooting Sports Association provides VSSA members scores for federal candidates, directly and unedited, as provided by NRA-ILA. You can click here to access the NRA-PVF endorsements for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House Primary.  

Polls will open at 6 AM Tuesday and remain open until 7 PM.

NRA-ILA Endorsed Randy Forbes Needs Poll Workers

Poll workers are critical to a campaign as the "last line of defense" to help educate undecided voters who may not know a candidate's record.  If you live in the 4th Congressional District and would like to work the polls on Election Day for pro-rights NRA endorsed Congressman Randy Forbes, contact Reade Jacob at
Rjacob@randyforbes.com (Chesterfield HQ) or Patrick Crute at pcrute@randyforbes.com (Chesapeake HQ).

Endangered Democrats Hold Big Cash Leads in 2nd, 5th and 9th Districts

The money reports are out and the three Democrats facing the toughest challenges, Glenn Nye (D-VA2), Tom Perriello (D-VA5) and Rick Boucher (D-VA9) have huge campaign war chest leads over their challengers. It should be noted that both Republican candidates, Scott Rigell (VA2) and State Senator Robert Hurt (VA5) had to use resources to win primaries in June. Delegate Morgan Griffith, who is challenging Boucher in the 9th had to win a convention nominating contest in May.

Both Nye and Perriello have taken the few opportunities they have had to support gun rights while in their freshman year in congress. Boucher has a long record of supporting gun owner rights and received an unusually early endorsement from the NRA in February. Rigell has no voting record but says he supports the rights of gun owners and sportsmen. Hurt has a great voting record on our issue as both a member of the House of Delegates and the State Senate, earning an "A" rating from the NRA-PVF in the last senate elections. Griffith has an equally long record of supporting gun rights during his time in the House of Delegates and received an "A+" rating in last year's House of Delegates elections.

In the 2nd District, Glenn Nye ended the fund raising quarter with $1.27 million on hand. Rigell ended the quarter with $226,970 on hand. Kenneth Golden, the former Virginia Beach Republican Committee Chairman who is running as an independent, reported having $1,313 as of June 30. Rigell has deep pockets is can be counted on to pump his money into the campaign to catch up to Nye.

In the 5th District, Representative Tom Perriello raised more than $660,000 and had $1.7 million cash on hand as of June 30. Hurt had $212,000 on hand.

In the 9th District House of Delegates Majority Leader Morgan Griffith out raised Representative Rick Boucher bringing in $259,000 to Boucher’s $248,000 in Virginia's 9th District. Boucher however has a commanding lead in cash on hand with $2 million and went up on TV with his first commercial today. Griffith had $297,228 on hand as of June 30.

CQ Politics lists both the 2nd and 5th districts as toss-ups due to their normally Republican leanings. Perriello won the 5th in 2008 by less than 1/2% while John McCain handily won the district. Nye also won a close race but Obama barely carried the heavily military district. Boucher has held his seat for some 20 years and manages to win big even when his district is voting overwhelmingly for GOP candidates at the top of the ticket mainly because, as Bearing Drift notes, he takes care of his constituents. CQ Politics rates the 9th as Leans Democrat.

Griffith has the highest mountain to scale but even his task is not impossible. Boucher has some explaining to do for his support of Cap and Trade in his coal field district. Cap and Trade will decimate the workers in his district, one that is already the most depressed areas in the Commonwealth.

Incumbency brings money, and the GOP incumbents did as well as their Democrat counterparts. 1st District Representative Rob Wittman reported $519,586 on hand; 4th District Representative Randy Forbes reported $451,410 on hand; and, 7th District Representative Eric Cantor reported having $1.5 million cash on hand as of June 30. All three are good friends of gun owners and and have major party challengers but they are not well funded.

The 1st District challenger, Krystal Marie Ball, reported having $260,735 on hand as of June 30th. She is the only challenger to the incumbent Republicans that has close to six figures on hand.

The next reporting period will be the important test to see if the Republican challengers can cut in to the money leads of their opponents. For gun owners, the Virginia races in the 2nd, 5th, and 9th districts offer an opportunity to look at the total candidate as all (except Rigell) have records of support for our issue.

