Nothing's over the line for Virginia's suburban gun lobby

I RECENTLY ATTENDED a town hall meeting in Fairfax County where about half of the audience was armed, including a woman directly behind me with a big shiny pistol strapped to her thigh.

I grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, and I don't flinch at the sight of a shotgun on the back of a pick-up cab. But I was startled by the two dozen pistol-packing suburbanites filing into a government center for a chat about school funding.

The incident served as a reminder that the gun debate in Virginia is no longer driven by rural sport-shooters. Instead, activist groups with an urban pedigree and increasingly extreme goals are controlling the agenda.

Most rural Virginians view a firearm as a tool. It's a necessity for farmers trying to keep the raccoons out of their corn and a prized possession for hunters. It would never occur to those gun-owners to holster up as they head off to the zoning board to complain about the size of the new Tastee-Freez sign.

In metropolitan parts of the state, guns are more often a political statement. Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, confirms that most of its 3,800 members are from Northern Virginia.

"It's harder to get members in the western part of the state because they're so independent and they think no one will ever come and take my gun," he said.

Perhaps, but maybe Van Cleave's priorities don't resonate with rural gun-owners.

This year the VCDL and the National Rifle Association opposed a bill in the state legislature that would have required all purchasers at gun shows to go through a background check, a simple five-minute process required for all sales by dealers. A committee controlled by Democrats defeated the legislation while families of Virginia Tech shooting victims sat in the audience.

The gun groups scored another victory with passage of a measure allowing people to carry concealed weapons into bars and restaurants that serve alcohol. VCDL even opposed a bill by Del. John Cosgrove to toughen penalties against gang members who "accidentally" fire a gun at a vehicle or inside a house.

Those hot-button issues appeal to a narrow segment of gun-owners, but those are the people who are most likely to mail in a check. VCDL's membership revenues doubled between 2004 and 2006 to $51,285, according to its tax records. That's small potatoes compared to the $39 million the NRA reported in its most recent filing with the IRS, but it suggests that the group's high-caliber agenda is paying off.

Van Cleave said his group's next goal will be to win legal approval for students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on state college campuses.

Sen. Emmett Hanger, sponsor of the so-called "guns in bars" bill, said his views on firearms have been influenced by the workplace murder of his sister. But he acknowledges that gun-rights activists may overplay their hand and trigger a public backlash.

"There are groups that think there's a constitutional right to have a machine gun mounted on top of their cars," he said. "Clearly, there's a line that can be crossed."

But for now, those who play politics with pistols clearly have the upper hand at the state Capitol.

Christina Nuckols is an editorial writer for The Virginian-Pilot. E-mail her at christina.nuckols@pilotonline.com.