Crime Commission Will Accept Public Comment August 20.

VSSA has been informed that there will be a public comment portion as part of it's review that was referred to the Crime Commission during the Special Session.

Crime Commission members have devoted a portion of the Tuesday, August 20th meeting to allow designated representatives of organizations and interest groups to provide public comment. VSSA has signed up to speak.

Public comment will begin at approximately 1:30 p.m.

The meeting will begin at Noon in the House Committee Room of the Pocahontas Building. The building opens to the public at 9:00 a.m. and the meeting room opens at 11:00 a.m.

Each organization or interest group will have 4 minutes to provide public comment on behalf of the organization or interest group. Members of VSSA may stand and be recognized at the conclusion of VSSA's comments.

Following public comment by organizations and interest groups, there will be a separate portion of the August 20th meeting devoted to hearing comments from members of the general public. The sign up procedures for members of the general public will be announced separately.  VSSA will pass those along when we have them. 

Please plan to attend the meeting if possible.  We need as many gun owners as possible to pack the room.  You can bet the other side will do the same.

Meeting room rules:

Possession or use of any device that may disrupt the conduct of business is prohibited, including but not limited to: voice-amplification equipment; bullhorns; blow horns; sirens, or other noise-producing devices; as well as signs on sticks, poles or stakes; or helium-filled balloons. 

Campaign signs, banners, posters and other materials advocating the election or defeat of any candidate for public office may NOT be displayed at any time in any public space in the Capitol or Pocahontas Building. In addition, signs may not be displayed in a manner that blocks the view of others, encroaches on aisles, or impedes the safe movement of visitors. The Capitol Police have final authority in any issue related to public safety in the Capitol complex. 

Unruly behavior, such as booing, yelling, or harassing remarks, is prohibited. The Chair of the Crime Commission has the authority to remove individuals from the room or to clear the room.

The capacity of the meeting room is 180. You are not guaranteed re-entry into the meeting room if you exit the room at any time for any reason.

Legislative Update - Special Session Adjourns Until November 18

Today's Special Session began with both pro-rights advocates and gun ban advocates converging on the State Capitol to make their case to state legislators. The line to enter the Pocahontas Building where legislators' offices are temporarily being housed went around the building.

Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment caused some turmoil in the Senate GOP Caucus after introducing legislation that would have allowed localities to ban firearms in municpal buildings. He later said he did not support his own legislation and had it stricken from the docket in Senate Courts of Justice. Both the House and Senate gaveled into session at 12:00 noon and by 1:30 both had adjourned until November 18th, which is almost two weeks after the November elections. Shortly after the Senate adjourned, Senate Courts of Justice met. Senator Ryan McDougal made a motion to have all of the bills on the docket re-referred to the Crime Commission for study. After some objections from the Democrats on the panel the committee voted 9-6 to refer the bills related to firearms and public safety on the docket, and any filed by July 18th, to the Crime Commission.

A similar action was taken in the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee, tabling the 17 bills on its docket and sending a letter to the Crime Commission asking it to study the issues in those bills.

The lesson to take from today is the importance of this November's election. If the slim pro-gun majorities are lost in both the House and the State Senate, every one of the bills that were listed in last night's email and the additional bills listed in the update posted on the VSSA blog this morning will become law, starting the Californication of Virginia overnight. In the coming weeks, the eBullet will include information on legislative races in which gun owners should get involved now and do all you can to help re-elect the pro-gun majorities in the General Assembly.

Thank you to every member that contacted your legislator and asked them to stand with Virginia's law abiding gun owners.

First Sign of GOP Caving?

More bills have dropped on the Legislative Information Service (LIS).  Among them is this bill by Delegate Glenn Davis (R - VA Beach).

HB4008 - Concealed handgun permits; demonstration of competence. Removes the option for concealed handgun permit applicants to demonstrate competence with a handgun by completing an electronic, video, or online course conducted by a state-certified or National Rifle Association-certified firearms instructor. The bill does not affect any in-person means of satisfying the requirement to demonstrate competence with a handgun under current law.

