Obama, Virginia, and CCW
A guest post from a reader:
Some thoughts Obama’s stand on CCW and why this matters to Virginia…
Parts of western Virginia are, based on the statistics I’ve found, armed camps. In rural western Virginia, the rate of concealed carry permits in the general population runs at about 2.5 percent. Not 2.5 percent of those eligible to carry, but 2.5 percent of every man, woman and child. Unless you’re expecting a lot of infants to be packing heat, that’s a ton of people carrying handguns.
It’s an important part of the culture in those places. Recall that Virginia is to my knowledge the only state in the union where someone with a valid permit can carry legally into the state capitol. (Having done this, I can tell you, it’s an odd experience to run you handgun through the X-ray and have the security guy hand it and your permit back to you with a smile.)
Obama has made no bones about the fact that he’s against concealed carry and would pursue a national ban.
From FactCheck.org, in a piece complaining about an NRA ad:
The NRA’s flier isn’t entirely false. It states Obama’s positions on concealed weapons and on semi-automatic “assault weapons” reasonably accurately.
NRA Claim: “Pass Federal Laws Eliminating Your Right-to-Carry”
True: In 2004, while running for the Democratic nomination for the Senate seat he now holds, Obama indeed called for “national legislation” to prevent anyone but law enforcers from carrying concealed firearms. The Chicago Tribune, which queried the candidates on several issues, reported:
Chicago Tribune (Feb. 20 2004): Obama … backed federal legislation that would ban citizens from carrying weapons, except for law enforcement. He cited Texas as an example of a place where a law allowing people to carry weapons has “malfunctioned” because hundreds of people granted licenses had prior convictions.
“National legislation will prevent other states’ flawed concealed-weapons laws from threatening the safety of Illinois residents,” Obama said.
More recently, Obama was quoted by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in an article on April 2, 2008, saying “I am not in favor of concealed weapons. … I think that creates a potential atmosphere where more innocent people could (get shot during) altercations.”
So, Obama would like to use Congress to roll back Virginia’s laws on concealed carry. I don’t know about anyone else, but I think that’s kind of important.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:08 am
And, under Virginia statute 18.2-308, no permit is required to carry a firearm not “hidden from common observation.” This, and Section 13 of the Virginia Constitution, make Virginia an open carry state; open carry in Virginia, BTW, provides for carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle as long as it is visible from outside the vehicle. I have no way to determine the number, but I’d suspect that in rural areas of Virginia there are a number of people who carry/transport with some frequency under Constitutional and statutory provisions but who have not engaged in the permitting process, so that 2.5% figure may actually be quite a bit higher.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
You can open carry in most government buildings in Ohio with the major exception of courthouses.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am
Uncle,
To expand your knowledge, you can carry a firearm into the Washington State Capitol building. They have metal detectors, etc, and when you set off the alarm, you show them your concealed carry permit (or not, if you’re open carrying and like talking to cops) and then they give you a special colored visitor badge.
It has something to do with the WA state “shall not be impaired” provision, and the only off limits places being prisons, mental wards, court facilities, bars and outdoor music festivals.
November 3rd, 2008 at 11:37 am
You can carry with a permit into the State Capitols in Texas and Utah too.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I will also note that in WA, government facilities where you can’t carry (courthouses, prisons, the kind of mental facilities that do forced confinement) are required to have a secure place to store your firearm while you’re inside.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I live smack dab in between DC and Richmond, and I can tell you that the McCain signs vastly outnumber the Obama signs in front yards around here. This has been in the last two weeks, as it was not the case before then. I doubt Virginia will fall to the Marxist, but if it does than Fairfax county is to blame, as that is where the hippies live.
November 3rd, 2008 at 1:21 pm
It’s perfectly legal in NH as well. Bruce of No Looking Backwards fame actually helped thwart a bill designed to make it illegal.
November 3rd, 2008 at 10:07 pm
I Minnesota I have to notify the commissioner of public safety before I go armed in the capitol, if I don’t it’s a felony.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
This subversive degenerate Obama “WILL NOT” take away my right to carry a concealed weapon. If he tries to take away our CCW rights, I will still carry regardless. I will risk getting arrested or even go to jail to exercise the right to protect myself on the streets. Obama’s attempts to outlaw CCW will not pass anyway, as many Democratic senators support the right to carry concealed. Plus, there would be national outrage is he even remotely tried passing this. I simply would not listen to this terrorist loving scumbag anyway. He sure as hell isn’t my president. Never will be!!!!!!!!!!!