NOVA among the worst for FOIA, police transparency

Law enforcement officials from across the state on Tuesday called for stricter background checks to make it more difficult for criminals to obtain firearms if they are prohibited by law from having guns.

"This is not about infringing on people's right to own guns, purchase guns, sell guns," Fairfax City Police Chief Richard J. Rappoport said. "Law enforcement and lawmakers ought to sit down and try to figure out how we can regulate that in a way that keeps guns out of the hands of dangerous people."

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Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights organization, countered that people should be able to meet and sell guns just as they would sell anything else online at sites such as Craigslist.com.

"Are they going to get rid of Craigslist? Of course not. They're just going to pick on guns," Van Cleave said.

He also opposes a federal law closing the so-called loophole, which he said is not a loophole but something legislators carved out from background-check requirements.

"That will not do anything to slow down crime," Van Cleave said. "We don't want guns registered in Virginia. It is not the government's business to know how many guns you have."

Dana Schrad, executive director of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, said any federal law that would strengthen background checks should include exemptions allowing, for example, someone to will a gun to a family member without a check.

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Repeater said:

Schrad is in the news about stricter background checks:
Law enforcement officials back closing 'gun-show loophole'
Still, she wants more regulation of gun owners and purchasers, while demanding a broad FOIA exemption for the police.

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peter nap said:

I had planned on being there but had a scheduling conflict....Hopefully I'll still make it and video the meeting.

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Back in March, Virginia received a failing grade from the State Integrity Investigation as the result of a systematic lack of transparency. Last week, members of a subcommittee of the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council gathered to see if there was any way to reconcile the concerns of law enforcement officials and advocates of public access.

The debate fell in to a familiar pattern, with members of the press supporting more access to criminal investigative documents while prosecutors and police chiefs resisted any attempt to increase transparency. The meeting adjourned with no action, which means that members of the General Assembly will likely be unwilling to support legislation that the advisory council won’t endorse.

“The General Assembly has been very reluctant to ever see the access community’s side of it,” said Ginger Stanley, executive director of the Virginia Press Association. “We deal with this every year, and that’s why we hoped that the FOIA Council could help us through this process.”

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Investigations never close,” said Mike Doucette, president-elect of the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys. “We always have an obligation to go forward, and if we learn of information that we may have prosecuted the wrong person, at that point in time we have to reopen and continue that investigation.”

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