I, one of two people writing articles here, have been living in Virginia since 2005. As light hearted as I would like to be about some of the topics that we will cover, I will have to be a bit more serious right now.

Our legislature recently passed two bills. One was a locked box law that allows citizens without a CHP or CCW to carry a loaded handgun for personal protection in a locked container in their car. That bill has little effect for me since I am a CHP holding citizen, though I did support the bill.

The other bill would allow our state’s CHP holding citizens to carry concealed into restaurants which serve alcohol. Fully understanding that there are already laws in this state that prohibit concealed carry while intoxicated.

Such an offense, even before this bill, is considered a Class 1 Misdemeanor and would result in the revocation of a person’s CHP.

In spite of the overwhelming support from the House and Senate of Virginia, our Governor vetoed both bills. His reasoning was less than sound, and his tactics show a clear party alliance, rather than any careful thought about what would actually aid his constituents. Both bills were sent back to our senate for an override vote, and both failed. The Locked Box bill should have passed, but six democratic senators reneged on their previous votes. I am not particularly liberal or conservative, and my political opinions are varied and deep, not at all like these tools.

Commentary on these events has been more than a little interesting:

Kaine claimed that he vetoed SB 476 because of concerns by law enforcement.

That’s funny - when asked by Senator Marsh in committee, the Virginia State Police said they took no position on the bill. Not a single police agency spoke against SB 476.

EXCEPT ONE - the ABC, WHO SAID IN COMMITTEE THAT THEY WERE SPEAKING **FOR THE ADMINISTRATION**!

So, the Governor orders the ABC to speak against SB 476 and then the Governor piously says that his veto is because of the objections of law enforcement!!!

So, Governor Kaine, WHAT OTHER police departments had concerns about this bill? I don’t believe there were any, shame on you.

That’s right, the Governor asked one of his own agencies to speak against the restaurant ban repeal, on his behalf, as some kind of half wit “cover my ass” routine so he could later claim that he was vetoing the bill at the request of law enforcement.

This would be less than dramatic for a politician, particularly one that aligns himself with an anti-gun crowd, had he not made assurances to Virginia back in 2006 (when I voted for him over Kilgore) that he would not follow his party’s anti-gun legislative path. Hindsight is 20-20, never trust a politician. A man’s record is more important than his word, and his record was against everything he was saying on this topic, at that time.

Of course, in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre and the less heard of William Morva incident, there are more than a few things going on around here.

Delegates Bob Marshall and Todd Gilbert held a press conference on their rejected attempts to allows professors (Marshall) and professors, students, staff, guests (Gilbert) to be able to carry at colleges and universities.

The room was packed with press.

Delegates Marshall and Gilbert made strong statements about the need for their respective bills. Delegate Marshall pounded the Republican Leadership for not giving either of their bills a hearing in committee.

A Washington Post reporter, Tim Craig, was handing written notes to the parents of the Virginia Tech victims. Based on what was observed, it looked very much like he was prompting them to ask Delegates Marshall and Gilbert certain questions so that the paper could then “quote” them and the associated response.

Video/articles on the conference:

http://www.wdbj7.com/Global/story.asp?S=7959042

http://www.nvdaily.com/news/303928103628644.bsp

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/032008/03042008/360954/printer_friendly

http://tinyurl.com/3a8jo7

Sadly, their legislation never even got off the ground. I am a sad sad panda.

March 5th, 2008 by bhxob | Gun Control, Journalism, Politics, Second Amendment

You must be logged in to post a comment.