Are you safer - in a municipal building or recreation center, say - if you are carrying a concealed weapon? Are you safer if an unknown number of your fellow citizens are also toting?

Or are we all safer if no one is armed?

Some recent Virginia Legislative History

In 1997, Jack Rust Jr., a Delegate from Fairfax, sought an opinion from the Commonwealth's Attorney General to clarify existing law on the issue: do localities in Virginia have the ability to control the possession of otherwise-legal weapons in government spaces?

In January, 1995 the City of Alexandria had decided to try to reduce the possibility of violence in workplaces under municipal control by keeping weapons out. They sought to do this through a policy (published as City Policy on Workplace Violence - Addendum to A.R. 7-21) that relied on the interpretation of existing regulations prohibiting "violent, disruptive or inappropriate behavior by members of the public in City workplaces." When a legal challenge to the policy was mounted, the judge decided in favor of the city on the basis that, while state law says that the city could not pass an ordinance prohibiting guns, this was not an ordinance but an administrative policy of the manager.

In the same era, Fairfax County tried to regulate the possession of weapons in recreation centers by administrative notice. A test case was resolved against the County, saying that under the law they did not have the ability to legislate locally on this issue.

In May 1997 the Attorney General, Jim Gilmore (more recently Governor of the Commonwealth), opined "Fairfax County's police powers are broad enough to authorize the county to provide by ordinance that a person desiring to bring a firearm … into a facility … be required to register and provide information about the firearm. … " This "would not restrict an individual's right to possess the concealed handgun, and would support the purpose of protecting the safety of others…."

And furthermore, "Fairfax County may, either by ordinance or administrative regulation prohibit a person from possessing a dangerous weapon, other than a firearm or a gun, in a local facility or police station."

The notion that Virginia might blossom into a patchwork of local ordinances, regulations and policies about who could tote a gun made many legislators anxious. It made the NRA very anxious. To clarify and stiffen the existing legislation, a bill (HB 1969) was drafted in the House of Delegates, sponsored by Del. Roger McClure (R.-Chantilly). In the words of a legislator close to the issue, it was "drafted to close the door opened by the [Gilmore] opinion - firmly!").

It passed the House with ease. But in the Senate, Linda 'Toddy' Puller, a Democrat from Mount Vernon, added an amendment that gave localities the ability to act if it was for the "safety" of their employees. It passed the Senate in this form.

This essentially gutted the bill, since the point of the previous regulations and ordinances could easily be said to have been for the safety of municipal employees. So, on its return to the House, it was defeated. HB 1969 then went to conference in a committee of three Delegates and three Senators, who essentially stripped it of the Puller amendment and reported it out on a 4 to 2 vote, with the three Delegates joined by one Senator.

This would have assured passage, except that a rule was found saying that not only do you have to have a majority vote in the committee, you have to have a majority of each House; that is, 4 to 2 is not good enough when 2 of the 3 senators dissent in a conference report- it has to be at least 2 from each House voting in favor of the report.

A knowledgeable observer says, "neither side really wants to compromise on these laws - they'd rather have the issue, because it gets people excited and politically active on each side."

In fact, there is a theory that this legislation was drafted to be extreme, so that it would polarize the Democrats in opposition, force them on the record and keep the NRA siding with Republicans.

Where are we now?

In Alexandria today, the 1995 administrative regulation is still in effect, banning "deadly weapons" in "City worksites and in City vehicles" - concealed or unconcealed (except for peace officers). There is no particular screening method - if someone is found to have come in with a weapon "we don't take it away, we just ask them to leave," says an Alexandria official. "If they wouldn't leave, an officer would be called and they would be charged with trespass."

"But," he went on to say, "it's really a non-issue. It just has never happened that someone did not leave [when asked]."

In Fairfax County, "the Attorney General's Opinion should control what we can do, but in fact we don't regulate weapons [in municipal workspaces]" according to an official familiar with the situation.

Fairfax County's draft legislative program urges the State to:

"Initiate legislation to allow Fairfax County to adopt an ordinance prohibiting the possession of dangerous weapons in or on any facility or property owned or leased by the County. Violation of such an ordinance would be punishable as a misdemeanor. …

"Virginia Code § 15.2-915 generally prohibits localities from regulating the possession or carrying of firearms, and the Fairfax County Circuit Court has ruled that this statute does not permit Fairfax County to prohibit persons from bringing firearms into buildings that are owned or used by the County government. However, private property owners in Virginia generally are able to decide whether or not to permit dangerous weapons on their own property; private property owners can even prohibit the carrying of a concealed handgun even when the individual has a concealed handgun permit.

"Local governments should have the same authority as any other property owner to decide whether or not dangerous weapons, including firearms, are appropriate in their facilities. Elected local governing bodies should have the authority to make that decision as a matter of public policy."

So where does this leave citizens of the Commonwealth?

What will be the Republican priorities in the next session with regard to guns? And how will gun legislation play out in the next session with Republican majorities in both the House and Senate?

Will legislation such as HB1969 be reintroduced in the General Assembly in 2002 to restrict the ability of local governments to regulate firearms and prohibit the adoption of administrative policies about guns in the workplace?

How does newly elected Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore view the Gilmore opinion?

Democrat Mark Warner said in the course of his campaign for governor that he would sign bills to give local officials the power to prohibit guns in recreation centers. Is such legislation necessary?

Would you support an administrative regulation such as that already adopted by the City of Alexandria? Would you support legislation giving localities the power to prohibit guns in municipal buildings and recreation centers similar to that proposed by Fairfax County? (Dave Sagarin, November 16, 2001)

Please send your thoughts about gun safety and about giving localities the power to prohibit guns in municipal buildings and recreation centers to george @ loper.org where the most representative comments will be placed on my website with full attribution.