It should be noted that a)the training required to get a concealed handgun permit is basic firearm safety information and b) Virginia law does not require range time to show competence with a handgun.  A hunter safety course qualifies as an allowable training to qualify for a concealed handgun permit and you can get those courses online now.  So, if the basic information can be provided in an online course, why not allow it?  What is the reason for this bill other than to show that you are open to "doing something"?

Information You Can Use When Contacting Delegates, Senators

Below are some bullets you can use when contacting your legislators during the Special Session.

• Law-abiding Virginia gun owners are being scapegoated by anti-gun politicians in their attempt to hastily force through ineffective gun control measures, many of which were already rejected earlier this year during the regular session. Such imprudent action should never be tolerated. Given the alleged conduct of the governor and lieutenant governor that has recently come to light, their impatience with the normal legislative process is all the more suspicious.

• Virginia gun owners and all those who support freedom and demand integrity in the legislative process must take action to defeat Northam’s gun control opportunism.

• According to the Crime Prevention Research Center, since 1950, 98 percent of mass public shootings in the United States have occurred in places where general citizens are banned from carrying, including the Virginia Beach Municipal Center. Will the Northam administration consider legislation eliminating these deadly so-called gun-free zones?

• The Northam administration is seeking to ban so-called assault-style weapons. The gunman in Virginia Beach used a handgun. Additionally, we had a federal ban on those firearms for 10 years, and that Congress lifted the ban because there was ZERO evidence it reduced crime or saved lives? How would such a ban have made a difference?

• Law enforcement at the scene of the Virginia Beach shooting say the sound of gunfire led them to the gunman. Clearly the so-called "silencer" used by the gunman did not silence his firearm. What is the point of banning them? Many law-abiding gun owners – including members of law enforcement – use suppressors to protect their hearing.

• The governor wants to ban bump stocks in Virginia. Bump stocks are already banned and the shooter did not use one.

• The governor wants to reinstate Virginia’s failed one-gun-a-month law. The gunman in Virginia Beach had ample time to purchase the two handguns he used over a period of months and years. Handgun rationing would not have prevented this shooting.

• The governor wants mandates requiring law-abiding gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms. The gunman purchased his firearms legally and did not acquire them through theft. Can you please explain how this proposal would have prevented this tragedy?

• The governor is proposing government mandates for home firearm storage – so-called Child Access Prevention laws. Not only was the gunman in this case NOT a child, but there is no scientific evidence that government mandated, one-size-fits-all storage schemes reduce juvenile accidental firearm deaths or suicides. A recent study by the Crime Prevention Research Center found these mandates could make it harder for law-abiding citizens to protect themselves.

• Governor Northam is using this tragedy to push for so-called universal background checks – which in reality are more government mandates that would criminalize law-abiding gun owners and make it harder for people like myself to defend my home and family. The gunman passed a background check, so how does the governor think this proposal would have prevented this tragedy?

• Would the Northam administration consider partnering with federal prosecutors to reduce crime like the City of Richmond did in the 1990s with “Project Exile?” The program was credited with dramatically reducing Richmond’s violent crime by shipping firearm violators to far-off federal prisons.

Governor Northam's Gun Control Op/Ed in Virginia Pilot

Governor Ralph Northam had this Op/Ed in yesterday's Virginian Pilot.  He starts out by saying there is a "gun violence emergency" in the Commonwealth, then lays out what he want's in this week's special session:

I will ask lawmakers to do things I’ve asked them to do in the past.

I will ask them to ban magazines that hold more than 10 rounds. I’ll ask them to make background checks universal — a policy that 90 percent of the public supports. I will ask for an Extreme Risk Protective Order law — a way for law enforcement to ask a court to keep guns away from someone who poses a substantial danger to themselves or others, a concept supported by President Donald Trump’s School Safety Task Force. I will join President Trump in supporting bans on silencers and bump stocks.

I will ask legislators to reinstate Virginia’s successful “One Handgun a Month” policy, first enacted under former Gov. Doug Wilder. Being one of the top states for gun trafficking is not something to be proud of.

I will ask for tougher penalties for anyone who leaves a loaded gun around a child, and to require anyone whose gun has been stolen to report the theft within 24 hours.

And I will ask to give localities more authority to regulate firearms, including in their own government buildings.

