imported post
GWRedDragon wrote:
Carrying and entering a business with a sign indicating that you are not allowed to have a gun is a crime (if CC). You do not have to be asked to leave first.
Local agencies and governments are fully preempted from making any rules related to firearms, with the exception of jails. Courthouses, schools, and airport terminals are off-limits. CC is banned in restaurants with a license to serve alcohol, but OC in said establishments is legal. Non-students can carry on university campuses.
Tennessee and Virginia have carry permit reciprocity, so if you have a TN CCW permit you can legally carry concealed in VA.
The Virginia law authorizing you to carry a concealed weapon authorizes you to carry "a concealed handgun". Carry of more than one handgun at a time may or may not be illegal, and carry of knives is NOT preempted by the state so each city/county can have their own ordinances on it. A 'carry permit' in no way authorizes you to carry knives or other weapons (except a handgun) you couldn't otherwise carry. Rifles and shotguns cannot be carried concealed 'about the person' except when going to or from a shooting range and 'securely wrapped'. Keeping them in your trunk IIRC is not 'about the person', but keeping them in your back seat under a blanket might be.
The question I have--and I have looked at the VSP website regarding the Va. laws on carrying a firearm--Tennessee law is silent as to whether the firearm has to be CC or OC, which means we can carry either OC or CC. We do not have a "CHP", if you ever meet a Tennessee resident who is carrying--if they allow you to look at the permit it will simply say "Tennessee Handgun Carry Permit". Since OC and CC are both allowed in this state, and I know OC is allowed in Virginia--b the question I have is--since full reciprocity exists between Virginia and Tennessee can a Tn. resident who has a handgun permit (which TN. residents are required to have)--are we allowed to carry a firearm OC in the Commonwealth of Virginia, or must the firearm be carried concealed?
Now as to another important question:
Since I am an out of state person who would be carrying within the Commonwealth, and I know I am perhaps opening up a can of worms--but I want to know what the limits are for LEOs in the Commonwealth...so with that in mind--I apologize beforehand if I create any issues.
My next question: If approached by a LEO absent PC am I as an out of state visitor who is lawfully carrying a firearm--am I required to disarm if he tells me to do so? In Tn.--LEOs are allowed to disarm you anytime they feel like it, although the law requires an "reasonable belief" that disarming the person is necessary to the "protection of the officer, permit holder or other citizens" in order to justify the seizure of your firearm.....T.C.A 39-17-1351 (t). Of course here it all comes down to what constitutes a "reasonable belief", and since I have not been stopped yet--thankfully, I am unaware of just how many stops result in the temporary disarming of the individual.
Now, this begs the question--as a Tn. resident, if approached by a LEO and ordered to disarm, under what Virginia law or for what reasons may one disarm a person lawfully carrying a firearm? May one disarm you just because he/she feels like it?
I just want to know what my rights are as a visitor if my plans come together and I can come sightsee.