VA-ALERT: Legislative Update & Action Items! 1-27-08
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Van Cleave
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 3:08 PM
Subject: VA-ALERT: Legislative Update & Action Items! 1-27-08
1. URGENT ACTION ITEMS!
2. Bills heard last Friday
3. Excellent write-up on guns in General Assembly
4. Roanoke Times has hissy fit and is attacking Senators Edwards and
Reynolds - time to defend them!
************************************************
1. URGENT ACTION ITEMS!
************************************************
Monday there are two bills coming up the House Courts of Justice
Criminal subcommittee in the afternoon - one good and one bad - so we
must act NOW!
Delegate Jackson Miller's HB 436 needs to be OPPOSED. This bill
allows a police officer to arrest a person for any class 1 or class 2
misdemeanor *at will* instead of requiring the officer provide a
summons and only arrest under certain specific circumstances.
Vindictive police officers would have made sure that Chet Szymecki
spent the weekend in jail if this bill had been law in 2007.
Click on the link below to send a pre-written email to your Delegate:
http://tinyurl.com/33t32b
--
Delegate Bill Janis' s HB 710 needs to be SUPPORTED. This bill is a
"castle doctrine" bill that relieves a person of civil liability if he
has to defend himself in his home.
Click on the link below to send a pre-written email to your Delegate:
http://tinyurl.com/2vjxq5
--
Finally, it's time to tell the House that we want Delegate Gilbert's
restaurant ban repeal, HB 1544, TO BECOME LAW! (This is a matching
bill to Senator Hanger's SB 476):
http://tinyurl.com/29jcqf
************************************************
2. Bills heard last Friday
************************************************
Friday things went well for gun owners in the House Militia, Police
and Public Safety committee. The following bills were passed out of
committee and are on their way to the Floor:
HB 371, Delegate Carrico - This bill puts teeth in Virginia's
preemption laws by requiring a locality that has a preempted ordinance
and knowingly enforces that ordinance against an individual to pay all
of that individual's legal fees. HB 371 was passed with a huge
bipartisan vote! Only two Delegates voted that localitiies should be
allowed to violate the law with impunity: Jim Scott (surprise,
surprise) and Paula Miller (NRA C-?).
HB 529, Delegate Pogge - This bill allows you to pay $10 to get a new
permit with a change of address if you want one. It also says that
when you get your permit renewed, the effective date of the new permit
will begin on the date the old permit expires. There was a minor
change to the language that VCDL supported and the bill was passed
unanimously.
HB 873, Delegate Johnson - This bill clarifies that honorable
discharge papers from the military do not expire for use as training
when getting a CHP. This bill as originally written had a bad, and
unintentional, flaw. Delegate Johnson worked with VCDL to fix the
flaw and produced a good bill that should end abuses by the Circuit
Court in Washington County and other localities. The bill NOW makes
it clear that ALL proofs of training do NOT expire.
In the House Courts of Justice committee that afternoon, HB 815
(Delegate Albo's bill that original codified the Governor's Executive
Order 50, which takes away gun rights from those who are adjudicated
mentally ill) was modified and passed out of committee. VCDL had
worked with Delegates Albo, Bell, Janis, and Frahlin to make the bill
acceptable to gun owners by making it easier for a person to get his
rights restored once he is cured. It is also an improvement over
current law in that one does not lose one's rights at the moment the
Court issues a Temporary Detention Order, but only after the person
has been observed for 48-hours and the Court determines that the
person indeed needs mental health treatment.
************************************************
3. Excellent write-up on guns in General Assembly
************************************************
Of note in the article is a quote by a black Democratic Delegate:
“It’s [the presence of firearms in the Statehouse] reflective of all
of Virginia,” said Del. Kenny Alexander, D-Norfolk, who also has a
concealed weapon permit. “It’s not just rural white men.”
VCDL fully agrees. Here's the article:
http://tinyurl.com/256fcb
************************************************
4. Roanoke Times has hissy fit and is attacking Senators Edwards and
Reynolds - time to defend them!
************************************************
The Roanoke Times is beside itself...
VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org
-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Van Cleave
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 3:08 PM
Subject: VA-ALERT: Legislative Update & Action Items! 1-27-08
1. URGENT ACTION ITEMS!
2. Bills heard last Friday
3. Excellent write-up on guns in General Assembly
4. Roanoke Times has hissy fit and is attacking Senators Edwards and
Reynolds - time to defend them!
************************************************
1. URGENT ACTION ITEMS!
************************************************
Monday there are two bills coming up the House Courts of Justice
Criminal subcommittee in the afternoon - one good and one bad - so we
must act NOW!
Delegate Jackson Miller's HB 436 needs to be OPPOSED. This bill
allows a police officer to arrest a person for any class 1 or class 2
misdemeanor *at will* instead of requiring the officer provide a
summons and only arrest under certain specific circumstances.
Vindictive police officers would have made sure that Chet Szymecki
spent the weekend in jail if this bill had been law in 2007.
Click on the link below to send a pre-written email to your Delegate:
http://tinyurl.com/33t32b
--
Delegate Bill Janis' s HB 710 needs to be SUPPORTED. This bill is a
"castle doctrine" bill that relieves a person of civil liability if he
has to defend himself in his home.
Click on the link below to send a pre-written email to your Delegate:
http://tinyurl.com/2vjxq5
--
Finally, it's time to tell the House that we want Delegate Gilbert's
restaurant ban repeal, HB 1544, TO BECOME LAW! (This is a matching
bill to Senator Hanger's SB 476):
http://tinyurl.com/29jcqf
************************************************
2. Bills heard last Friday
************************************************
Friday things went well for gun owners in the House Militia, Police
and Public Safety committee. The following bills were passed out of
committee and are on their way to the Floor:
HB 371, Delegate Carrico - This bill puts teeth in Virginia's
preemption laws by requiring a locality that has a preempted ordinance
and knowingly enforces that ordinance against an individual to pay all
of that individual's legal fees. HB 371 was passed with a huge
bipartisan vote! Only two Delegates voted that localitiies should be
allowed to violate the law with impunity: Jim Scott (surprise,
surprise) and Paula Miller (NRA C-?).
HB 529, Delegate Pogge - This bill allows you to pay $10 to get a new
permit with a change of address if you want one. It also says that
when you get your permit renewed, the effective date of the new permit
will begin on the date the old permit expires. There was a minor
change to the language that VCDL supported and the bill was passed
unanimously.
HB 873, Delegate Johnson - This bill clarifies that honorable
discharge papers from the military do not expire for use as training
when getting a CHP. This bill as originally written had a bad, and
unintentional, flaw. Delegate Johnson worked with VCDL to fix the
flaw and produced a good bill that should end abuses by the Circuit
Court in Washington County and other localities. The bill NOW makes
it clear that ALL proofs of training do NOT expire.
In the House Courts of Justice committee that afternoon, HB 815
(Delegate Albo's bill that original codified the Governor's Executive
Order 50, which takes away gun rights from those who are adjudicated
mentally ill) was modified and passed out of committee. VCDL had
worked with Delegates Albo, Bell, Janis, and Frahlin to make the bill
acceptable to gun owners by making it easier for a person to get his
rights restored once he is cured. It is also an improvement over
current law in that one does not lose one's rights at the moment the
Court issues a Temporary Detention Order, but only after the person
has been observed for 48-hours and the Court determines that the
person indeed needs mental health treatment.
************************************************
3. Excellent write-up on guns in General Assembly
************************************************
Of note in the article is a quote by a black Democratic Delegate:
“It’s [the presence of firearms in the Statehouse] reflective of all
of Virginia,” said Del. Kenny Alexander, D-Norfolk, who also has a
concealed weapon permit. “It’s not just rural white men.”
VCDL fully agrees. Here's the article:
http://tinyurl.com/256fcb
************************************************
4. Roanoke Times has hissy fit and is attacking Senators Edwards and
Reynolds - time to defend them!
************************************************
The Roanoke Times is beside itself...
VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.
VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org