Posted on 01/27/2006 7:11:45 AM PST by concretebob
Tonight the Militia, Police and Public Safety subcommittee heard several gun bills and here are the results:
HB 162, Delegate Lingamfelter, allows a person to have a firearm locked in their vehicle in private parking lots. The bill was amended to exempt vehicles owned by a company or parking lots that had gates and/or guards that limited public access. I spoke in favor of the bill. The bill PASSED out of subcommittee and is now on its way to the full committee! Whaa Hooo!
HB 705, Delegate Hogan, a bill to take away the ability of a county to regulate discharge of firearms and hunting without any grandfathering was withdrawn by Delegate Hogan. This was not a surprise. He still had HB 704 (next).
HB 704, Delegate Hogan, a bill to take away the ability of a county to regulate discharge of firearms or hunting and preempts all discharge/hunting ordinances passed after 1995. The bill was modified. The modification allows counties to ban hunting within 1/2 mile of a subdivision (as they currently already can do). It also let the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) set statewide uniform standards for hunting and discharge. A county could petition DGIF for special concessions. I spoke as being generally in favor of the bill, except I noted that I did not like DGIF setting discharge standards for fear that they would have the unelected power to ban all discharge if they were ever under an anti-gun administration! Dennis O'Connor spoke and made the great point that his county, Prince George, removed all discharged ordinances and let state law rule. The idea, and the committee seem receptive, was to let state law on discharge preempt local ordinances, period.
A lot of counties spoke against the bill and a few Hanover residents did as well. Delegates Hogan, Griffith and Lingamfelter made some powerful points about the protected rights of gun owners vs the tyranny of the many. Delegate Hogan pointed out that local governments had been abusing their power over discharging firearms lately and this needs to stop and that his bill is aimed at doing just that!
I wanted to cheer, but I couldn't ;-)
The bill was passed by for a week to give DGIF a chance to prepare comments on the bill, since the bill will definitely affect the department. It also gives the committee time to rethink discharge of firearms being controlled by the DGIF.
Passing it by for the week made good sense.
HB 794, Delegate Hogan, a bill to prohibit the police returning a gun with a altered serial number to its owner was discussed. Delegate Hogan said that he wasn't sure who asked him to put the bill in. He also said he was concerned with some points I had discussed with him yesterday about the bill having some severe problems.
(Yesterday, Board member Jim Kadison talked to the BATFE and asked them if there was a mechanism to lawfully restore a serial number on a gun where the serial number had been altered. The answer was YES! Therefore, the gun was still able to be possessed by the owner if the gun was sent by the police to the manufacturer and the manufacturer put the serial number back on the gun! This avoids the gun owner getting victimized twice - once by the criminal and once by the police not returning his gun! Keep in mind that some guns can cost well over $20,000! I had shared this with Delegate Hogan.)
Delegate Hogan asked for me to explain my concerns to the committee. After my explanation, the committee, with Delegate Hogan's blessing, decided to pass the bill by indefinitely ("PBI") - which means that the bill is DEAD.
I would like to thank Delegate Hogan for letting the bill go as soon as he learned that firearms could be reserialized and returned to their rightful owners.
The committee rolled HB 1024, Delegate Hurt's bill the keep the government from disarming us in an emergency or disaster, into Delegate Janis' much stronger version - HB 1265 (next). This was exactly what I hoped they would do.
I spoke in favor of Delegate Janis' HB 1265, providing the metaphor that New Orleans let it citizens have umbrellas until it started to rain at which time New Orleans confiscated those umbrellas.
The bill passed unanimously out of subcommittee and is on its way to the full committee, probably next week!!!
An excellent night for Virginia's gun owners and liberty!
PING the RKBA Please
Now if only we can stop idiot legislators (a Republican no less) from accidentally firing their guns in their offices.
PING the VA members, Please.
No doubt..Thank God he had that bullet-proof vest hanging on the door.
Excellent reporting that you will never get from the MSM. This is one of the reasons I love freerepublic.
No objections from me.
Can you folks do anything with this - like maybe ridicule? (They ask for your race.)
The city of Arlington has a form where a citizen can register his firearm to make its retrieval easier in case it is stolen. You may want to ask these worthies why they don't do this for ANY item that has a serial number, other than vehicles, like lawnmowers or electronics.
Here's the preamble: "This is NOT an application to carry a concealed weapon. You must obtain that from the Clerk of the Circuit Court. You may contact the Clerk of the Circuit Court at (703) 228-7010.
The Commonwealth of Virginia does not require gun registration. Arlington County provides this service for its citizens in an effort to keep a record of the serial numbers of firearms. In case of theft or loss, we will have the information pertaining to individual firearms for reporting purposes. If you would like to register your gun but would prefer not to use this online form, you may call (703) 228-4252."
Yeah, I thought it was, but was intrigued at their request for "Race" and thought they could be ridiculed for that, along the lines of "I'm surprised they didn't ask if I was a Jew." Perhaps a note to the local newspaper as to why the PD needs THAT info.
And, raise the question that if the PD was SO concerned about tracking down stolen goods, why isn't there a provision for other items that have serial numbers? Perhaps members could send them the numbers on all their VCRs, DVDs, etc. as a precaution. (ahem)
cb, I haven't been around, sorry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.