imported post
Despite the non-threatening and common sense nature of this particular bill, it was one of the half a dozen or so that were killed in the
"Sasslaw Slaughter of 2010", where Sasslaw and Marsh purposely violated the Virginia Senate rules to kill a handful of what they perceived to be pro-gun bills without due legislative process.
In the most recent VCDL VA-ALERT Newsletter, one of the cited articles mentions cases of Texas Concealed Handgun Permits being revoked, primarily for the "crime" of carrying a handgun without having the permit with the carrier.
That is exactly what HB-52 was designed to prevent.
I'm hoping that Delegate Cole will introduce it again next year, and every year until this joke of a Democrat controlled Senate are tossed out on their ... you know whats.
See bold text near the end of the article below.
TFred
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12. EDITORIAL: Guns in the saloon
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Actually, this article uses "saloon" in the title, but is pro-gun - pretty rare:
http://tinyurl.com/yfgwb2g
http://www.washingtontimes.com
EDITORIAL: Guns in the saloon
Virginians have a right to defend themselves
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Someone who is drunk shouldn't be handling a gun, but that doesn't
justify a ban on concealed carrying in all places that serve alcohol.
On Tuesday, the Virginia House of Delegates joined the state Senate
and voted 72-to-27 to overturn this ban. Gov. Robert F. McDonnell's
signature is all that stands in the way of getting rid of this
dangerous restriction.
Over the past two decades, a sweeping wave of freedom has allowed more
citizens to carry concealed handguns. States have realized that there
is little reason to restrict the carrying of concealed handguns by
those who have received permits. Forty states currently allow
concealed handguns to be carried in places that serve alcohol. None of
the states that have allowed this freedom has cause to reverse the
decision.
The facts are clear. Despite misleading claims to the contrary by the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Violence Policy Center,
permit holders are law-abiding individuals who are extremely careful
with their guns. This general rule applies in states that allow
concealed handguns in bars. Permit holders simply haven't been getting
liquored up and harming others through irresponsible conduct. Virginia
hasn't had any problem with open carry in restaurants, so it's hard to
understand why anyone thinks there could be a problem with concealed
handguns.
Take Florida and Texas, two states that allow concealed handguns in
bars. Between Oct. 1, 1987, and Jan. 31, 2010, Florida issued permits
to more than 1.7 million people. Only 167 have had their permits
revoked for any firearms-related violations. That is a minuscule
0.0098 percent revocation rate. The vast majority of those revocations
were not for violence, but merely for accidentally carrying a gun into
a gun-free zone. During the past 16 months, there was only one
incident involving a firearms-related violation.
The numbers are similar in Texas. Over the five years from 2002 to
2006, the average rate at which permit holders were convicted of a
misdemeanor or a felony was 0.04 percent.
In 2006, the most frequent
reason for revocation involved permit holders carrying a concealed
handgun without keeping their licenses on them. The forthcoming third
edition of "More Guns, Less Crime" shows that in other right-to-carry
states, permit holders are just as law-abiding. That book finds no
evidence that revocation rates are any higher in states that allow
permitted handguns in taverns.
What gun prohibitions do is create dangerous gun-free zones - places
where criminals intent on harming others feel confident they can
commit crimes with impunity. A criminal who takes his gun into a
gun-free zone knows that the good law-abiding citizens, his victims,
are sitting ducks. A government that maintains laws like that is not
looking after the interests of its citizens.
It's past time for the commonwealth to take aim at counterproductive
laws that endanger Virginians. With a flick of his pen, Mr. McDonnell
can correct this problem and modernize Virginia's right-to-carry law.
