Va. Senate subcommittee votes down gun bills

By Michael Sluss

RICHMOND

A hastily formed Senate subcommittee voted Thursday to defeat legislation that would repeal Virginia's one-handgun-a-month law, likely killing the proposal for the year.

The Democrat-dominated panel voted down several pro-gun bills that had been passed by the Republican-run House of Delegates, keeping the bills from getting a hearing in the full Senate Courts of Justice Committee. The committee's chairman, Sen. Henry Marsh, D-Richmond, said he won't put the bills on the full committee's docket when it holds its final scheduled meeting Monday.

Marsh appointed the five-member subcommittee Monday, stacking it with Democrats who favor gun control. Marsh said he formed the panel because the full committee already had devoted significant time to gun legislation this year.

Republicans and gun-rights advocates said Marsh's move was an end run around the full Courts of Justice Committee, where bills could have picked up support from pro-gun Democrats.

"I think in my alert I will call this 'The Ides of Marsh,' " said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, musing about the headline he would put on his electronic newsletter to members.

While Marsh declared the rejected bills dead Thursday, one Republican senator did not rule out making an effort to revive them in the full committee.

"I don't think it's the end of the road for these bills," said Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg.

Senate subcommittees typically don't kill legislation; they usually make recommendations to full committees. Senators have grumbled about established House of Delegates rules that enable House subcommittees to effectively kill bills, including measures passed by the Senate.

By the end of Thursday's meeting, the Senate subcommittee was voting down bills with as few as two members in the room. Absent senators left proxies to record their votes. Sen. Fred Quayle of Suffolk was the only Republican on the subcommittee.

The Marsh-appointed subcommittee voted 4-1 against a bill, HB49, that would repeal Virginia's law limiting handgun purchases to one a month. The 1993 law was a signature initiative of then-Gov. Douglas Wilder, who pushed it as a means of reducing illegal gun trafficking.

Opponents of the repeal said scrapping the law would, among other things, open the door for straw purchases of guns that would be resold to criminals and others who want to avoid electronic background checks.

Supporters of the repeal argue that the law has lost its effectiveness partly because lawmakers carved out an array of exceptions over the years, including one for gun owners with concealed-carry permits.

The subcommittee also rejected a bill, HB69, that would exempt from federal laws firearms and ammunition made and used in Virginia.

But gun-rights advocates have still scored victories in this session.

Both houses have passed legislation that would allow gun owners with permits to take concealed handguns into restaurants that serve alcohol.

They also have passed a bill that would let individuals without concealed-carry permits store firearms in locked vehicle compartments.