The Virginian-Pilot
©
RICHMOND
Try as he might, Sen. Mark Obenshain's efforts to revive several defeated gun-rights bills were quickly shot down Monday by his Courts of Justice Committee colleagues.
As onlookers filled the room to capacity and spilled into the hallway, the Harrisonburg Republican vainly attempted procedural twists and turns to bypass committee Chairman Henry Marsh, a Richmond Democrat, and get another hearing for pro-gun legislation recently killed in a subcommittee. The measures included a bill to repeal the state's limit of one handgun purchase per month.
Marsh established the subcommittee to handle multiple gun bills from the House of Delegates, a maneuver Obenshain said "utterly disregarded" Senate rules.
Not everyone was bothered by Marsh's actions.
"It's kind of a necessary evil to have to play this game," said Lori Haas, a gun-control advocate whose daughter Emily was wounded during the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech. She said the chairman has the prerogative to run the committee as he sees fit.
Marsh has carried gun-control bills over the years, including legislation that would require criminal background checks on individuals before they buy a handgun from a private seller at a gun show.
The committee did pass other bills expanding gun rights, including measures to allow concealed handguns to be carried in bars and stored in lockboxes inside cars.
Similarly themed Senate bills have passed both General Assembly chambers and are headed to Gov. Bob McDonnell's desk.
Meanwhile, the committee rejected a bill that would expand the state's death penalty statute to those who participate in a killing but don't pull the trigger. A narrower measure was approved that would make the murders of fire marshals and auxiliary police officers crimes eligible for the death penalty.
A handful of gun bills also passed unanimously out of a House committee.
SB501 would prevent somebody who had been convicted of drunken driving within three years from getting a concealed handgun permit.
SB591 would require that juveniles who are arrested and alleged to be in possession of or carrying a firearm must be held in jail.
Pilot writer Deirdre Fernandes contributed to this report.
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com
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Democrat fantasies from self-defense hater groups
Democrats hate people who want to defend themselves, spew emotional non-truths to try to sway public opinion and are frustrated with the failure of their gun-hate legislation, much of which has been overturned. Concealed carry is in a majority of States and MORE guns have made us SAFER despite the phony claims of these haters. Most see through their lies about how you are better off without a gun. Sarah Brady herself made a possible illegal "straw purchase" when she bought her son a high-powered rifle. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2002/03/22/2002-03-22_brady_shady_on_gun_rules_con.html As concealed carry States and gun ownership INCREASED, murder, robbery, and other violent crimes DECREASED. FBI stats don't lie like the gun-hate groups. The stats are empirical evidence as opposed to the discredited "studies" done by some in the medical profession who are nothing more than self-defense haters. That's why the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Heller in D.C.
If you own a gun
If you own a gun you and your family are more likely to die of a gun death. Why? Because guns make it easy for an angry spouse of a depressed teenager to kill themselves or others. Very, very, rarely are guns used for self defense.
chris33
Why do you always think you have to go to the extreme to try to make a point? Which you still haven't done yet. But I have a better chance of getting hit by a car when walking down the sidewalk than getting shot by my spouse. Shoot, I have a better chance of getting shot by a neighbor with bad aim than of being shot by my spouse. Like has been said before, you are not making a point OR scaring anyone. Besides, I have a better chance of reading more of your wonderful, insightful, and fact filled comments if I have a gun to defend my family and home.
Why be armed when eating out? Ask Suzanna Hupp...
...whose parents were shot to death in a restaurant shooting as the three dined together in Texas. At the time, Texas law forced her to leave her gun in her car. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzanna_Hupp#Death_of_parents
Hupp
Or watch her chilling testimony..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1u0Byq5Qis
Simply crazy
To think that a person NEEDS to have a weapon on them when they go out to eat here in Hampton Roads is simply crazy and/or shows paranoid tendencies. Whenever I see a person who isn't a police officer carrying a weapon openly in a restaurant, I leave and I tell the people operating the establishment why I'm leaving: I'm not comfortable being in the same place with some paranoid John Wayne wanna-be who could freak out and start shooting for who knows what reason. Their excuses for why they need to carry a weapon all the time just don't cut it with me, especially having lived here for over 19 years.
Well
Well until you have been put in a situation where someone else is in control of whether you live or die, you will never understand! I have lived here for 34 years! Born and raised in VB!
target for the elitist...
I have healthcare and am a firearms owner, I guess that makes me target for the elitist...
I earned my healthcare benefits as I earned the monies used to purchase my firearms... with hard work, sacrifice and by taking responsibility for myself. I do not expect or demand that anyone else pay for either of those things.
I too would like everyone to have healthcare and firearms; however I draw the line at the monies I earn being used to supply either to the masses. Oh, and not to mention that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms” (notice it is plural) is an individual right, granted us by our creator, and guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States... healthcare is not delineated or enumerated as such!
"Passed?"
"The committee did pass other bills expanding gun rights, including measures to allow concealed handguns to be carried in bars and stored in lockboxes inside cars."
Since these bills had already been passed and sent to the Governer for a signature how could they "pass" them?
question
Why should guns be easy to own? How does that make society safer? Yes we should all be able to own one, but only if done legally and with the proper screening...which amazingly we can already do So all this screaming is really about nothing as the legislation in question isn't actually TAKING AWAY a single right. Let's keep cutting education and complaining about not owning 37 guns. Please.