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VA-ALERT: Legislative Update 2/6/09

fairfax1

Newbie
Joined
Oct 3, 2006
Messages
245
Location
Fairfax, Virginia, USA
imported post

******************************************
1. Gun bill status
******************************************

Gun Bills Advancing in House

This morning the Militia, Police, and Public Safety committee voted
the following bills out of committee:

HB 1655, Delegate Carrico, would put teeth in firearms preemption law

Voting pro-gun:

Sherwood, Griffith, Kilgore, Wright, Carrico, Lingamfelter, Nutter,
Athey, Janis, Cline, Gilbert, Poindexter, Merricks, Barlow, Shuler,
Lewis, Miller, P.J., Tyler, Bowling

Voting anti-gun:

Scott, J.M., Poisson, Herring

-

HB 1851, Delegate Lingamfelter, would exempt active duty military from
One Handgun A Month

Voting pro-gun:

Sherwood, Griffith, Kilgore, Wright, Carrico, Lingamfelter, Nutter,
Athey, Janis, Cline, Gilbert, Poindexter, Merricks, Barlow, Shuler,
Lewis, Miller, P.J., Tyler, Bowling

Voting anti-gun:

Scott, J.M., Poisson, Herring

-

HB 2528, Delegate Cole, would require localities to sell guns bought
from a "gun buy-up" to FFLs

Voting pro-gun:

Sherwood, Griffith, Kilgore, Wright, Carrico, Lingamfelter, Nutter,
Athey, Janis, Cline, Gilbert, Poindexter, Merricks, Barlow, Shuler,
Lewis, Miller, P.J., Bowling

Voting anti-gun:

Scott, J.M., Poisson, Tyler, Herring

-

HB 2144, Delegate Nutter, would keep the Virginia State Police from
providing personal information on CHP holders. This bill STILL allows
courts to release that same information for a local area. We will
continue to fight to make this bill include courts if it gets to the
Senate.

-

HB 2178, Delegate E.T. Scott, would make it a crime for a convicted
felon to have ammunition in his possession. Bill was changed to
reduce the penalty from a felony to a class 1 misdemeanor. It also
was changed to exempt ammo used in antique firearms. We continue to
oppose this bill as it applies to even non-violent felons who have
been clean for years.

-

Bill that has cleared committee and is on the House Floor:

HB 2136, Delegate Jackson Miller, would allow police to arrest someone
at will for a class 1 or class 2 misdemeanor passed House and goes to
Senate now. We will fight it in Senate.

-

Bill that has passed the Senate and headed to the House:

HB 1254, Senator Marsh, requires out of state permits to be presented
with yet another photo ID. We will fight this in the House.

-

Bills that cleared committee and are on the Senate Floor:

HB 1166, Senator Watkins, raises background check tax on guns from $2
to $5. If this passes the Senate, we will fight this in the House.
SB 1383, Senator Stolle, repeals Virginia's silence law since the list
of registered silencer owners is controlled by the federal government
and Virginia can't enforce that law
SB 1431, Senator Cuccinelli, would keep Virginia from participating in
REAL ID act

-

Bill that cleared subcommittee and is going to full committee in the
Senate:

SB 1513, Senator Smith, would put teeth in firearms preemption law
(same as Delegate Carrico's HB 1655)

-

Speaker Howell has raised his magic wand and the following bills are
going to disappear into thin air in the House, never to be seen
again
. Four pro-gun bills and one anti-gun bill:

HB 1656, Delegate Bob Marshall, would allow full-time faculty members
at state institutions of higher learning to carry a concealed handgun
on campus if they have a CHP
HB 1734, Delegate Pogge, cleanup bill on CHP items
HB 1821, Delegate Johnson, restaurant ban repeal
HB 1822, Delegate Johnson, would allow CHP holders to carry on K-12
school property
HB 2631, Delegate Caputo, would require private sales at gun shows in
Fairfax County go through a dealer
 

profile

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Joined
Dec 17, 2008
Messages
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Location
Manassas, Virginia, USA
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Thank you for your e-mail in opposition to HB 2136.

I wanted to let you know that I voted in favor of HB 2136 and to tell you
why.

