As a Virginia permit holder I strongly support allowing permit holders to carry their pistols in the Virginia forests.

Author and PhD Gary Kleck writes in his books "More Guns Less Crime" that the mere possibility that a citizen MAY be armed tends to discourage predatory criminal acts. Conversely, creating a so called "gun free zone" encourages those, terrorists and common criminals to act violently, secure that their victims are just that, victims.

Throughout the United States, the FBI crime data supports the position that lawful citizen carry deters crime. The permit holders as a class are seldom, if ever, revoked for a crime. Those few revocations that do occur are usually for violation of some technical aspect of the law, not the commission of a crime.

I urge the rulemakers to allow those possessing a valid carry permit to carry in the forests. We will all be safer for it!

Respectfully,

Michael Carlin