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Gary Slider

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Virginia has put politics front and center starting February, 1, 2016 with them no longer honoring 25 states they use to honor. Virginia State Police - Concealed Handgun - Reciprocity and Recognition It is all politics no matter what any VA government official states. I want to remind everyone that the Progressives literally hate Open Carry. Well in Virginia you can keep a loaded handgun in your vehicle without any type of permit/license to carry as long as it is visible like on the seat or dash. You can also keep it in the console or glove box but it has to latch. It doesn't have to be locked but the law states closed with a latch. A console or glove box that you have to push a lever or button on to open would be considered latched.

When you exit your vehicle you don't need any type of permit/license to Open Carry. It is perfectly legal in Virginia and many already do. There are a few places that you can't open carry that you can conceal carry with a valid permit/license that Virginia honors. See the Virginia page at Handgunlaw.us for more information on open/concealed carry in Virginia. The Virginia Citizens Defense League Virginia Citizens Defense League - Home will have a lot more information on VA laws but they are in the process of moving their website to a different server at this time and it will be a couple weeks before they get all their information moved.

If you wish to contact the Governor and or Attorney General of Virginia and voice your opinion on dropping those 25 states you can do it at the Sites below. Do let them know you will be open carrying, not visit Virginia or your personal reason because of dropping your state. Do be cordial with your replies. Remember we are the good guys/gals and it doesn't do us any good to stoop to their level.

Governor: McAuliffe: https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office/
Attorney General Herring: Attorney General of Virginia Template

Starting with the New Year Texas will officially be an open carry state for handguns but it does require a permit Texas issues or honors to legally open carry. There is a specific sign, 30.07 that businesses can post to ban open carry. There is also a sign, 30.06 that bans concealed carry. They can post one just banning open or concealed carry or post both signs banning both open and concealed carry. Texas law also states if you are open carrying you have to carry it either in a shoulder holster or a belt holster.

With the New Year California's new law goes into effect banning the carrying of firearms on all school property Kindergarten through Colleges/Universities.

For those who want a good resource on bills introduced/passed at the state and federal level here is the place to look. https://amgoa.org

Right at 5,000 bills were introduced that concerned firearms at the state level. About 200 became law. Many never had a chance to pass. Some had a very minor effect on firearms. Some restricted firearms in some way but some were positive changes.

311 bills concerning firearms were introduced at the Federal Level. Very few passed.
Here are some of the positive things that happened in 2015,

Ohio adopted universal recognition for handgun permit/licenses.
Kansas went Permitless Carry.
Maine went Permitless Carry.
Florida allows Permitless Carry during a declared state of emergency.
DC started issuing permits even though it was May Issue. (It is a good start for DC and the courts are involved.)
Wisconsin eliminated their waiting period to buy firearms.
Clark County Nevada had to do away with their handgun registration.
40+ School Districts in Ohio now allowed armed staff. Other states/local school districts are also allowing staff to carry.
Texas is now an Open Carry State and Campus Carry will begin Aug 1, 2016.
There are many others these are just the ones that come to mind.

If you want to see the changes over the years you can see that in a very nice graphic at
http://www.gun-nuttery.com/rtc.php

On February 6, 2016 Handgunlaw.us will be 10 years old. Time really does fly and the changes over the last ten years have even surprised us. Reciprocity has exploded and many states have rolled back places we were not allowed to carry. The May Issue states have complicated the firearms issues with more restrictions and even registration of the mythical assault weapon and/or higher capacity magazines. In today's world Sheriffs and Police Chiefs are telling permit holders to carry all the time as they are really the "First Responders." Yes we have had setbacks but we have also made major leaps forward. Handgunlaw.us believes 2016 is going to be another good year for most of us who take responsibility for ourselves and our families! There will be some of us who will not fare as well. We can only have faith that the coming election will bring us something more than Hope and some loose Change in our pockets! Happy New Year from Handgunlaw.us and Stay Safe out there!!!!
 
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Just got word from New Hampshire that they have agreed with Maine to honor each others permits to carry. Another + for us Good Guys/Gals!!!!
 
Happy New Year Gary. I thank you for keeping us so well informed. Your web site was a great help to me this past summer when I traveled from AZ to TX.
 
Thanks, good info.
The silver lining in Va. Is that when the state legislature reconvenes shortly, they have stated they will pass a law reversing this move and make it illegal in the future without legislative approval.
Here's to hoping!
 
As an NRA Instructor I refer all of my students to your site. For my personal useage, I print out the laws of any state I might possibly travel into and then keep them in a file folder behind the driver side seat of my Mercury Mountaineer.....

So handy to simply dig it out and see the differences between states.....Not much differences between states here in the West where I live...but very handy when I go see my best friend in Florida..Even though Montana law is patterned after Florida law there are some differences....So, I look it up to be sure.

Thanks so much for your fabulous and easy to use site!!

Randy
 
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Am I Legal?

Gary, I'm new to carrying across state lines. As a snow bird from NY I will drive thru NY, PA, WV, VA, NC, SC, GA & FL with carry permits from NY, PA & FL. 1. VA law changed effective Feb 2016 as it will not honor reciprocity from my FL permit so here is my understanding of what will keep me legal. My carry gun goes from my hip to my glove compartment and thus I'm in a "vehicle carry" status which I understand is legal when traveling thru VA.
Can you confirm: AM I LEGAL? Also: 2. Similar situation in SC where I can "vehicle carry" only: AM I LEGAL? also I understand it's legal to transfer my gun from my vehicle to my rental unit in SC.

Thanks in advance.
 
Thank You Gary much so I have 2 permits to carry but live in New Jersey one of the very few Hopeless States .
 
GrandpaDan, You are correct but I highly recommend you go to
Handgunlaw.us and click on
RV/Car Carry in the left column. There it list of carrying in all the states you will pass through and what is legal for you to do in each state. This listing is just the RV/Car Carry Section from each states page. Put it there as a lot of people ask about that info when traveling and wanted it all in one document.
 
growr, Glad you found the site very useful. I don't recommend printing out the pages. Reason I don't is because things are changing all the time. Once you print a document that will not stay static for its life it is outdated. Things change every week. Some are very minor but some are major. Just like VA. on Jan 31, 2016 it is legal to carry in VA with 30 different states Carry Permit/Licenses. On Feb 1st it will only be legal to carry concealed in VA with just 5 states permit/licenses.
 

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