imported post
An AG opinion is powerful, but it's not a law. OC in state parks at your own risk. I'll pass.
As for DGIF and preemption, preemption does not apply to the state code and administrative code.
This DGIF crap is something I've been trying to get a handle on for a long time. It's rediculous that we can OC in downtown Arlington but not in the middle of GW Natl. Forest 20 miles from the nearest town.
For whatever reason this issue has not recieved the full weight of Virginia's defense rights activists, probably because there are bigger fish to fry, and the fact that even among gunowners the prohibition on OC isn't very well-known. How many of you have OC'd in the woods and didn't know you were in violation of some silly reg? (Don't anwer that!)
I've never heard of anyone getting into trouble for OC'ing in the Natl. Forests, but that's not the point. As long as that reg exists we have to work to get rid of it and make OC as protected as CC for hikers and other outdoorsmen. If you've ever tried to CC while hiking on a warm day with shorts and a T-shirt while wearing a 40 lb pack on your pack you know how stupid this rule is.
I went to a DGIF hearing a couple of years ago to speak about this issue. PVC and one other VCDL member were there. The rest of the room was filled with country folk who were speaking about some new rule concerning deer hunting with dogs or some bullcrap. And I mean ALOT of guys, had to be well over a hundred!
Very few of whom seemed to give a crap about anything other than hunting.
And that's why we are stuck with these stupid regulations. Imagine if we could mobilize those kinds of numbers to show up and let DGIF know the rule's got to go. We even have an AG opinion to back us up.