Action | Amend Requirements for Carrying Handguns in State Forests |
Stage | Proposed |
Comment Period | Ended on 4/16/2010 |
During a Virginia deer hunting season several years ago, there were several robberies of hunting camps in the George Washington National Forest. Because of that, my hunting partners and I took turns remaining in camp, armed, while the others hunted. On my in-camp day, I noticed a pickup truck moving very slowly along the road screened from our camp by a stand of trees. It passed the entrance to the camp and stopped. After a few moments, two scrufty-looking characters, not in hunting clothes, began walking up the track to the camp. I was kneeling, stirring the fire, and my jacket, though open, covered at that moment the revolver holstered on my hip. Without looking directly at the pair, I pulled the jacket back so that the gun could be plainly seen. They were about 40 yards away. Without a word, they turned and left. I don't know whether a zealous enforcer of the law would have judged that my weapon was concealed, but I am convinced that it prevented a robbery that day.