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Tazewell Board of Supervisors considers allowing firearms in parks

possumboy

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http://bdtonline.com/local/x2310661...ervisors-considers-allowing-firearms-in-parks

"The county Board of Supervisors have set a public hearing for Tuesday at 7:50 p.m. on a proposed ordinance that would allow citizens with a concealed weapons permit to carry a firearm in county parks and recreation areas. The board’s agenda includes a possible adoption of the ordinance following the public hearing."

Am I missing something? What is special about these parks that they can:
1. Prevent Firearms from being carried
2. Only allow people with concealed weapons permit (I need to get me one of those, all I have is this Concealed Handgun Permit).

Anyone have any additional information on this?
 

TFred

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Funny! Someone is in for a rather rude awakening.

No commenting on the article that I could find... I dropped a note to the reporter. Maybe he will update the article with a few "facts"...

TFred
 

wylde007

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Violation of statutory law.

The "Board of Supervisors" needs to be made aware that their ordinance is unnecessary because their signs are illegal and unenforceable.
 

TFred

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Oh, and yes, I didn't answer your question, as wylde says, there is nothing "special"... the current ordinance is illegal, and exposes the county to reimbursement of litigation costs, should someone decide to sue them for correction.

I'm confident that this next meeting will have a slightly altered agenda, to remove the ordinance completely, with no substitute.

See code:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+15.2-915

TFred
 

peter nap

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http://bdtonline.com/local/x2310661...ervisors-considers-allowing-firearms-in-parks

"The county Board of Supervisors have set a public hearing for Tuesday at 7:50 p.m. on a proposed ordinance that would allow citizens with a concealed weapons permit to carry a firearm in county parks and recreation areas. The board’s agenda includes a possible adoption of the ordinance following the public hearing."

Am I missing something? What is special about these parks that they can:
1. Prevent Firearms from being carried
2. Only allow people with concealed weapons permit (I need to get me one of those, all I have is this Concealed Handgun Permit).

Anyone have any additional information on this?

If no one else jumps on this, I will after I get back from hunting next week.
 

jmelvin

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Possumboy give a friendly call to the Tazewell County Attorney and let him know that any ordinance passed or already existing on the books that attempts to regulate handgun carry is void per Virginia Legislative Code Section 15.2-915. Hopefully the attorney will be cordial and take the instruction in a thankful manner and advise the county of any potential existing errors.

Some of us in Campbell County (near Lynchburg) just recently ran into a situation where Campbell County park signage indicated a blanket restriction on carrying weapons in the parks. When Jero1987 (also a local) found the sign and posted about it here, I found the county attorney info, contacted him and within a day of contacting his office he called me back agreeing that the county was in error and he stated that the county had begun to remove and replace the signs to meet the law. From all I have seen the signs have been removed and I don't yet know if new ones are in place.

If you know of existing county ordinances that attempt to ignore 15.2-915 then you could also contact the local Commonwealth Attorney's office as his / her office is responsible for the enforcement of state law in the local area.
 

jmelvin

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The Tazewell County Code of Ordinances Section that is in violation is Section 14-32(1):

"It is hereby declared to be unlawful for any person to do any of the acts set forth in this section within the limits of the facilities and lands located within any public park or parkway or lands used by the county for related purposes within the limits of the county:
(1) To carry or discharge any firearms, firecrackers, rockets, torpedoes or fireworks of any kind without written consent of the administrator, with the exception of duly authorized law enforcement officials on official duty."

http://library1.municode.com/default-test/home.htm?infobase=12360&doc_action=whatsnew
 
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wylde007

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I sent an email to the Editor and Newsroom at the BDT. Hopefully they will review their "reporting" and inform the Board that they may have overstepped their bounds.
 

jmelvin

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*This may be old: Tazewell County Attorney: Eric Young ( eyoung@tazewellcounty.org )
Phone: 276-988-1202

Tazewell County Administrators: http://www.tazewellcounty.org/Coadm.html

James H. Spencer III

jspencer@tazewellcounty.org

108 E. Main St
Tazewell, VA 24651
Voice: 276-988-1202
Fax: 276-988-4246

Commonwealth Attorney

Dennis H. Lee

tazzatt01@adelphia.net

PO Box 946
Tazewell , VA 24651
Voice: 276-988-1240
Fax: 276-988-5165

Duties of Office: The commonwealth's attorney is primarily responsible for matters involving enforcement of the criminal law within the county. The commonwealth's attorney salary is paid by the county and reimbursed by the state.
 
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TFred

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Just remember folks... they've been informed, this isn't a poll or a vote. More noise will not make them your friends.

We've yet to see (as far as I can recall) a location that openly defies the preemption code, especially since it's been given teeth.

IMHO, there is no need for anyone to further contact these folks about this, unless any further developments would warrant.

TFred
 

peter nap

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Just remember folks... they've been informed, this isn't a poll or a vote. More noise will not make them your friends.

We've yet to see (as far as I can recall) a location that openly defies the preemption code, especially since it's been given teeth.

IMHO, there is no need for anyone to further contact these folks about this, unless any further developments would warrant.

TFred


+2
 

jmelvin

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Who has contacted them? All I see here is information on who to contact, and wylde having contacted the editor. I don't see anything that indicated that anyone who is in the county government has been contacted.

Do you guys have info from possumboy stating that he's made the connection?
 
