04.08.00

By Sylvia Moore

"We were told by the pro-gun lobby that we bottled up too many bills and those who advocate gun control told us we bottled up too many bills," said Delegate Morgan Griffith, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Militia and Police. "I guess we must have done something right."

During the legislative session that ended March 10, the subcommittee’s meetings drew two kinds of watchdogs:

• Supporters of the Second Amendment wanted to ward off legislation they considered a threat to the constitutional right to bear arms. They spoke out against bills that would ban guns from schools, thus gutting gun safety classes and rifle teams. They pushed for, among other things, allowing those from other states to carry concealed weapons into Virginia.

• Advocates of gun control told the subcommittee they wanted to see all firearms out of schools and off school grounds, buses and bus stops. They also wanted to authorize restaurants and county-owned facilities to bar guns. And they wanted to prevent residents of other states from bringing guns into Virginia.

Melissa Mansfield, lobbyist for Virginians against Handgun Violence, said her group focused primarily this session on bills to create a gun-free environment in schools.

Delegate James H. Dillard II, R-Fairfax, supported that position. He said he wanted to convey the message loud and clear to schoolchildren that firearms don't belong in school.

The National Rifle Association fought the bill in part by saying it might infringe upon firearm safety programs, which Griffith said are conducted at schools in some areas of Virginia.

Dillard’s original bill would have comprehensively outlawed the possession of a firearm or other weapon on school property. But bowing to rifle team enthusiasts, he agreed to make exceptions:

His bill was amended to allow school-sponsored or authorized programs such as gun safety programs and rifle teams; possession of an unloaded firearm in a closed container, a knife in a motor vehicle or an unloaded shotgun or rifle in a truck rack on school property; and lawful hunting within 1,000 feet of a school.

Even so, the bill did not pass.

Senator Janet Howell, D-Reston, had proposed that gun safety be taught on computers, but that’s not practical, Griffith said.

The NRA provided, and the panel watched, a slide show about children who found a gun in a toy box. Children who had learned gun safety left the weapon alone and went to fetch their parents, while those who had no instruction picked it up and began clicking the trigger, Griffith said.

Dillard's bill to ban guns was held over until next year so the subcommittee can study it in detail over the summer.

But pro-gun forces didn’t win every battle. They wanted to establish reciprocal agreements between Virginia and other states on carrying concealed weapons. Under the bill, people licensed to carry guns in their home state could take their weapons when traveling to other states.

However, the subcommittee agreed to study the proposal after Mansfield raised concerns. "Some states, like Vermont, don't require a permit to carry a concealed weapon," she said. If pistol-packing Vermont residents visit Virginia, "we won't know who's out there carrying a gun," Mansfield said.

On most battles, though, Mansfield and other gun control advocates lost:

• A bill to prevent stalkers or others who have assaulted family members from possessing a firearm never made it out of committee. Initially, the bill would have banned assailants from forever possessing a gun. Even when the proposed ban was reduced to five years, the bill died.

  Griffith said legislators did not want to penalize a young man who may have had an argument with his parents and accidentally hit them with the door on his way out. While technically an assault, such an incident shouldn’t prohibit the man from buying a gun, subcommittee members felt.

• Legislation by Delegate James M. Scott, D-Merrifield, to keep guns out of a teen center and county-owned buildings in Fairfax died early in the session. Griffith said the committee had to consider the effect of the law on the entire state, not just one locality.

• The subcommittee delayed for further study a bill to prevent people, even with concealed weapons permits, from bringing guns into restaurants where alcohol is served.

• Legislators killed a bill by Delegate Panny Rhodes, R-Richmond, to provide gun safety locks to Virginians who request them. A pro-gun lobbyist said the locks, like bleach bottle safety caps, may not always work and could give people a false sense of security. Moreover, legislators questioned whether the state had money for the program.

• The subcommittee recommended, and the General Assembly passed, a bill that forbids localities from suing a firearms or ammunitions manufacturer. This would stop Virginia localities from joining other U.S. cities in taking gun makers to court and blaming them for gun-related violence and deaths.

Many critics of the subcommittee said it was weighted heavily with delegates from rural areas. The rural lawmakers replaced Northern Virginia legislators who sat on last year's panel.

Subcommittee members often played "musical chairs" during a session. One member would run to another meeting, then a second member would wander in for a few minutes and leave again.

Pam Pouchot, chair of the Committee for Gun Free Schools, believes this was a ploy to delay the proceedings.

Some gun control advocates, including Pouchot, believe legislators were influenced by campaign contributions from the NRA.

Delegate Roger J. McClure, R-Centerville, who co-chairs the House Committee on Militia and Police, received $2,000 from the NRA Victory Fund during the 1999 election cycle. Seven other committee members, including Griffith, got NRA donations.

Griffith said he hopes the committee can reach compromises on some of the failed bills when it studies them this summer. That sentiment is shared by Republicans, such as Dillard and Rhodes, who sponsored gun safety bills; and by gun control advocates like Mansfield.

"I hope that the study of the issues will lead to a middle-of-the-road agreement," Mansfield said.