1 - The "rules" come from a meeting of the Joint House/Senate Committee held several years ago. There is quite some disagreement about if that meeting resulted in an ultimately enforcable rule as the matter does not appear in the published Rules of either house. A few folks here have saved a copy of a copy of the sheet of notebook paper that recorded the question and the vote.
1a - The Joint House/Senate Committee makes the rules for the General Assembly Building and each body makes rules for their respective chambers. That's why you can carry in the House but not in the Senate.
The Capitol Square grounds and the Governor's Mansion are under the jurisdiction of the Department of General Services which is in the Executive branch.
http://dgs.virginia.gov/CapitolSquareComplex/tabid/127/Default.aspx Bet your newspper correspondent didn't know that.:shocker:
2 - I'm not volunteering to be the test case, and my gut tells me that even if I could "prove" the rule was unofficial and not according to Hoyle the courts would say the separation of powers thing keeps them from getting in the middle of it.
3 - The Capitol Poloce seem willing to accept any valid and unexpired permit from any jurisdiction. I've seen them accept a Maryland permit so reciprocity does not seem to be a concen. If they ever wondered what other states' permits are accepted they could look it up, so there is no real need for them to "know" it off the top of their head.
I suggest you resolve your disagreement with the newspaper person by challenging them to produce a hard copy of whatever it is they say the rules are supposed to be. Keep in mind #1 and #1a above and challenge them to prove that loaded OC/CC (your choice) with a valid permit in the GAB is
not the way things are supposed to be. Then you can screw with their head about the Capitol Square grounds.
stay safe.