Allowing law-abiding citizens to carry defensive firearms in this case makes perfect sense.  There's no reason why anyone who could leagally carry a defensive firearm for their protection in any other venue would be required to disarm themselves in state forests, unless those firearms were appropriate for hunting and it was outside of hunting season.

We don't need state lands being turned into gun-free zones where free citizens cannot exercize their rights guaranteed under the Constitution.  The state doesn't have the legal authority to have restrictions in place outside of regulating hunting, and this proposed rule finally conforms Virginia law in this regard to be consistent with the Constitution of Virginia.

I urge this rule to be adopted.