OPEN CARRY Virginia does not require a permit to "open carry." Anyone 18 or older who can legally own a gun can carry it loaded in public as long as the gun is holstered and visible. Guns are OK in a vehicle as well, as long as they are placed in plain view on the dashboard or seat.   CONCEALED CARRY

He is called unflattering names by the other side: Gun nut. Zealot. Paranoid. In person, Phil ip Van Cleave doesn't seem to fit the part. At 55, he's a slim, silver-haired, soft-spoken computer programmer who runs his own software company out of his home in Midlothian.

A year ago, it would have been unthinkable.
A chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus has taken up residence at Virginia Tech. Membership after just one month: 110.
Before Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people, the idea of condoning guns on campus "never had a chance," said Ken Stanton, a doctoral student and leader of the new chapter.

Machine guns may be owned by a private citizen so long as the buyer passes a background check, files required paperwork, pays a $200 tax and obtains a signature from the local police chief. According to the ATF, most are owned by collectors. Machine guns in private hands locally: Chesapeake - 60 Norfolk - 108 Portsmouth - 59 Suffolk - 16 Virginia Beach - 459  

  Special report: State of the Gun

Last month, when Suffolk gang leader Willie "Bang 'Em Up" Waters was convicted of fatally shooting a 14-year-old girl, he was already on the hook for 21 years of federal time - courtesy of Project Exile.

Most of us know the gun debate as a war of words - a battle of sound bites between this side and that.
The real front lines are on the streets, where good guns try to hold back the bad ones, and no one takes the time to hold rallies, give speeches or argue about the Second Amendment.
There, the struggle is as intense as ever.

Virginians have had their weapons confiscated before. Worried after Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death" speech, the governor, Lord Dunmore, sent royal marines on a secret mission to take the gunpowder stored in the magazine at Williamsburg. On the night of April 20, 1775, the marines got away with 15 half-barrels of powder before being discovered.

Virginia's approach to gun sales has earned it a reputation for having lax laws. In reality, Virginia's firearms rules are not that different from most other states - especially in the South.

Gun shows aren't alone in facing criticism over a loophole. Newspapers also have been targeted for running classified ads for firearms.