North Carolina –-(Ammoland.com)- As we alerted you last week, Attorney General Mark “Red” Herring has decided that Virginia will cancel conceal carry permit reciprocity with North Carolina after February 1st, 2016.
Under the guise of protecting Virginia citizens because North Carolina’s background check standards aren’t good enough, both Herring and Governor Terry McAuliffe have created a hostile environment for law abiding CHP citizens traveling through the state of Virginia.
As GRNC President Paul Valone calls it: They are creating “solutions in search of a problem”.
What problem? And how has that “solution” worked elsewhere? Let’s ask Shaneen Allen, a law abiding citizen who obtained a concealed-carry permit in her home state of Pennsylvania, but didn’t know the permit wasn’t valid in New Jersey. She was pulled over for a minor traffic offense in New Jersey, at which time she informed the officer she had a handgun and a permit thinking she was within the law. New Jersey put her in jail.
From the Washington Examiner:
“Under New Jersey’s rules, [prosecutor Jim] McClain could have declined to press any charges against Allen, recognizing that she was guilty of little more than an innocent mistake. He could have treated it as merely a misdemeanor and sent her to municipal court. He could have permitted her to enroll in one of the diversionary programs that New Jersey has established for peaceful first-time offenders, thereby sparing her both the prison time that will take her away from her children and the felony conviction that will almost certainly destroy her career in medical work.”
Instead, McClain decided to push for maximum punishment: three years for firearm possession and an additional year for ammunition. Exactly how exactly did that reduce gun violence and protect law abiding citizens? This is what Herring and McAuliffe want for Virginia?
RedState.com puts a greater point on the effect of this unlawful move to revoke reciprocity:
“…the effect of cancelling these reciprocity agreements goes both ways, so that not only can out-of-staters no longer carry their guns into Virginia, but Virginians can’t carry their guns out of state…it goes without saying that if you are going to take the trouble to go through getting your concealed carry permit, you are a conscientious, law abiding gun owner. What Herring has done has not made the people of Virginia any safer, it has merely made it more difficult for people who want to exercise their Second Amendment rights in accordance with the law more difficult. Which of course is exactly the point. Note that this action was taken unilaterally and without the Virginia legislature.”
Note: North Carolina honors all out-of-state permits and will continue to do so. GRNC will oppose any attempt to restrict Virginians or anyone else visiting our state.
So how does this all sit with the law abiding citizens of Virginia? The Virginia Citizens Defense League posted this on AmmoLands’s web site: First, I’d like to offer an apology to our fellow CHP holders from the 25 states that are about to lose recognition from Virginia on February 1st 2016.
“All of you who have visited Virginia over the years have been exemplary and have not caused any problems within the Commonwealth.
This is NOT about you or anything you have done that was wrong.
It’s about our Governor, Terry McAuliffe, and our Attorney General, Mark Herring, who were both elected by a very small margin, and are a great embarrassment to Virginians. Neither of these individuals are reflective of the attitudes toward liberty and freedom and the values that we cherish here in Virginia. In fact, both have been referred to as “lawless” by some of our own General Assembly members, many of who are going to work to fix the situation we find ourselves in.
Here in the Old Dominion, the anger of gun owners at what our Attorney General has done is palpable, and I cannot remember anything to match it. Herring and McAuliffe have endangered your lives when you travel here and our lives when we travel outside of Virginia.
SIX MILLION CHP holders in half the country are affected!
HOWEVER, you do have a few options if you still want to come visit us:
- 1. Open carry is legal in Virginia – no permit required and you can open carry in most places in Virginia. Our police don’t bat an eye. VCDL’s website has a list of the places that you cannot carry. And, here’s another good reason to open carry: McAuliffe and Herring HATE open carry. But, hey, it was THEIR brilliant idea to prohibit concealed carry, so they will have no choice but to get used to a whole lot more people open carrying in Virginia!”
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUIRED
Contact Governor Terry McAuliffe and Attorney General Mike Herring. Let them know that you will keep your traveling dollars here at home our home state or spend it at states that honor our ability to protect ourselves. If you have have to travel to Virginia, let them know that you will be happy to open carry while you’re there.
Contact Information for Governor Terry McAuliffe
Email: https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/
Phone: (804) 786-2211
Contact Information for Attorney General Mike Herring
Email: https://ag.virginia.gov/ContactUsForm/ContactForm.aspx
Phone: (804) 786-2071
Go to www.EveryBladeOfGrass.org and sign the petition. Contact your friends, family and acquaintances to also sign it.
DELIVER THIS MESSAGE
Suggested Subject: “Reinstate Virginia’s conceal carry permit reciprocity agreements with North Carolina and other states”
Dear Governor McAuliffe and Attorney General Herring:
Your cancelling of Virginia’s conceal carry reciprocity agreements with North Carolina and other states affected does nothing to protect those of us who have to travel to your state. You have provided no evidence of any gun crimes committed by a conceal carry permitted North Carolinian, so this decision to attack the Second Amendment rights of law abiding citizens appear to be a political move to fill your coffers for your next election.
In order to protect me and my family, as a law abiding citizen, I have dutifully submitted myself to thorough background checks and am in full compliance with the laws of this state. This decision to deny my Second Amendment rights does nothing to make me safer if I find myself in Virginia.
If this cancellation indeed does go into effect on February 1st, 2016, gun owners like me will take our vacation dollars to other states where we are not denied our full rights as defined in the Constitution. If I ever have a need to travel to or through Virginia, I will do so with my handgun out in the open as to comply with your new law, which restricts conceal carry.
I will continue to monitor this issue through alerts from Grass Roots North Carolina.
Sincerely,
About:
Grass Roots North Carolina/Forum for Firearms Education is a non-profit, all volunteer organization devoted to educating the public about trends which abridge the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, and engaging in grass roots activism to preserve those freedoms. Formed in 1994 to conduct a highly successful rally for the Second Amendment, GRNC has gone on to conduct projects like “Remember in November: A Gun Owner’s Guide to Voting,” bringing concealed carry to North Carolina. Visit:www.grnc.org