Northam repeated his call for the full Assembly to debate the measures and made the dishonest claim that subcommittees meeting in early hours have killed his bills in the past.  The House subcommittee that has defeated Northam's gun ban proposals meet in the afternoon, almost after work hours (4:00 PM), making it easier for people to attend, and every one of those bills had a thorough hearing with people from both sides having their say.  He also uses a dishonest number to illustrate the number of people who died in violence involving a firearm.  Northam said that 1000 have died from "gun violence this year - more than the 900 killed in automobile incidents, but that 1000 includes suicides, which is a completely different issue and requires different solutions than criminal use of a firearm.

The gun ban bills he listed have finally started appearing on the Legislative Information System.  It should be noted that this time, the bill to reinstate handgun rationing would move us back to pre-2004 days.  In 2004 the law was amended to exempt individuals possessing a concealed handgun permit.  The House and Senate bills have removed that provision.

The bills that have been introduced to date are below.

• HB 4001 Right to keep and bear arms.
• HB 4002 Concealed handguns; carrying with a permit by employees of any agency of the Commonwealth, etc.
• HB 4003 Firearms; removal from persons posing substantial risk, penalties.
• HB 4004 Handguns; limitation on purchases, exceptions, penalty.
• HB 4005 Control of firearms by localities.
• HJ 4001 Gun Violence Awareness Day.
• SB 4001 Control of firearms; chambers of local governing bodies.
• SB 4002 Handguns; limitation on purchases, exceptions, penalty.

Please continue to contact legislators and urge them to support HB4001 and HB4002, then ask them to oppose HB4003, HB4004, HB 4005, HJ4001 SB4001 and SB4002.  Expect more bills to drop.

You can find the members of House Militia Police and Public Safety by clicking here.  You can click here for the members of Senate Courts of Justice.

Like Abington, Norfolk Gun Control Roundtable Well Attended by Gun Owners

Governor Northam's gun control roundtable discussions set up shop in Hampton last night.  The original location had to be moved due to the large number of people that showed up.  The first hour was only for the media and invited activists and supporters of the Governor's proposals to enact gun ban measures.  The second hour was open to the public and included a large number of gun owners who did not want any part of what Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran was selling.  Wavy 10 has the story.


Gun Owners are pushing back hard as even the Governor has admitted during last week's Boys State that none of his proposals would likely have changed anything in Virginia Beach the day of the shooting:

The next student at the microphone asked how those measures would help, arguing it doesn’t appear they would have prevented the shooting in Virginia Beach.

“The assailant used a silencer, a suppressor. Why do you think he did that?” Northam countered from the stage.

The student, standing away from the microphone, said quietly, “So nobody could hear him.”

“So do you think that we need silencers on the street?” Northam continued. “Do you think that if he hadn’t had a silencer, perhaps not as many people would have been killed because people in the building would have been able to hear the firearm discharge?”

Northam conceded that his proposals wouldn’t have necessarily prevented the Virginia Beach shooting. But he said the legislation his administration has backed would have helped.

Continue to contact your State Senator and member of the House of Delegates and politely tell them that you do not support anything that the Governor is proposing and remind them that even though there was a restriction on employees taking firearms into Virginia Beach buildings, that did not stop the killer, a Virginia Beach employee, from taking his gun into the building and killing his colleagues.

In related news, a Virginia Beach employee wants the ban lifted on employees carrying in city buildings.

Also, I'll be on NRATV's Cam and Company this afternoon at 5:30 pm discussing the latest developments as the Special Session approaches.

Still Waiting on Legislation for Special Session

A quick look at the General Assembly Legislative Information System shows that no legislation has been prefiled as of today.  We do know that one GOP Delegate has said he has a proposal that he thinks will gain support on both sides of the assembly.

Del. David Yancey, R-Newport News, says that when he talks to police and prosecutors about guns, they tell him they need more tools to crack down on gun-theft rings and the black market in stolen firearms.

And one tool they told him that wish they had is one federal law enforcement agencies have used for seven decades. It is the power to ask judges to cut convicts’ sentences if, once in prison, if those offenders give police the information needed to bring drug-smugglers, gun-runners and other organized criminals to justice.

While we know what Governor Northam proposed during his press announcement earlier this month, nothing has been turned into legislation and that list apparently was not all inclusive so there could be more than what he laid out in the announcement