Steven Mace
02-24-2002, 07:57 PM
Bill amended to allow visitors guns in public places
By BOB LEWIS, Associated Press
© February 22, 2002
RICHMOND -- An amendment attached Friday to a Senate bill limiting restrictions on firearms in some public buildings would disarm public employees while allowing visitors to pack heat, the measure's sponsor said.
By deleting three words in Senate Bill 593, the House Militia and Police Committee allows local governments to bar employees from bringing firearms to work, but it would not allow localities to prevent visitors from bringing guns into certain public offices.
By a 17-5 vote, the panel -- dominated by pro-Second Amendment delegates -- advanced the amended version of Sen. Emmett W. Hanger's bill to a House floor vote.
The committee acted while the Senate was in session, and Hanger was not present for the vote. Hanger, R-Augusta, said he was disappointed that the committee pushed the bill further than he intended.
``Localities, by various resolutions and ordinances, were continuing to chip away at what was intended,'' Hanger said. ``Uniformity is the real issue.''
He said he hoped the committee's amendment would be stripped, either on the House floor or, if it passes, in a House-Senate conference committee where differences over the two versions of the bill are resolved.
``What we're trying to do is make sure local government doesn't do something it's not supposed to,'' said Del. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, a committee member and the House majority leader, arguing against a patchwork of gun ordinances across the state.
``This is the place where that bill should be debated, not in those courthouses and city halls,'' he said. ``It does boggle my mind that people want to try to interfere with people's constitutional right.''
Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, said people who have obtained concealed weapons permits are law-abiding and should not be treated as criminals when entering public buildings.
The amendment sends a chilling signal to localities concerned about protecting their workers, Del. James M. Scott, D-Fairfax, said in recalling a death threat he received when he served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
``This is a fairly modest effort to come to some sort of compromise, and I can't understand why we won't accept it,'' he said, arguing against the amendment.
The Virginia Municipal League, which did not oppose Hanger's original bill, was outspoken against the amendment. Forcing urban localities to abide by the same community standards as rural counties and towns is unworkable, said VML lobbyist Mike Edwards.
``It may be perfectly acceptable in Rockingham or Page (counties) for someone to walk into a government building with a gun if he's been out target shooting, but for a young person to do that in Arlington and Alexandria -- that would not be appropriate at all,'' Edwards said.
The House this year has already defeated legislation that would have put the Capitol and its surrounding legislative buildings off-limits to people with firearms.
http://www.pilotonline.com/breaking/br0222gun.html
Steve Mace
By BOB LEWIS, Associated Press
© February 22, 2002
RICHMOND -- An amendment attached Friday to a Senate bill limiting restrictions on firearms in some public buildings would disarm public employees while allowing visitors to pack heat, the measure's sponsor said.
By deleting three words in Senate Bill 593, the House Militia and Police Committee allows local governments to bar employees from bringing firearms to work, but it would not allow localities to prevent visitors from bringing guns into certain public offices.
By a 17-5 vote, the panel -- dominated by pro-Second Amendment delegates -- advanced the amended version of Sen. Emmett W. Hanger's bill to a House floor vote.
The committee acted while the Senate was in session, and Hanger was not present for the vote. Hanger, R-Augusta, said he was disappointed that the committee pushed the bill further than he intended.
``Localities, by various resolutions and ordinances, were continuing to chip away at what was intended,'' Hanger said. ``Uniformity is the real issue.''
He said he hoped the committee's amendment would be stripped, either on the House floor or, if it passes, in a House-Senate conference committee where differences over the two versions of the bill are resolved.
``What we're trying to do is make sure local government doesn't do something it's not supposed to,'' said Del. H. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, a committee member and the House majority leader, arguing against a patchwork of gun ordinances across the state.
``This is the place where that bill should be debated, not in those courthouses and city halls,'' he said. ``It does boggle my mind that people want to try to interfere with people's constitutional right.''
Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, said people who have obtained concealed weapons permits are law-abiding and should not be treated as criminals when entering public buildings.
The amendment sends a chilling signal to localities concerned about protecting their workers, Del. James M. Scott, D-Fairfax, said in recalling a death threat he received when he served on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
``This is a fairly modest effort to come to some sort of compromise, and I can't understand why we won't accept it,'' he said, arguing against the amendment.
The Virginia Municipal League, which did not oppose Hanger's original bill, was outspoken against the amendment. Forcing urban localities to abide by the same community standards as rural counties and towns is unworkable, said VML lobbyist Mike Edwards.
``It may be perfectly acceptable in Rockingham or Page (counties) for someone to walk into a government building with a gun if he's been out target shooting, but for a young person to do that in Arlington and Alexandria -- that would not be appropriate at all,'' Edwards said.
The House this year has already defeated legislation that would have put the Capitol and its surrounding legislative buildings off-limits to people with firearms.
http://www.pilotonline.com/breaking/br0222gun.html
Steve Mace