Would a Magistrate's office call under preemption? I frequently go to the magistrates' office for my job and they have a sign stating no weapons besides LE. Not sure if they fall under the same category as the courts.
IANAL, but I would believe so. The only issue I could see is if the Magistrate's office is somehow connected to the jail or detention facility. That is a bit of grey area that I am unsure of. In Norfolk, I know the magistrate's office is not part of the jail, but I am unsure of VAB.
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§ 15.2-915. Control of firearms; applicability to authorities and local governmental agencies.
A. No locality shall adopt or enforce any ordinance, resolution or motion, as permitted by § 15.2-1425, and no agent of such locality shall take any administrative action, governing the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying, storage or transporting of firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof other than those expressly authorized by statute. For purposes of this section, a statute that does not refer to firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof, shall not be construed to provide express authorization.
Nothing in this section shall prohibit a locality from adopting workplace rules relating to terms and conditions of employment of the workforce. However, no locality shall adopt any workplace rule, other than for the purposes of a community services board or behavioral health authority as defined in § 37.2-100, that prevents an employee of that locality from storing at that locality's workplace a lawfully possessed firearm and ammunition in a locked private motor vehicle. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a law-enforcement officer, as defined in § 9.1-101, from acting within the scope of his duties.
The provisions of this section applicable to a locality shall also apply to any authority or to a local governmental entity, including a department or agency, but
not including any local or regional jail, juvenile detention facility, or state-governed entity, department, or agency.
B. Any local ordinance, resolution or motion adopted prior to the effective date of this act governing the purchase, possession, transfer, ownership, carrying or transporting of firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof, other than those expressly authorized by statute, is invalid.
C. In addition to any other relief provided, the court may award reasonable attorney fees, expenses, and court costs to any person, group, or entity that prevails in an action challenging (i) an ordinance, resolution, or motion as being in conflict with this section or (ii) an administrative action taken in bad faith as being in conflict with this section.
D. For purposes of this section, "workplace" means "workplace of the locality."
From the vbgov.com:
"The Virginia Beach Magistrate Office is open twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center, Building 7C, across from the Harris-Teeter Shopping Center off Nimmo Parkway. A second office is located at the Second Police Precinct, 820 Virginia Beach Blvd., but that office is not always open."
From the looks of it, carry may be prohibited at BLDG 7C, but not at the 2nd Police Precinct.