It's scary how fast things can change. A couple of years ago, Virginia was coming off of two years of sanity when it came to gun laws in the Old Dominion state. Sure, anti-gun Democrats had their control of the legislature, but the executive branch was working as it was supposed to and would veto most, if not all of the stupid new measures being passed.
Now, folks there are staring down the barrel of some pretty heinous things.
One of the more insidious measures doesn't turn anyone into a felon, at least not at first. Despite that, it would create a massive burden for a lot of people, and the NRA-ILA isn't taking kindly to it, nor to the lawmakers trying to exempt themselves.
Anti-gun lawmakers in Virginia’s General Assembly recently earned well-deserved scorn by trying to create a special carveout for themselves in one of their numerous gun control bills. The legislation concerns new requirements for handgun storage in private vehicles and seeks to punish law-abiding gun owners for the actions of criminals.
HB110 would require gun owners to store a handgun left in an unattended vehicle “out of plain view in a locked hard-sided container, including a locked container that is affixed to the vehicle's interior by steel cable, bolt, or welding.” Locking the vehicle itself is not enough to meet the proposed burden.
The term “unattended” is defined to include a vehicle that a user is “unable to observe” and is “(a) on a public highway or other public property or (b) any parking area, lot, or structure intended for commercial or retail use, including such parking areas, lots, or structures exclusively reserved and used by commercial or retail employees.”
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The legislation also implicates the right to bear arms. Those entering locations or establishments that prohibit firearms typically store their concealed carry handgun in their vehicle. This is often the case with workers who may not be permitted to carry at their job but want to provide for their own defense to and from the workplace. Now concealed carriers would be tasked with complying with HB110’s storage requirements, which may include having to purchase expensive equipment, to exercise their rights.
Others going to and from a shooting range, hunting, a gun store, or otherwise traversing the Commonwealth with a handgun in their vehicle would also be implicated, and Virginians would be unable to even use a gas station restroom during their travels without being burdened by the law.
The degree to which it is a burden, in fact, is demonstrated by the lengths to which lawmakers went to try to exempt themselves from the measure.
They acknowledged that this punishes the victims of the theft. It's victim-blaming, and the way the law is written means that anyone who wants to carry a gun throughout their day must spend a fair bit of money to get a vehicle lock box or risk being fined should someone break into their vehicle and steal their gun.
Many of these laws target unlocked cars, which is still wrong, but I can at least wrap my head around it. You shouldn't leave a gun in an unlocked car without it being locked up somehow. It's dumb to do so. It shouldn't be illegal to do it, but I can at least comprehend where someone is coming from.
Virginia's proposal doesn't care if the gun is in a locked or unlocked car. It doesn't care if it's in a locked vehicle, out of sight, so no one knows the gun is there, and locked in the glove box. None of that matters because you didn't have it safe and sound in a specially made lock box that is secured to the car.
As NRA-ILA also noted, the fact that lawmakers tried to exempt themselves from the law is telling. If it's no burden at all, why did they try to carve out an exception for themselves? If it's no big deal, why were they trying to avoid it?
I know, they backed off on that, but that's also not the point. The fact that they included one in the first place tells you all you need to know about where their heads are at.
In other words, it's rules for thee but not for me. They're too special to have to spend the hundred or so bucks on a special box, either install it or have it installed, and follow the law they're trying to foist onto the rest of the state.
They're too good to be punished for being victims of a crime. It's just everyone else in the state who isn't.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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