Concealed carry permit holders can already carry concealed in state forests,  and anyone legally able to possess a handgun can openly carry in the rest of the state (schools, court houses, airport sterile areas, etc excepted).  What about state forests is uniquely incompatible with open carry? 

Every day law-abiding Virginians openly carry handguns in parks and office buildings, in the city and the country, with none of the cataclysmic consequences anti-gun activists wring their hands about.  In State forests, being as they are generally more isolated and further from an effective law enforcement response, the case for armed self defense is at least as strong, if not stronger.

I FIRMLY support the right of every law-abiding Virginian to carry a weapon for self defense, either openly or concealed, in state forests or elsewhere.