This regulation is a copycat the federal prohibition of carrying guns in sensitive places.  The federal government considers federal buildings to be sensitive places.  What makes a place sensitive?  It’s not that people are there as this would make everything sensitive.  The federal government inappropriately deems all federal buildings to be sensitive because it thinks it can get away with it, and so far it has.  Thus, if a citizen legally carrying a gun for self protection wants to go into a post office, he must park outside the property of the post office, remove his gun and store it, do his business in the post office unprepared for that infrequent but deadly mad man , and then return to his car and re-arm himself.  Of course, this involves handling a loaded firearm unnecessarily two times. 

The perceived threat behind this sort of “thinking” is that something happens inside the federal building to a normally law abiding citizen that causes him to draw his gun and starts shooting.  This just hasn’t happened.  What has happened and continues to happen in gun-free zones is that the mentally deranged go into a gun-free zone with the intent to kill many and become famous.  If you could imagine being such a deranged killer, where would you go to kill a bunch of innocent people:  a post office or an NRA convention?

Sensitive places should be those that have sufficient reason to be concerned that full airport-type security is in place.  Such places include airports because of the potential of bringing down an airplane and courts where emotions often run high. 

None sensitive places, such as post offices and the overwhelming majority of public governmental buildings are, in the final analysis, just like other public buildings, such as shopping centers, movie theaters, churches, libraries, etc.

The Commonwealth of Virginia should respect the true meaning of sensitive places and not create more gun-free zones, which criminals see as safe killing zones.  For me, I carry almost all the time.  I’ve probably had more firearm instruction than most law enforcement officers, and I practice and compete on a regular basis.  If you were in a Virginia government building and a killer came in and started shooting, would you rather have someone like me there who was armed or who had been forced to leave his gun in the car?

A second reason for opposing this regulation:  Virginia splits power among three equal branches of government.  The governor, be he Republican or Democrat, should not be in the business of , in effect, making laws.  Neither the President of the United States nor the Governor of Virginia should use the claimed executive power to do what he thinks the legislature won’t do.  If the legislature allows this to stand, it will have failed in its fundamental constitutional duty and in the process diminished itself. 

The vote against the abuse of regulatory authority by the governor should be UNAMIMOUS:every Republican, every independent, and every Democrat.  Re-read (or perhaps read for the first time) the Constitution of Virginia and stand up to your oath.

Troy Hayes