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Virginia has recently passed a law requiring the state Board of Education to draw up a curriculum for gun safety education for elementary schools. Governor Bob McDonnnell vetoed one portion of the bill (the Virginia state constitution allows for partial vetoes) that would have permitted the Board to use material not only from the NRA's Eddie Eagle program but also from the National Crime Prevention Council (McGruff the Crime Dog's organization). Some find this objectionable. Opponents of gun safety education would prefer to indulge their irrational fears than to allow children to be provided with the knowledge to keep them...

Governor Bob McDonnell Signs VA Restaurant Carry into Law Fairfax, Va. - Governor Bob McDonnell has signed into law a NRA-backed measure allowing right-to-carry permit holders to carry a concealed firearm for self-defense in restaurants, providing they do not consume alcohol.  State Senator Emmett Hanger (R-24) and Delegate Todd Gilbert (R-15) were the principal sponsors of Senate Bill 334/House Bill 505.  “This is a victory for self-defense in Virginia," said Chris W. Cox, executive director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action. “As headlines remind us, violent crime can happen anywhere. Law-abiding Virginia residents now have the option to carry a...

An extraordinary contrast is emerging between the style and philosophy of governing as practiced in the executive mansion just north of the Potomac River and the Executive Mansion just north of the James River. In Washington, President Obama is borrowing, taxing, and spending with abandon -- with little apparent concern about the long-term consequences of his unprecedented expansion of government control of the economy and the claims it will make on future earnings of the American people. The president's agenda relies on one-party power and minimal attempts at compromise. In Richmond, on the other hand, Gov. Bob McDonnell has just...

Thank you for defending women's health! Dear xxxx, As we told you last week, the two remaining anti-choice budget amendments were stripped from HB30. While the budget conference committee meets behind closed doors, we know that several of our legislative champions fought hard for Planned Parenthood. Both Gov. McDonnell and A.G. Cuccinelli have vowed to do everything in their power to strip Planned Parenthood of state funding, so this victory is particularly important! TAKE ACTION: Please thank these legislators now! OR call them to say thank you: Senator Janet Howell (D-32): (703) 709-8283 Senator Edward Houck (D-17): (540) 786-2782 Senator...

Liberty University sued the federal government Tuesday, saying Congress lacks authority for the “power grab” it makes with the health care bill. “We are greatly impacted by this law,” said LU Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. “We think it is a travesty, a miscarriage of justice, and we want to challenge it. “We are honored to take the lead on this,” Falwell said. Joining LU as plaintiffs in the lawsuit were Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, Lynchburg City Councilman Jeff Helgeson, whose ward includes LU, and a woman who would be forced to buy insurance under the bill, said Mat Staver,...

RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell (R) signed Virginia’s opposition to the Democratically led federal health care reform bill Wednesday afternoon. The governor put his signature on the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act at a ceremony in Richmond. State Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, State Senators Steve Martin, Fred Quayle, Jill Vogel, Delegate Bob Marshall, and Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. Bill Hazel all took part in the event. “We all agree that we must expand access to quality health care and reduce costs for all Virginians. However, that should not be accomplished through an unprecedented federal mandate on...

Yesterday in Washington, our President signed historic health care reform that will make health coverage accessible and affordable for 1.2 million uninsured Virginians. But here in Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has decided to wage a fruitless war against health care reform -- by filing a frivolous lawsuit against the federal government. Today, Virginians are fighting back. The Democratic Party of Virginia launched a petition today, calling on Ken Cuccinelli to stop wasting our tax dollars on his political stunts. Sign the petition today and tell Ken Cuccinelli that the Office of the Attorney General is the people's law firm,...

Virginia Becomes the Latest State to Raise Its Speed Limit; Drivers in Mississippi Go Really Fast

Calling guns in bars a "recipe for disaster," the state's police chiefs have pleaded with Gov. Bob McDonnell to veto legislation that would ease Virginia's concealed weapon laws. Virginia Beach police Chief Jake Jacocks Jr. sent a letter to McDonnell last week on behalf of the state association of chiefs comparing the combination of firearms and alcohol with drinking and driving. "We can fully expect that at some point in the future a disagreement that today would likely end up in a verbal confrontation, or a bar fight, will inevitably end with gunfire if you sign this legislation into law,"...