Prior to a Supreme Court decision in 2006 the law to allowed police
officers to arrest for misdemenors and they typically only did so in
certain circumstances. The court decision still allows them to arrest for
certain circumstances surrounding misdemenors but has left thm in a bad
position in certain other situations. For example if a witness tells an
officer that he has seen an offense take place the officer can arrest the
offender for that misdemenor but if the officer witnesses the offense
he/she cannot arrest the person for the same offense.

There are certain misdemenors that certainly warrant arrest but officers
cannot arrest for if they witness, these include, trespass, assault, sexual
battery, indecent exposure and peeping. This prohibits officers from
arresting know drug dealers for trespassing on housing authority property
from which they have been banned and arresting known shoplifters who are
trespassing on retail property from which they have been banned. Now
officers must issue a summons even in assault and trespass cases and in
most cases the summons is ignored allowing misdemeanants to escape justice.
It also keeps officers from making arrests even is situations where they
might be able to because of fear of being accused of unlawful arrest. This
means more criminals roaming the streets.

I do not believe that this legislation is in any way meant to target law
abiding citizens. It is merely intended to allow officers the right of
arrest that they had in certain misdemenor cases until 3 years ago.

I hope this information helps you understand why I voted for this
legislation. If you have any further questions or concerns please let me
know.

Sincerely,

Delegate Bob Marshall

RGM/ccg
 

Tess

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2006
Messages
3,837
Location
Bryan, TX
imported post

profile wrote:
Thank you for your e-mail in opposition to HB 2136.

I wanted to let you know that I voted in favor of HB 2136 and to tell you
why.

Prior to a Supreme Court decision in 2006 the law to allowed police
officers to arrest for misdemenors and they typically only did so in
certain circumstances. The court decision still allows them to arrest for
certain circumstances surrounding misdemenors but has left thm in a bad
position in certain other situations. For example if a witness tells an
officer that he has seen an offense take place the officer can arrest the
offender for that misdemenor but if the officer witnesses the offense
he/she cannot arrest the person for the same offense.

There are certain misdemenors that certainly warrant arrest but officers
cannot arrest for if they witness, these include, trespass, assault, sexual
battery, indecent exposure and peeping. This prohibits officers from
arresting know drug dealers for trespassing on housing authority property
from which they have been banned and arresting known shoplifters who are
trespassing on retail property from which they have been banned. Now
officers must issue a summons even in assault and trespass cases and in
most cases the summons is ignored allowing misdemeanants to escape justice.
It also keeps officers from making arrests even is situations where they
might be able to because of fear of being accused of unlawful arrest. This
means more criminals roaming the streets.

I do not believe that this legislation is in any way meant to target law
abiding citizens. It is merely intended to allow officers the right of
arrest that they had in certain misdemenor cases until 3 years ago.

I hope this information helps you understand why I voted for this
legislation. If you have any further questions or concerns please let me
know.

Sincerely,

Delegate Bob Marshall

RGM/ccg
Is that really how he spells "misdemenor"??? Maybe "ccg" needs to find a dictionary?
 

Repeater

Regular Member
Joined
Nov 5, 2007
Messages
2,498
Location
Richmond, Virginia, USA
imported post

profile wrote:
Thank you for your e-mail in opposition to HB 2136.

Now officers must issue a summons even in assault and trespass cases and in most cases the summons is ignored allowing misdemeanants to escape justice. It also keeps officers from making arrests even is situations where they might be able to because of fear of being accused of unlawful arrest. This means more criminals roaming the streets.

I hope this information helps you understand why I voted for this legislation. If you have any further questions or concerns please let me know.

Sincerely,

Delegate Bob Marshall

RGM/ccg

How does he know that? That statement: "in most cases the summons is ignored allowing misdemeanants to escape justice" is BS from Miller.

Shame on Bob for saying something that is unsubstantiated.
 

W.E.G.

Newbie
Joined
Oct 7, 2007
Messages
503
Location
all over VA, ,
imported post

...in most cases the summons is ignored allowing misdemeanants to escape justice.

WOW!

That is a completely inaccurate statement. I have been involved, in my professional capacity, in all the sorts of Virginia cases mentioned. In the vast majority of those cases the accused "misdemeanant" (yes... that is really a word) DOES show up for court. I would estimate the Failure To Appear on a summons percentage at being less than 10% for certain, and probably less than 5%.

The guy is CLEARLY just making up numbers.
 
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