VA . . .TX . . . CA . . Handgunlaw.us

[Gary Slider]

Virginia has put politics front and center starting February, 1, 2016 with them no longer honoring 25 states they use to honor. http://www.vsp.state.va.us/Firearms_Reciprocity.shtm It is all politics no matter what any VA government official states. I want to remind everyone that the Progressives literally hate Open Carry. Well in Virginia you can keep a loaded handgun in your vehicle without any type of permit/license to carry as long as it is visible like on the seat or dash. You can also keep it in the console or glove box but it has to latch. It doesn’t have to be locked but the law states closed with a latch. A console or glove box that you have to push a lever or button on to open would be considered latched.

When you exit your vehicle you don’t need any type of permit/license to Open Carry. It is perfectly legal in Virginia and many already do. There are a few places that you can’t open carry that you can conceal carry with a valid permit/license that Virginia honors. See the Virginia page at www.handgunlaw.us for more information on open/concealed carry in Virginia. The Virginia Citizens Defense League http://www.vcdl.org/ will have a lot more information on VA laws but they are in the process of moving their website to a different server at this time and it will be a couple weeks before they get all their information moved.

If you wish to contact the Governor and or Attorney General of Virginia and voice your opinion on dropping those 25 states you can do it at the Sites below. Do let them know you will be open carrying, not visit Virginia or your personal reason because of dropping your state. Do be cordial with your replies. Remember we are the good guys/gals and it doesn’t do us any good to stoop to their level.

Governor: McAuliffe: https://governor.virginia.gov/consti...ernors-office/
Attorney General Herring: http://ag.virginia.gov/ContactUsForm/ContactForm.aspx

Starting with the New Year Texas will officially be an open carry state for handguns but it does require a permit Texas issues or honors to legally open carry. There is a specific sign, 30.07 that businesses can post to ban open carry. There is also a sign, 30.06 that bans concealed carry. They can post one just banning open or concealed carry or post both signs banning both open and concealed carry. Texas law also states if you are open carrying you have to carry it either in a shoulder holster or a belt holster.

With the New Year California’s new law goes into effect banning the carrying of firearms on all school property Kindergarten through Colleges/Universities.
For those who want a good resource on bills introduced/passed at the state and federal level here is the place to look. https://amgoa.org

Right at 5,000 bills were introduced that concerned firearms at the state level. About 200 became law. Many never had a chance to pass. Some had a very minor effect on firearms. Some restricted firearms in some way but some were positive changes.

311 bills concerning firearms were introduced at the Federal Level. Very few passed.
Here are some of the positive things that happened in 2015,

Ohio adopted universal recognition for handgun permit/licenses.
Kansas went Permitless Carry.
Maine went Permitless Carry.
Florida allows Permitless Carry during a declared state of emergency.
DC started issuing permits even though it was May Issue. (It is a good start for DC and the courts are involved.)
Wisconsin eliminated their waiting period to buy firearms.
Clark County Nevada had to do away with their handgun registration.
40+ School Districts in Ohio now allowed armed staff. Other states/local school districts are also allowing staff to carry.
Texas is now an Open Carry State and Campus Carry will begin Aug 1, 2016.
There are many others these are just the ones that come to mind.

If you want to see the changes over the years you can see that in a very nice graphic at
http://www.gun-nuttery.com/rtc.php

On February 6, 2016 Handgunlaw.us will be 10 years old. Time really does fly and the changes over the last ten years have even surprised us. Reciprocity has exploded and many states have rolled back places we were not allowed to carry. The May Issue states have complicated the firearms issues with more restrictions and even registration of the mythical assault weapon and/or higher capacity magazines. In today’s world Sheriffs and Police Chiefs are telling permit holders to carry all the time as they are really the “First Responders.” Yes we have had setbacks but we have also made major leaps forward. Handgunlaw.us believes 2016 is going to be another good year for most of us who take responsibility for ourselves and our families! There will be some of us who will not fare as well. We can only have faith that the coming election will bring us something more than Hope and some loose Change in our pockets! Happy New Year from Handgunlaw.us and Stay Safe out there!!!!

[pax]

Great report, Gary -- thanks for posting it here. And thanks for all you do through www.handgunlaw.us. That's a lot of hard work you and your team have put in over the years, and it benefits all of us.

Wishing you and yours a happy new year!

pax

[Gary Slider]

Just got word from New Hampshire that they have agreed with Maine to honor each others permits to carry. Another + for us Good Guys/Gals!!!!

[osbornk]

Virginia will have an interesting General Assembly session in January. Both houses are Republican and have been opposed to the anti-gun legislation and actions of our Democrat Governor and Attorney General. Bloomberg spent over 2.2 million dollars in this year's state election in a failed attempt to flip the state senate and he spent millions getting the Attorney General elected by 165 votes. The recent decision by the AG appears to be a clear payback for the money he spent. McAuliffe is attempting to gain favor with Obama and Clinton to get a plum position or possibly a VP spot.

[JohnKSa]

Appreciate all the hard work. I frequently recommend your site as a resource to coworkers and friends.

[Gary Slider]

Yes have the TSRA listed in the State RKBA's Org Listing on the site.

[johnwilliamson062]

When OFCC couldn't push CCW through in Ohio they organized an open carry protest around the state house until it was passed. "Defense Walks" It was pretty effective.

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by Gary Slider

Just got word from New Hampshire that they have agreed with Maine to honor each others permits to carry. Another + for us Good Guys/Gals!!!!

Gary, is that all permits, or only resident permits?

My sister lives in New Hampshire so I got a NH non-resident permit years ago (although I haven't visited there and used it in recent years). I would very much like to visit Acadia National Park again some day, and I actually have the Maine application around here somewhere but I've never quite gotten around to filling it out and submitting it.

Under the new reciprocity, will a NH non-resident permit allow me to carry concealed in Acadia National Park?

[Gary Slider]

Maine, New Hampshire, Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Florida only honor resident permits from the states they honor. Pennsylvania only honors resident permits from some of the states they honor. They did it in the agreement they signed. See those state pages at www.handgunlaw.us for more info on that.

[Aguila Blanca]

I guess I'll have to dig out and dust off that Maine application.