Governor to BAN OC in Executive Branch Buildings

[Grapeshot]

And then 5 minutes after repealing the gov's attack on RKBA, rein in his ability to exercise nearly so much authority via unilateral executive action.

Elections have consequences. But no single person should be permitted to exercise so much power when it comes to something like RKBA. Determining which rare venues or situations actually warrant limitations on private possession of arms should require nothing less than the full legislative debate process....ideally, some day with even that limited by strict judicial scrutiny.

Best of luck.

Charles

Caucuses and selection committees have consequences too. That's where the early work needs to start - before the elections.

Preemption is being circumvented and I'm not at all convinced legally.

 

[wrearick]

Maybe next time I need to go the to DMV I put in a call to the state police to have a trooper meet me and stay with me while I conduct my business. I "feel" threatened and unsafe being forced to go to such a place without the ability to protect myself and as the governor said numerous times in his order, I have a "right" to "feel" safe.

 

[peter nap]

It isn't that the legislators can't figure it out - that's not the problem.

The House of Delegates might well pass a bill reversing McAwful's EO50. Such a bill might squeak through the Senate. Then the Terry McA** would just veto it and there isn't a large enough margin in the Senate to override his veto.

We need to take a broom to the Senate!

Exactly!
Until that time though, it's damage control which will be worse than an uphill battle with a broken leg.

 

[Repeater]

I cruised by my local ABC store in Windsor yesterday. No gunbuster signs in sight. Perhaps there was a delay in delivering or posting the sign, of the manager "lost" it.

It appears some are suggesting Virginia privatize the ABC:

VA ABC Goes Gun-Free Under McAuliffe, Privatization Resurrected as VCDL Fights

As the holidays approach and merrymaking awaits, gun owners across the Commonwealth will find themselves grinched as they shop for libations in Virginia’s newly gun-free ABC Stores.

Though all Virginia’s ABC Stores became gun-free following the implementation of Governor McAuliffe’s Executive Order 50, reports from across the Commonwealth indicate ABC’s retail locations have begun greeting patrons with McAuliffe’s gun-free zone signs within the last week.

...

McAuliffe’s action utterly lacks constructive purpose and does precisely nothing to make Virginians any safer.

On the contrary, declaring liquor stores to be gun-free zones only waves a red cape in front of firearm-packing felons, sending a clear message that Virginia’s liquor stores are open for robbery and will not offer any deterrent to attempts at violent banditry.

In rolling out the red carpet for liquor store robbers, McAuliffe’s executive overreach has directly made ABC’s patrons and employees less safe.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a state-specific gun rights group has already pledged to fight McAuliffe’s executive overreach in the Commonwealth’s upcoming 2016 legislative session.

“The Governor has overstepped his bounds and is creating law,” said VCDL President Philip Van Cleave, in a statement to Bearing Drift. “The General Assembly never created a statute to ban guns in state agency buildings, even though they could have done so countless times over the years.”

As a day-to-day irritant, these signs will serve as an ongoing reminder of McAuliffe’s executive action as well as a call to action among Virginia’s gun owners.

While VCDL President Van Cleave stopped short of calling for a boycott of ABC, which he believes would be ineffective in persuading McAuliffe to reverse course, he did signal openness to the privatization of the Commonwealth’s statutory monopoly on the retail sale of distilled spirits if EO50 should fail to be overturned by the legislature and ABC Stores continue excluding Virginia’s law-abiding gun owners.

 

[utbagpiper]

Caucuses and selection committees have consequences too. That's where the early work needs to start - before the elections.

Completely agreed. Help select the right candidates early in the process and the general election is so much better.

Plus, the earlier the process the more power every vote has. In my State's process I am one vote in about 1 million during the general election in Statewide races. But I might be 1 vote in 100k during the primary. And if I can get elected a delegate to my party's convention, I am one vote in 5,000.

My voting power is magnified 3 orders of magnitude by being involved early in the process. That is true for every other voter involved early who I may be able to influence. If I can influence 10 other voters, those 10 votes are worth a lot more in convention or primary than they are in the general election.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance and that includes putting in some work and effort each election season, along with during legislative sessions.

