Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of General Services
 
Board
Department of General Services
 
chapter
Regulations Banning Concealed Firearms in Offices Occupied by Executive Branch Agencies [1 VAC 30 ‑ 105]
Action Promulgation of new regulation banning concealed firearms in executive branch agency offices
Stage Emergency/NOIRA
Comment Period Ended on 1/27/2016
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12/15/15  4:59 am
Commenter: C.S. Miller

Gun Free Zones Do Not Work - Gun Free Zones Attract Violence
 

This proposed regulation will have the opposite of the intended affect by playing into the hands of terrorists, violent criminals, and the criminally insane.  We have had no shootings in state agencies and this prohibition on those with a concealed handgun permit, some of whom have active and ongoing threats to their lives, is entirely without any justification and needlessly and recklessly endangers innocent lives.

Disarming good citizens (who are the only ones likely to obey the prohibition) does not make them safer.

Importantly the Governor has no authority for this regulation.  If the General Assembly wanted the Governor to have such power, they would have granted it to him explicitly, as is required constitutionally.

This proposed regulation is a solution for which there is no problem.  It endangers state employees, law abiding citizens, and the innocent by making state buildings a safe zone for terrorists, criminals, and the criminally insane to conduct their evil and savage actions.

This regulations should not be approved and the emergency regulation withdrawn.

Please extended the comment period for another 30 days.

* All but two of the public massacres since 1950 had been committed by criminals and terrorists in “gun-free zones,” which is exactly what this regulation creates
* Off-duty police officers are also prevented from carrying
* Bans in rest stops send a very uninviting message to, and endanger the lives of, interstate travelers
* The cost of providing additional security to protect everyone who has been disarmed by this regulation will be prohibitive
* The ban won’t hold up in court, due to lack of authority by the Governor
* If parking lots are included in the ban, then citizens will be disarmed to and from their residences and everywhere in between.

CommentID: 43501