[b]Although virgins are welcome too.  This just in from VCDL:[/b]


Three gun related bills were heard in the Senate Courts of Justice committee today.  It was a good news/bad news day.

Your intense pressure made a difference today!  When I arrived at the hearing, Delegate Pollard approached me and gave me a copy of substitute language on his bill HB 1339.  Originally the bill would have put a jogging/bike path right down the middle of the Northern Virginia Shooting Facility.  Delegate Pollard's substitute bill specifically stated that the path would not go through NVSF.  I gave tepid support to the new wording, stating that VCDL takes no position on the path itself, but would strongly  oppose any wording that did not protect NVSF.  I said that if the bill died, that would be fine, too.  The president of NVSF later thanked me for VCDL's help.

If you can believe this, Senator Stolle, a Republican, asked if "eminent domain" could be applied so that the State could buyout the NVSF property and eliminate the contention over the land!!!  I strongly objected to that suggestion, reminding the committee that this kind of facility is already very hard to find in Virginia.  To his credit, Delegate Pollard refused to consider such a thing.

HB 1339, as modified, passed out of committee and now goes to the Senate Floor.

HB 582, Delegate Welch's bill to protect a citizen from civil litigation if he has to use deadly force to protect himself and his family at home from a violent criminal got a last minute substitute. VCDL could not speak on the bill because even Delegate Welch had not seen the new language!  (Is this committee bothering you as much as it does me?)  The language weakened the bill somewhat, but Delegate Welch was satisfied and it passed out of committee.  Perhaps it can be improved in conference committee or on the Senate Floor.

The bad news is HB 604, Delegate Black's reciprocity bill, was screwed up just like this same committee screwed up the companion version by Senator Trumbo.  The bill as it stands now is useless and would actually make recognition/reciprocity even harder to achieve.  I am angry at this committee over this.  First, Delegate Black who was in the middle of an excellent presentation, talking about how Michigan has recognized all other states permits without a problem and has had a brisk tourism industry, was rudely interrupted by Senator Stolle.  Stolle said that the committee had been over this with Senator Trumbo's bill earlier and did not want to go over it again.  Clearly, Stolle was not interested in what Delegate Black had to say.  It must be nice to be so omnipotent.  Or perhaps he didn't like the great point that Delegate Black was making.  Without allowing me or anyone else to speak on the bill, the committee substituted the junk wording and passed the destroyed bill out by a wide margin.  I believe that only Senator Trumbo voted against what they did.  They had been giving 20 and 30 minutes of discussion to other bills, but they gave 1 minute to an important gun bill. Looking at the Senate and especially this committee, elections cannot get here early enough for my liking!

HB 604 will go to the Senate Floor and possibly to a conference committee.

As soon as the various conference committees are setup, we will let you know so we can start to contact the members.


[b][i]continued...[/b][/i]

[b][i]...continued[/b][/i]

WHAT TO DO RIGHT NOW:

You can contact the important Senators using the reflector below and send them a message like this:

[blue]Dear Senator,

I am counting on the Senate to protect and enhance Virginia's gun rights, not destroy them!

Please support SB 593, Senator Hanger's preemption bill, as modified by the House.  The bill is needed to protect the rights of gun owners by clarifying Virginia's current preemption laws.

Please reject the Senate Courts of Justice committee's changes to HB 604 and reinstate HB 604 to the House's original language.  We want
to improve reciprocity with other states, not make it worse.  Every state who has opened up reciprocity and recognition has had great
success with it!

Please reinstate HB 582's original House language, which protects someone who has to defend themselves from a violent criminal while at home.  The Senate Courts of Justice committee's substituted language needlessly complicates the bill.

Finally, please only support HB 1339 if it exempts the Northern Virginia Shooting Facility's property.  Otherwise it will destroy one of the few high-power rifle ranges in Northern Virginia and the state.

Sincerely,
your name and address
[/blue]
Here is a reflector that will send all of the key Senators your message in one-fell-swoop:

[email][email protected] [/email]



VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL).  VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the civil rights of all Virginians.  The membership considers the right to keep and bear arms an essential human right.

VCDL web page:  [url]http://www.vcdl.org[/url]

Done!

Thanks for the heads up! Done!

[b]Another from VCDL:[/b]

Urgent!  This is probably going to be moving very fast, so you will need to react quickly:

SB 228, Senator Trumbo's concealed carry permit recognition bill, was cleaned up and made whole by the House, but was rejected by the Senate.  The bill now goes to a Conference committee, consisting of 3 Senators and 3 Delegates, to work out the differences.  VCDL has setup a reflector so that you can contact these Senators and Delegates with a single e-mail.  Send them a message something like this:

[blue]Dear SB 228 Conference Committee Member,

Please revert SB 228 as it was reported from the House and pass it out of the Conference committee.  The House's version of this important bill improves current law, making it easier for Virginia to recognize of out-of-state permits.  In turn, Virginians will be able to defend themselves in more states as they travel.  Unfortunately, the Senate's version actually makes current law worse, making it much harder for Virginia to recognize the permits of other states!  That is totally unacceptable.  Instantaneous permit verification is not necessary with the new photo-id requirement.  Seven states, including
Michigan and Kentucky, have been recognizing the permits of all other states for years and with great success.  Extended recognition will
be just as successful here in Virginia.

Please protect Virginia citizens and fix SB 228!  If there can be no agreement to remove the 24/7 language, then please kill SB 228 rather than cripple Virginia's current recognition laws.

Sincerely,
name and address
[/blue]
The reflector for the SB 228 Conference committee members is:

[email][email protected][/email]

A good title might be:  Please report House version of SB 228!


VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL).  VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization dedicated to defending the civil rights of all Virginians.  The membership considers the right to keep and bear arms an essential human right.

VCDL web page:  [url]http://www.vcdl.org[/url]

DONE

Uhh, what is the [b]Northern Virginia Shooting Facility's property[/b]  

Where is it, who can use it, what is the distance, cost, etc....

Done.

I'll also bite, where is this shooting facility?  Is it Fairfax Rod & Gun (no .50's please, no class III, must be special out there) and a forever wait to join...