Virginia - -(AmmoLand.com)- March 1st, 2010 marked the one year anniversary of Virginia Gun Owners Forum (VGOF), an online forum community at www.VaGunForum.net. After the 2008 elections and the democrat controlled senate many gun owners feared that their ability to purchase and own firearms would be legislatively restricted, so Rick Sandlin began work on VGOF – with the vision of creating a one stop shop for all information relating to firearm ownership in Virginia. Over 1200 individual users frequent VGOF, a bulletin board based forum to discuss anything from the latest Bushmaster rifle to state & national gun politics. As...

<p>The General Assembly became the first state legislature to approve a measure that bucks any effort by President Obama and Congress to carry out a national health care overhaul in individual states.</p>

If you want to know how obsessed The New York Times is with gun control in Virginia, take a look at the Web version of its story on John Patrick Bedell, the ill-fated Pentagon shooter.  In one of its first stories on the subject, the writers shoe-horned the gun control issue into it to no seeming purpose. Of course, the Times did have a purpose: slapping the backward yahoos down South.“Virginia, which has some of the most lax gun laws in the nation and has been pushing to expand gun rights, has been criticized lately by gun control advocates,” the...

Delegates Say They Want to Send a Strong Message to White House RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia's General Assembly is the first in the nation to approve legislation that bucks any attempt by President Barack Obama and Congress to implement the national health care overhaul in states like Virginia...

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia's General Assembly became the first in the nation Wednesday to approve legislation that bucks any attempt by President Barack Obama and Congress to implement a national health care overhaul in individual states. The Republican-ruled House of Delegates, with wide Democratic support, voted 80-17 without debate for the largely symbolic step aimed at the Democratic-backed reforms pushed by Obama and stalled in Congress. The vote sends the measure to Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell who intends to sign it. Thirty-four other state legislatures have either filed or proposed similar measures — statutes or constitutional amendments — rejecting health...

RICHMOND -- Hoping to quell a growing uproar on Virginia's college campuses over gay rights, Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) issued a directive to all 102,000 state employees Wednesday that prohibits discrimination in the state work force, including on the basis of sexual orientation, and warns he will reprimand or fire anyone who engages in it. McDonnell's directive comes a week after Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli distributed a letter to the state's public colleges and universities asking them to remove references to sexual orientation from their campus nondiscrimination policies. Cuccinelli argues only the General Assembly has the authority to extend...

RICHMOND - A Senate committee has rejected the so-called "castle doctrine" bill, which would have provided immunity from civil prosecution if you used lethal force to defend yourself and your home. House Bill 854 was proposed by Delegate James "Will" Morefield, a Republican from North Tazewell and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. It was struck down by the Senate Courts of Justice Committee on a 9-6 party-line vote Wednesday. All of the Democrats on the panel voted to kill the bill; all of the Republicans wanted to keep it alive. Mike McHugh, president of the Virginia Gun Owners...

"Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli says Virginia's public colleges and universities cannot prohibit discrimination against gays because the General Assembly has not authorized them to do so." http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/CUCC06_20100305-222004/328673/

RICHMOND, Va. - Gun control advocates thought they had defeated an attempt to repeal Virginia's "one gun a month" law. But there will be one more attempt this week to do away with it. Democrats shipped off the proposed repeal to a Senate subcommittee which killed it along with several other gun bills March 4. Prince William Delegate Scott Lingamfelter says they'll make one last attempt to revive the repeal in another committee Monday. "The level to which we are willing in the House to trust the decisions of law abiding citizens, it seems to me that the Senate has...

Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force Fairfax, Virginia (703) 931-2324 Contact: James Lafferty (703)931-2324 Virginia Group Urges Lawmakers to Boycott March 11 Session of General Assembly Radical Imam from “9/11” Mosque Will Open Session Richmond, Virginia – The chairman of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force (VAST) sent a letter today to every delegate in the Virginia General Assembly urging them to boycott the March 11 session where a radical imam from Northern Virginia is scheduled to open the legislative day in prayer. VAST Chairman James Lafferty said it was “a grave mistake” for the invitation to imam Johari Abdul-Malik. “In his public...

More information on the rally in Richmond, VA: http://novirginiataxincrease.com/