Best of luck to you in correcting your personnel problems this next election. Fortunately, in many cases, you only have to remove some portion of the bad apples in order to remind the others that they'd rather change their vote than lose their seat. But some number do have to be defeated.

Charles

 

[marshaul]

Went to an ABC today. It wasn't posted. Nothing was said.

 

[scooter348]

Cruised into a rest area on I-95 in Virginia between Emporia and Petersburg yesterday. No signs prohibiting anything except smoking and pets (excluding service animals). Are these buildings exempt or has McAwful's communist manifesto just not reached down there yet?

 

[jmelvin]

It would seem to me that holding off on court challenges could play very badly for all of us. All it will take is for someone who seeks to challenge this thing on their own by fighting a trespassing charge and you'll have the start to your potentially bad outcomes. The person who decides to take this on, may be of like mind to DiGiacinto and not be interested in input from the likes of the NRA or VCDL (assuming they've even heard of it or care one whit about it). As a result, the risks of not acting, when a court action could reasonably be brought, are not just associated with waiting out the governor, or getting a bad judgment despite excellent scholarly disputes, but the risks may also come through parties not nearly as well prepared as VCDL, NRA, or another major group. We now live with the ruling of DiGiacinto v. Rectors of GMU due to just such a case.

 

[Tosta Dojen]

It's classified as "Emergency/NOIRA" which means that a permanent regulation is being proposed to replace the "emergency" regulation when the latter expires in no more than 18 months. The permanent regulation is subject to the standard rulemaking process, including a public comment period

An update on this part: the permanent regulation has been proposed and is working its way through the regulatory process. As of now it's already been certified by the Attorney General and is undergoing DPB review. The Agency statement has a summary of the changes from the 'Emergency' version.

The Agency statement also has this to say about the public comments we put in:

Commenter	Comment	Agency response
4,454 commenters	Various	Many of the comments were off-topic; the agency has reviewed the remaining comments and made changes as appropriate

 

[Va_Nemo]

Seems your cite goes somewhere other than your post subject. You note OC, this deals with CC.

Nemo

From the link under the has been proposed in your post.

Agency
Department of General Services

Board
Department of General Services

chapter
Regulations Banning Concealed Firearms in Offices Occupied by Executive Branch Agencies [1 VAC 30 ‑ 105]

Action:
Promulgation of new regulation banning concealed firearms in executive branch ...
Action 4474 / Stage 7579
Proposed Stage [navigate to other stages]
Documents
red ball Proposed Text 7/5/2016 12:05 pm

AND FROM THE PROPOSED TEXT LINK FROM YOUR CITE ABOVE

CHAPTER 105
REGULATIONS BANNING CONCEALED FIREARMS IN OFFICES OWNED OR OCCUPIED BY EXECUTIVE BRANCH AGENCIES

1VAC30-105-10. Purpose.

The purpose of these regulations is to ban the carrying of concealed firearms in offices occupied by executive branch agencies, with certain exceptions as set forth herein.

 

[Tosta Dojen]

Seems your cite goes somewhere other than your post subject. You note OC, this deals with CC.

There is no such contradiction in my post. I didn't even put a "post subject." If you're referring to the title of the thread, that was composed several months ago, by somebody else, when Executive Order 50 was first promulgated, and its full impact and intended implementation weren't immediately clear.

Since then, we've discussed both portions of the executive order. I previously posted about DGS Directive 16, which addresses open carry, and I've also posted about 1VAC30-105, the regulation that addresses concealed carry. Today I'm talking about the latter, because there's new information to report.

I'm posting that information because I believe it's of interest to concerned citizens who want to know what their government is doing, because I think it deserves more attention than it'll get buried on a government website, and because I understand that most other people aren't going to do the legwork of trawling the bureaucratic filings themselves.

You're welcome, by the way.

If I find out anything new about the prohibition on open carry, I'll report it, but it looks to me like that one's done. In the meantime, there's movement on the concealed carry prohibition that you might want to know about. There will be a public comment period at some point, as well as a public hearing, if they adhere to their own regulations.

 

[wrearick]

Thank you for posting this information Tosta Dojen. Please keep getting the word out. It is important and good to know, especially if we can influence our reps/senators before they vote

 

[Tosta Dojen]

It's classified as "Emergency/NOIRA" which means that a permanent regulation is being proposed to replace the "emergency" regulation when the latter expires in no more than 18 months.

