Virginia State Forest site is back up, ...

[DaveH]

so if you haven't commented on the proposed regulation, please do so.

From a VA-ALERT.

VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.

[First person singular pronouns (I, my, mine, etc) reference Philip Van Cleave, President VCDL]

State Forests ACTION ITEM
***********************************************

The Virginia Department of Forestry is approaching the final phase of
allowing guns to be carried in State Forests. They have now listed
the proposed regulation and are asking again for public comment.

The proposed wording does not include open carry and VCDL needs all of
you to comment in support of the proposed regulation and request that
open carry be allowed, too.

Here is my posting (#1 on the list):

The Virginia Citizens Defense League supports the proposed regulation,
BUT it should also include lawful open carry. When the current
Governor, Bob McDonnell, was the Attorney General, he published an
opinion that State Parks and other such state agencies did not have
the power to ban openly carried handguns. We agree and want open
carry to be legal in State Forests (we will be asking for the same
changes to State Parks and DGIF lands in their appopriate venues).

So in the subject line, be sure to say something like, "I support the
rule change, but also want open carry to be legal"

Here is the link to post your comment:

Virginia Regulatory Town Hall List Comments

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[jowgafist]

done :)

[DaveH]

Be careful what you say in your comments.

The forests proposed rule says:
"No person shall bring into or have in any forest any explosive or explosive substance, except commercial sporting firearms ammunition; explosives, explosive substances and firearms of all types are prohibited in any portion of a forest assigned to the Department of Forestry, for administration as a recreational area. This regulation shall not apply to the carrying of concealed handguns within state forests by holders of a valid concealed handgun permit issued pursuant to § 18.2-308 of the Code of Virginia."

If we're commenting that "We support th rule with open carry", they are going to strike the word "concealed" from their proposed regulation -

The net result - you will still need a permit, open or concealed.

Remember, the regulatory process is extremely frought with peril for us. The agency does not want to admit any error, OR cede any authority but in this case they are fighting us tooth and nail like NPS fought VCDL's orginal two petitions for rulemaking in 2004 and 2008.