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Earlier today Governor McAuliffe made his first suggested amendment to a bill awaiting his signature. What is his first suggested amendment as Governor? Gun control.

The amendment is clearly meant to poke gun owners in the eye! Not a good way for McAuliffe to start off his tenure as Governor, but not unexpected either.

The Governor’s suggested amendment modifies HB 962, which is Delegate Cline’s bill clarifying current law as it deals with storing a handgun in a vehicle or vessel. Right now the law allows a person who does not have a CHP to be able to store a handgun in an UNLOCKED, but closed, compartment or container in their vehicle or vessel.

The Governor’s suggestion completely changes HB 962, requiring that the compartment or container be LOCKED! That’s not a clarification of current law - that is rewriting current law! It also puts the gun owner at increased risk by making his handgun less accessible.

That amendment would move Virginia backwards and that is simply not acceptable.

The Governor’s suggested amendment is just that, a suggestion. The House can simply reject the suggestion and the bill goes back to the Governor in its original form for him to either sign, not sign, or to veto.

If the Governor either signs or doesn’t sign the bill, it will become law (it’s just a clarification to prevent false arrests, so nothing will really change as far as the rights of gun owners go). If he vetoes the bill, it will then become part of the veto override session that will happen in April. If there are enough votes in the House and Senate (2/3 required), the Governor’s veto will be overridden and the bill will become law. Otherwise the bill will die and current law will remain unchanged.

NOTE: If the bill dies, we won’t take a step backwards because we have both an Attorney General’s opinion and, far more importantly, case law on our side. Without the clarification that HB 962 provides, we will continue to see the occasional false arrest based on police and magistrates being confused and not doing their homework.

That the Governor would think to modify such a benign bill is mind boggling. Oh, well - it won’t stop us from making sure his desk is covered in pro-gun bills over the next 4 years nonetheless.

You will be kept in the loop as HB 962 works its way through the remainder of the legislative session. For now we have an urgent action item to do - telling the House that we want them to REJECT the Governor’s suggested amendments:

URGENT ACTION ITEM!

Click here to send a prewritten message to your Delegate (the software automatically figures out who that is based on your address and Zip+4) to reject the Governor’s suggested amendments to HB 962. This just takes seconds to do:

http://tinyurl.com/lhgp48y

Let’s roll on this, VCDL!

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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 human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org

To confirm, this takes SECONDS to do!

Thanks for posting, Agent19.

Governor McAuliffe has made a suggested amendment to HB 962, Delegate Cline’s bill that clarifies that a person without a CHP can have a loaded handgun in a CLOSED compartment or container in a vehicle or vessel. The Governor's amendment would move Virginia backwards, requiring such compartment or container be LOCKED, making the handgun inside a whole lot less useful.

The decision on whether the House will accept or reject that amendment will come today, Thursday, March 6, after 11 AM.

We need to make sure our legislators hear from all of us on this, INCLUDING those of you whose Delegate is a Democrat.

As of 9 PM on Wednesday, 2,790 of you have sent the prewritten message provided by VCDL. We need the rest of you to do your part.

If you have NOT yet sent the pre-written email urging your Delegate to REJECT the Governor’s Amendment to HB 962, please do so now. Here is the link - it will take less than 30 SECONDS to send the message:

http://tinyurl.com/lhgp48y

Let’s not take a step backwards by being complacent.



-------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
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 human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org

thanks email sent

Done, thanks. It is easy to do.

I passed this on to a few friends too, and if suggest everyone try to do the same.

I don't think you need to bother at this point. The House rejected the Gov's suggestion.

Doh! Didn't see the cut off date. Wow that was a short window of opportunity.

It’s time to contact Governor McAuliffe, who said he is a gun owner when he was a candidate, to encourage him to sign HB 962, Delegate Ben Cline’s bill that clarifies current law on being able to transport a loaded handgun in a closed, but not necessarily locked, compartment or container in a vehicle or vessel.

As you recall, the Governor changed HB 962 to require the loaded handgun be in a LOCKED compartment or container. VCDL members sent over 4,000 emails to the House of Delegates and that change was soundly rejected by the House (30-70), so the bill is back in front of the Governor in its original form.

Let’s flood the Governor with web mail.

Click here to bring up the web mail form for the Governor:

https://governor.virginia.gov/commonwealth/email-the-governor/

Suggested subject: Please sign HB 962 !

Suggested text:

Dear Governor McAuliffe,

As a fellow gun owner, you can appreciate the importance of a law being as clear as possible to avoid false arrests. HB 962 makes just such a clarification, as false arrests have indeed happened because the police misinterpreted the law as currently written.

Case law, an Attorney General’s opinion, and the legislative history all confirm that the current law does not require the compartment or container to be locked in a vehicle or vessel when transporting a handgun.

Please sign HB 962 so that the law on legally transporting handguns is crystal clear for everyone.



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***************************************************************************
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 human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org

I will email and keep this alive but I did receive a personal email, as many other VAGT members probably did as well, from Senator Miller (DEM) ;-( stating that he did not vote for HB 962, as children may be harmed by unsecured weapons…

My guess is that Gov. McAuliffe will also try to legislate in protection of the lowest common denominator, an idiot with a firearm and no common sense - essentially, a portion of his voter base…

I hope Virginia returns to a "red" state in 2016. We're crippled by about a dozen high density counties inhabited MOSTLY by idiots, but certainly not in entirety- there are some great folks still in there!

Thank you for keeping us informed with this thread.

You should reply to that moron and tell him that is why it is required to be in a "secure" compartment like a glovebox. Which if logically thought about, children do not necessarily have immediate or even easy access to.

Transporting a Firearm on your person is legal, wearing it on your person in a automobile is ???

With this law, My firearm would have to be locked in a container while I was operating an auto? What about Open carry on my person?

And what is the status of this law now?

GOVERNOR'S VETO



As passed by both houses, the bill provides that for the purposes of the exception, a concealed weapon may be “secured” in a container or compartment that is merely “closed but not necessarily locked.”



On March 3, 2014, I recommended three line amendments to this bill for the purpose of better ensuring the safety of Virginia’s law enforcement personnel and its citizens.



My recommended amendments would have limited the exception to the prohibition against carrying a concealed weapon while in a personal motor vehicle or vessel to only those instances when the weapon is in a locked container or compartment. On March 7, 2014, the House of Delegates rejected my recommended amendments and returned House Bill 962 to me.



I believe the bill as originally passed does not offer adequate protection to our citizens and law enforcement personnel and, accordingly, I veto this bill.