Congressman Randy Forbes and the Second Amendment

Virginia 4th District Congressman Randy Forbes took the opportunity of Independence Day to email his record on Second Amendment issues. Congressman Forbes has been a steadfast supporter of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms from his days in the Virginia House of Delegates. If you live in the 4th Congressional District and would like to receive email updates from Congressman Forbes on pending gun related issue in Congress, you can download his flyer here or just go to his web site and sign up for email alerts.

Congressman Scott Pledges Hearing on Gun Show Bill

Virginia 3rd Congressional District Representative Bobby Scott has pledged to the Brady Campaign that he will hold a hearing on legislation to close the so-called gun shop loophole. Scott, who chairs the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security of the House Judiciary Committee, pledged to hold the hearing at a recent meeting with Lori Haas, whose daughter, Emily Haas, survived the April 2007 Virginia Tech shootings.

Scott is no friend to gun owners. Holding a hearing on the bill may simply be his way of responding to the emotional plea of those family members who have turned to the anti-rights movement to find closure. , But Scott can count, and he has to know the bill has a snowball's chance of making it out of the House of Representatives. It is even more doubtful that Speaker Pelosi wants a high profile hearing on a gun issue before the election.

I don't for a minute pretend to know what these families are going through but the Brady people are using their grief to advance an agenda. Gun shows played no role in the Virginia Tech shooting. If you have a congressman on the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee of House Judiciary, it would not hurt to give them a call and let them know you oppose attacking gun shows.

Representatives Randy Forbes (VA-4) and Bob Goodlatte (VA-6) , both strong supporters of the Second Amendment, are on the subcommittee in addition to Scott.

Congressman Forbes Seeks to Improve Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act

In October of last year, Congressman Randy Forbes (R-VA4th) introduced the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act Improvements Act of 2009 ( H.R. 3752). The Bill Amends the federal criminal code to: (1) expand the definition of "law enforcement officers," for purposes of provisions authorizing such officers to carry concealed weapons, to include current and retired law enforcement officers of the Amtrak Police Department, the Federal Reserve System, the executive branch, and the Armed Forces; (2) allow law enforcement officers who are retired or who separated in good standing after at least ten years of service to carry a concealed weapon; and (3) expand the categories of law enforcement officers authorized to possess a fireman in a school zone to include retired law enforcement officers.

In a letter to Congressman Forbes announcing NRA's support for the legislation, Chuck Cunningham, Director of Federal Affairs for the NRA, said, “Since [LEOSA’s] enactment in 2004, it has become clear that officers have suffered from inconsistent certification processes from state to state. In many cases, the confusing process and bureaucratic red tape has complicated the implementation of the law. Your legislation proposes reasonable changes that will allow qualified active and retired law enforcement officers to comply more with the law.”

VSSA agrees with NRA and this bill if passed and signed into law will simplify what currently involves differing interpretations of the implementation of the law. This often leads some states to refuse to issue the required documentation for a retired law enforcement officer to carry concealed. H.R. 3752 would establish measures of uniformity by enabling a firearms instructor to certify that retired law enforcement officers meet the active duty standard for firearms training. This would allow law enforcement officers who are retired or who separated in good standing after at least ten years of service to carry a concealed weapon.

VSSA supports this important legislation and urges every Virginia gun owner to contact your congressman and encourage them to sign on as a co-sponsor of H.R. 3752.

This is Refreshing

I recently contacted Congressman Randy Forbes asking him to co-sponsor H.R. 2296: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Reform and Firearms Modernization Act of 2009. I had all expectations that he would sign on but at the time I contacted him, he had not. Congressman Forbes is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment back to his days in the Virginia General Assembly. What I did not expect was to get a phone call from a staff member letting me know that he had co-sponsored the bill. I get so many "stock" form letters in response to contacts with legislators (not necessarily from Congressman Forbes) and many times these letters written by low level staff barely address the specific issue I had mentioned in my correspondence. So to get a phone call from the Congressman's office specifically addressing the bill that was the subject of my contact is truly refreshing.