Further updates: the permanent regulation made it through DPB review, and the Governor gave his approval. It's been submitted to the Registrar and is scheduled for publication on August 22. A public comment period will be opened on the same date, and comments will be accepted for 60 days. At present there is no indication of when or where a public hearing will be held.

The most informative document published since my last report is the DPB Economic Impact Analysis. I thought this part was very interesting:

The proposed regulation prohibits concealed weapons from being carried into executive branch buildings. Based on comments submitted during the comment period following the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action for the permanent replacement regulation, many concealed carry permit holders perceive the ban as being adverse to their right to carry arms. However, since it is not known how many of these individuals would be directly impacted (e.g., wanting to enter a state building carrying their weapon), this potential adverse impact cannot be quantified as an adverse economic impact.

DPB is claiming that it can't tell from reading our public comments whether or not we're impacted by the proposed regulation.

This part is also especially worth reading:

The intended goal of the proposed regulation is to reduce or prevent gun violence in executive branch buildings. Assessing the benefits versus costs of the proposed regulation essentially requires an assessment of the impact of the proposed ban. [...]

To date, data on gun violence in government office buildings reflects statistically low incident rates given that many individuals pass in and out of state office buildings each day. Any estimate of the likelihood of an attack or its potential impact based on the small sample size of available data would be subject to great uncertainty. [...]

In addition, there is no available data of past incidents of guns entering or being brandished within affected executive branch buildings in Virginia. Thus, any impact of the proposed ban cannot be ascertained due to lack of data.

That's a pretty stark admission that they have no idea if this ban will achieve their goal.

 

[Grapeshot]

--snipped--

That's a pretty stark admission that they have no idea if this ban will achieve their goal.

It may not "achieve their goal" but it would be another step in that direction = disarming the people.

 

[TFred]

That's a pretty stark admission that they have no idea if this ban will achieve their goal.

You are assuming that their stated goal is their actual goal. I would suggest it is not, and that their actual goal, the further restriction of the right to keep and bear arms, as well as the further stigmatization of it in the public view, will be quite well achieved by this order.

What they are admitting is that the government has no compelling interest in issuing this order which indisputably restricts the right to keep and bear arms. The courts have always held that there must be a compelling interest for the government to restrict fundamental rights, and these statements literally make the case for the plaintiff in any future litigation on this matter.

TFred

 

[Tosta Dojen]

Public Hearing to Gather Comments on Proposed Permanent Regulations Banning Concealed Firearms in Executive Branch Offices

A hearing to gather comments will be held on August 31, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Pocahontas Building located at 900 E, Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Seating/access will be provided on a first-come basis. Anyone who wishes to speak at the public hearing must sign up at the event. Sign-up begins at 9:00 a.m., and speakers will be called in the order in which they signed up. There is no pre-registration. All speakers are limited to two minutes. All persons and bags are subject to search prior to entering the auditorium. No signage will be allowed.

 

[Grapeshot]

Public Hearing to Gather Comments on Proposed Permanent Regulations Banning Concealed Firearms in Executive Branch Offices

A hearing to gather comments will be held on August 31, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Pocahontas Building located at 900 E, Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Seating/access will be provided on a first-come basis. Anyone who wishes to speak at the public hearing must sign up at the event. Sign-up begins at 9:00 a.m., and speakers will be called in the order in which they signed up. There is no pre-registration. All speakers are limited to two minutes. All persons and bags are subject to search prior to entering the auditorium. No signage will be allowed.

They want to permanently ban concealed firearms.

I will want to carry openly there and will express my dissatisfaction on banning CC.

 

[Tess]

Public Hearing to Gather Comments on Proposed Permanent Regulations Banning Concealed Firearms in Executive Branch Offices

A hearing to gather comments will be held on August 31, 2016 from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Pocahontas Building located at 900 E, Main Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Seating/access will be provided on a first-come basis. Anyone who wishes to speak at the public hearing must sign up at the event. Sign-up begins at 9:00 a.m., and speakers will be called in the order in which they signed up. There is no pre-registration. All speakers are limited to two minutes. All persons and bags are subject to search prior to entering the auditorium. No signage will be allowed.