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VApatriot

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Just remember folks... they've been informed, this isn't a poll or a vote. More noise will not make them your friends.

We've yet to see (as far as I can recall) a location that openly defies the preemption code, especially since it's been given teeth.

IMHO, there is no need for anyone to further contact these folks about this, unless any further developments would warrant.

TFred

We don't need them to be our friends in this case; we need them to quickly come into compliance with the law. Contact from mulitple people, and follow up contact by those individuals, will help to ensure that the proper action is taken in a timely fashion.
 

TFred

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First, yes we do want them to be our friends.

These are not anti-gun people, these are public servants trying to do their job as best they can. This is an issue of education, not persuasion, and certainly not of threatening consequences. Save the mass-response for when it will help, don't use it when it could hurt. Contact from multiple people, who know that they have already been contacted and are working the issue, will just pi** them off, and make them think we are jerks.

Now I am very confused. Possumboy is the OP and he asked questions. Then later, jmelvin posted a statement saying that possumboy had contacted their attorney, but then later yet, asked who has contacted them? This doesn't make any sense, can we get come clarification?

ETA: Ok, I see where I read wrong... jmelvin was suggesting that possumboy should give a call to the attorney... not that he had already done it. That would be a good suggestion... and still far better than flooding the phones with multiple reports.

TFred
 
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peter nap

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First, yes we do want them to be our friends.

These are not anti-gun people, these are public servants trying to do their job as best they can. This is an issue of education, not persuasion, and certainly not of threatening consequences. Save the mass-response for when it will help, don't use it when it could hurt. Contact from multiple people, who know that they have already been contacted and are working the issue, will just pi** them off, and make them think we are jerks.

Now I am very confused. Possumboy is the OP and he asked questions. Then later, jmelvin posted a statement saying that possumboy had contacted their attorney, but then later yet, asked who has contacted them? This doesn't make any sense, can we get come clarification?

TFred

Tazwell is a very rural area. Like most rural places in Va, almost everyone has a gun and carries it. In many cases it is a long gun and they don't carry it in public places as a rule.

The local governments have Ordinances that go back to the 1800's when it was considered rude to carry or shoot guns in town or public areas.

Many just don't know about preemption.

Multiple calls from outsiders is looked on as meddling and I can understand it.

One or two calls or emails to the County Attorney should take care of it without raising too many hackless.
 
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IanB

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Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh..............

I love the smell of gun activism in the morning. You guys appear to be doing a bang-up job here, keep it up. I'm sure once the town lawyer sees the appropriate code they (the council) will be writing up completely different language for thier new law.
 

wylde007

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I'm sure once the town lawyer sees the appropriate code they (the council) will be writing up completely different language for their new law.
Or determining that no law is necessary since no law that could conceive, discuss, submit, vote on or enact regarding lawful carry of firearms would be valid anyway.
 

possumboy

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I'm from Russell County, found this because of the mention of the Southwest Virginia Community College reference.

I spent a lot of time in Tazwell growing up. I live in NOVA now and was just wondering if any of the current "locals" had any ideas on this.

I can contact them about it, but knowing the area, I think it would be handled better by someone down there politely pointing out preemption. Most down there will do what is best for the community, and opening the county up for a law suit if it is enforced, is not what is best.

Or, maybe I just have sugar coated memories of the people where I grew up.

Tazwell is a very rural area. Like most rural places in Va, almost everyone has a gun and carries it. In many cases it is a long gun and they don't carry it in public places as a rule.

The local governments have Ordinances that go back to the 1800's when it was considered rude to carry or shoot guns in town or public areas.

Many just don't know about preemption.

Multiple calls from outsiders is looked on as meddling and I can understand it.

One or two calls or emails to the County Attorney should take care of it without raising too many hackless.
 

jmelvin

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I sent an e-mail to the County Administrator this morning and attempted to copy the Commonwealth Attorney, but the e-mail for the CA did not work. Hopefully this will get resolved quickly.

*I tried calling the phone number for the County Attorney that I listed above, but when the voicemail picked up it was for someone with another name so I didn't leave a message. I have as of yet, been unable to determine who is the County Attorney, but at least the County Administrator has been kindly notified.
 
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jmelvin

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I just got off of the phone with Mr. Seth White, the Tazewell County Board of Supervisor's Northwestern District Supervisor who had some questions for me on how to bring the county into county compliance with the state law. He mentioned that in his view the current county restriction was unconstitutional and his suggestion to allow for at least concealed carry would make the situation at least better than it is. I explained that what the county really needed to do was get rid of the wording banning the carrying of firearms in the code altogether, because the county no longer had the authority to enforce more than state law allowed and further explained that if the county attempted to enforce the county code provisions it would put itself in jeopardy of violating state code and intruding on peoples' civil rights. Mr. White thanked me for my input and shared with me that he wanted to do what was right for the people and further shared that he had been working with the leaders of the local community college to drop their ban on the carrying of handguns for personal protection as well. I then put in a few good words for the VCDL and when he noted that he was unfamiliar with the organization but was an NRA member I further encouraged him to get to know the group as it was very effective getting good firearm laws here in the Commonwealth.

Mr. White indicated that he would talk further with the County Board and the County Attorney and recommend that the county strike the invalid wording from their codes. All in all I believe Mr. White to be a friend to those of us who understand both the state and federal constitutions and an asset to those who believe in arms for self protection. I look forward to hearing that the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors does the right thing!
 
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