Bill seeks to OK guns, ‘explosive’ materials in state buildings

Guns and “explosive material” would be legal in state buildings under a bill proposed by a Republican delegate and supported by a pro-gun lobby group.

The bill, HB 1166, proposed by Del. C. Matthew Fariss, R-Campbell County, would repeal a law banning firearms and explosive material within the Capitol and surrounding areas, as well as within buildings owned or leased by the Commonwealth. It would also apply to “any office where employees of the Commonwealth are regularly present to perform their official duties,” according to the text of the current law.

HB 1166 has been referred to the House Committee on Rules. Two bills identical to HB 1166, HB 513 and SB 75, were also recently introduced by Del. Marie March, R-Floyd County, and Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield County, respectively.

According to his website, Fariss has promised his constituents he will fight for their Second Amendment rights, citing his longtime NRA membership, as well as the importance of hunting and gun ownership as cultural traditions in central Virginia. Fariss was unavailable for comment regarding his introduction of HB 1166, due to illness that kept him out of the office for the majority of the second week of this session of the General Assembly, according to one of his assistants. He has since returned to the Capitol.

Fariss introduced HB 1166 three days prior to Lobby Day, during which the Virginia Citizens Defense League led a rally to repeal certain gun laws enacted over the past two years, according to WTVR-TV in Richmond. Among VCDL’s priorities is the repeal of gun laws that prohibit carrying a firearm inside the Capitol and other state buildings and agencies, aligning directly with Fariss’s introduction of HB 1166.

VCDL President Philip Van Cleave confirmed his organization’s support of Fariss and HB 1166 in an interview, saying that the measures to be repealed pending the passage of HB 1166 currently rank as the VCDL’s number two priority, behind repealing local gun restriction laws across the state.

“[Fariss] is an excellent delegate,” Van Cleave said. “His votes have always been excellent on gun rights.”

Van Cleave also affirmed the VCDL’s support of Fariss in the past, referencing a celebratory picnic thrown for Fariss in 2017 to recognize his position as the “number one pro-gun legislator in the house that year.”

The language of the law Fariss seeks to repeal makes it unclear whether this ban would apply to public colleges and universities as well, should it be repealed. Current law makes it illegal to carry a gun within “any office where employees of the Commonwealth or any agency thereof are regularly present for the purpose of performing their official duties.”

Van Cleave said that Fariss’s bill would prevent state gun laws from applying to public colleges and universities, although many of these institutions have policies set in place that make carrying a gun subject to a trespassing violation, which could result in offenders being charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor.

Ranking third amongst current priorities for the VCDL is amending a law that prohibits carrying a firearm within a preschool or daycare center, aligning with another bill recently introduced by freshman Del. Mike Cherry, R-Chesterfield County, which Van Cleave said the VCDL strongly supports. This bill, HB 133, has also been referred to the House Committee on Rules.

According to the law Cherry seeks to amend, it is illegal to carry a gun on the property of K-12 public schools. Should HB 133 pass, this stipulation would remain in place.

“Many of these private preschools and daycares operate on a church campus,” Cherry explained in an interview. One of these preschools is Life Christian Academy, where Cherry serves as Head of School.

“It’s one thing when you’re dealing with a department of education school that the state owns, or the city or locality owns, because then it’s a clearly defined property,” Cherry said. “When you’re going to a church, you don’t necessarily realize that. That’s the scenario that I see as being a potential hole [in the law], where we’re creating felons out of people that have no intent to commit a felony.”

As far as promoting any kind of long-term, pro-gun legislative agenda beyond the scope of HB 133, Cherry said, “that is not my intent in any way, shape or form with this bill. It’s not trying to eat the elephant one bite at a time.”