Is this an executive office building? I don't know the Pocahontas Building.

 

[Grapeshot]

Is this an executive office building? I don't know the Pocahontas Building.

According to just found link, yes it is.

".....under the oversight of the Department of General Services (DGS), Bureau of Facilities Management, and patrolled by the Division of Capitol Police (DCP). Security clearances shall be required for each of the buildings.
http://dps.dgs.virginia.gov/DPS/DownLoad/E194-72829 Capitol Complex Security Requirements.pdf

 

[Grapeshot]

Permanent state-agency gun-ban hearing on Aug. 31st!

VA-ALERT: URGENT ACTION ITEMS:

STATE AGENCY GUN BAN - POLITICS AT ITS WORST

Late last year Governor McAuliffe put into effect an "emergency" ban on the carry of firearms in state agency buildings (DMV, ABC stores, etc.), banning even those with CHPs.

What was the emergency situation that the ban was addressing? There was none. When was the last time you heard of a shooting in a state agency building? When was the last time you heard about one of Virginia's 421,000 CHP holders committing a violent crime?

Everything the Governor does is based on politics and its associated rhetoric. The state-agency gun-ban is just another example of McAuliffe putting politics over the SAFETY and RIGHTS of Virginia's citizens!


THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AGREED WITH VCDL AND TRIED TO STOP THE BAN

VCDL urged the General Assembly to clarify that state agencies cannot have any kind of gun ban without the permission of the General Assembly. Delegate Mike Webert put in HB 1096, a state-agency preemption bill, to do just that. The bill passed the House by 65 to 33 and the Senate by 21 to 17, but did not become law because McAuliffe showed his disdain for the General Assembly and gun owners by vetoing it.


THE PERMANENT VERSION OF THE GUN BAN HAS A HEARING ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31ST

Emergency regulations cannot be in force forever; they have to be replaced with a "permanent" version.

Your written requests for a public hearing on the emergency regulation earlier this year worked! That's why the Commonwealth is having a public hearing on the permanent regulation.

The hearing is next Wednesday, August 31, from 10 AM to noon at:

Pocahantas Building (a block south of Capitol Square)
900 E. Main Street (northwest corner of 10th and Main)
Richmond, VA

**Carry is NOT allowed, with everyone having to go through metal detectors (McAuliffe, always the hypocrite, sure likes HIS security, doesn't he?)**


ACTION ITEM #1: I REFUSE TO ROLL OVER! WE WILL FIGHT FOR EVERY INCH OF GROUND. LET'S **PACK** THE MEETING ROOM ON WEDNESDAY!

This is a hearing, so everyone who wants to speak will be allowed to do so. There is a sign-up sheet, with names called in the order they are on the sheet. You will have two minutes to speak. No signs are allowed, but VCDL GSL stickers will be available.

You can simply say, "I oppose this regulation." If you wish to say more than that, here are some talking points:

1. Where is the problem this is supposed to solve? There have been no shootings in Virginia state agency buildings and the ban on concealed carry is even more unreasonable, as CHP holders are the most law-abiding group of citizens in the Commonwealth.

2. The Governor has no direct authority from the General Assembly to ban guns in state agency buildings. To that end, this year the General Assembly passed a bill clarifying that the Governor cannot do any type of gun control without the express permission of the General Assembly. The only reason that bill did not become law is that the Governor vetoed it! This action ignores the will of the People, as expressed through their elected representatives in the General Assembly.

3. Since 1960, all but two of the public mass-shootings have been in gun-free-zones, like this regulation creates. This would make state-agency buildings in Virginia less secure, not more secure!


ACTION ITEM #2: WE ALL NEED TO COMMENT ON THE PERMANENT BAN

Click here to leave your written comment opposing the permanent regulation (my comment is the first one on the list). The title should clearly state that you oppose the regulation:

http://townhall.virginia.gov/L/comments.cfm?stageid=7579

The written comment period ends on October 21.

******************************************************

If you are from out of state (do not reside in Virginia) but have reason to travel here, PLEASE comment per action item #2. This affects your rights and safety too.