Virginia's attack on concealed carry

The Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia has declared on concealed carry by out-of-staters who visit or work in Virginia.

AG Mark Herring has announced that, effective February 1, 2016, concealed carry permits from 25 states will no longer be recognized. See the list in the newspaper article link below. It's interesting that Illinois is not on the list (maybe Herring does know that Illinois changed its law in 2013), but South Carolina is).

When I first read of this action, I thought that Virginia lawmakers had gone into the attack mode. Philpott is a pretty famous name in Virginia politics, thanks to the late A.L. Philpott, who was Speaker of the House of Delegates for about 15 years until his death in 1991. (I hasten (slowly) to add that you have to go back several generations for any common blood between us in Philpott, Va.)

I got part of the picture. But it looked like if you weren't on the "bad" list, then you might still be able to carry; "bad" being those who are already prohibited from owning firearms.

Now, I'm not sure. This Richmond, Va. newspaper article explains that the AG is making the rules, through his interpretation of the law. Fortunately, Republicans hold a two-thirds majority in the House of Delegates, and a bill has already been introduced to void Herring's king-making rule.

Want to weigh in? Going to be traveling to Virginia? Want to carry while you are there? I do, because I enjoy visiting friends in Richmond and skeletons in Philpott.

Send letters or email of support to Republican Delegates and also write to Democratic Delegates and ask them to use their heads and consider the terrorism threat level and how they benefit from law-abiding, concealed-carry visitors to their state. Here's where to find names and addresses: http://virginiageneralassembly.gov/house/members/members.php

The first thing you'll notice is that email addresses are easy to find, unlike those of Illinois politicians and U.S. Congressmen (Representatives and Senators). You can write to them without having your email disappear into "buckets", where it is sometimes counted and, probably, most of the time unread.