I may be moving to Va.-job pending(Richmond).  What are the gun laws like?  What do I need to do when I have a handgun/long gun  in my truck?

Are virginia cops tenacious, or is it like NC where Ive never had a problem with a gun in plain view, loaded or out of sight loaded?

Thanks in advance,

-JP

Virginia has great gun laws!  Open carry is legal pretty much everywhere, with a few exceptions (courthouses, Federal Govt. areas, etc.)  Concealed carry is "shall issue" and the permit is $50 for five years.

Check out www.packing.org for more info.

Cheers,

Steve

You're gonna like it!  [:D]

If your record is clean...you can pack legally.

Only a few places where you can't take your gun:  Church, the courthouse, restaurants that serve alcohol, federal bldgs.

The cops are real cool too.  When a VA state trooper pulled me over on I-81 a couple of years ago, he knew I was carrying because the state makes a notation on your license record.  Not what you carry...but in the state computer.  When he ran my license, he knew...and never said a single word.  Very polite and considerate.

I shoot with lots of cops...all good guys.  My next door neighbor is an FBI SA and the guy across the street is a sheriff's deputy.  All cool gents.

I moved here seven years ago from Kalifornistan...what a difference.

Welcome to the commonwealth!

check out [url]www.vcdl.org[/url]

you got to make it to the showplace!

OK VA rules covered, welcome!

Great responces! Thanks again.

I feel good knowing that my potential new home is gun friendly!


-hs

Va. is also  Class 3 friendly also.

As far as long guns go, it is illegal to carry them loaded in a vehicle.  I think it is a carry-over from some hunting regulations.

I love VA......Stay away from DC and MD.

The "no loaded rifles or shotguns in the vehicle" law is indeed an old school anti poaching law.

I actually live in the Richmond area.  The economy around here pretty much sucks because it artifically boomed 5 or so years ago due to rapid growth of Capital One.  That's over...  

The gun laws compare favorably to most states, with the only odd one being the 1 handgun a month law.  This was done under Gov Wilder, and was intended to stop VA from being the primary source of handgun trafficing to the Northeast.  It's pretty easy to live under, but it's an infringement none the less.

I though Virginia still had the one-gun-a-month stupidity in place?

Overall, Virginia is a good state for gun owners.  One thing though, the residents of the counties/cities in northern VA (north of Fredericksburg) do tend to be a little more liberal than the rest of the state.  If you were to walk around with an exposed weapon there, you are pretty much guaranteed to get hassled, because some citizen will probably call the PD and complain (there's always one).  
It's not difficult to get a CCW though, as long as you have a clean record, documentation offirearm safety training and some sort of proof of residency (a utility bill or property tax receipt would suffice).  You just take all of that to the local court house and fill out the paperwork.  I don't remember if they still require a finger print check.  I let mine lapse after I became a LEO.
I think you will like it here.

Come on up!  I live in the Richmond area.  We do have the one-gun-a-month law, but you can get a form from State Police to buy more than one.  It's not that big a deal, but maybe we can get it changed.

As far as Class 3 goes, not all CLEOs will sign for them.  I know of someone in Hanover County (just north of Richmond) whos CLEO won't sign.

As someone else said, check out [url=www.vcdl.org]VCDL[/url].  We'd love to have you!

Yeah, it's much less gun friendly up here in Northern VA...Arlington, Fairfax, and Alexandria.  They have the only handgun waiting periods in the state, that I know of, and I *think* they have laws regarding open carry as well.  You will almost certainly be hassled up here if you open carry, from what I hear.  

Each of those cities has over 160,000 persons living there, so it is written in the Virginia Code as being against the law to open carry.  At least as best as I can interpret it.

Maybe I am wrong.

I know which section of the Code to which you are refering, and you have interpreted it the same way many others have (which is incorrect[:D])

That section of the code redefines the definition of a firearm directly below the paragraph you're reading.  I'll go get it in a second.

Goochland won't either.  Thus the reason no M16 and UZI grace my safe.

OK, I figured I had read it, and re-read it and heard it talked about here....of course they want it to be clear as mud.[whacko]

So if you came up to visit me in NoVA would YOU open carry if you had forgotten a coat or whatever? [:D]

One handgun a month; no limit on long gun purchases.

Transporting a firearm in a vehicle in the state requires the firearm to be "unloaded and securely wrapped".

[b]§ 18.2-287.4.  Carrying loaded firearms in public areas prohibited; penalty.[/b]

It shall be unlawful for any person to carry a loaded firearm on or about his person on any public street, road, alley, sidewalk, public right-of-way, or in any public park or any other place of whatever nature that is open to the public (i) in any city with a population of 160,000 or more or (ii) in any county having an urban county executive form of government or any county or city surrounded thereby or adjacent thereto or in any county having a county manager form of government. The provisions of this section shall not apply to law-enforcement officers, licensed security guards, military personnel in the performance of their lawful duties, or any person having a valid permit to carry such firearm or to any person actually engaged in lawful hunting or lawful recreational shooting activities at an established shooting range or shooting contest. Any person violating the provisions of this section shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.

[red]For purposes of this section, "firearm" means any (i) semi-automatic center-fire rifle or pistol which expels a projectile by action of an explosion and is equipped at the time of the offense with a magazine which will hold more than twenty rounds of ammunition or designed by the manufacturer to accommodate a silencer or equipped with a folding stock or (ii) shotgun with a magazine which will hold more than seven rounds of the longest ammunition for which it is chambered. [/red]

Any firearm carried in violation of this section may be forfeited to the Commonwealth pursuant to the provisions of § 18.2-310.

The exemptions set out in § 18.2-308 shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to the provisions of this section.

Don't worry, a lot of cops, polititians and lawyers misinterpret this too.

BTW, remember that due to HB1516, all those local carry, possesion, etc. laws will not apply to CCW holders anymore after July 1st.