Gov. Bob McDonnell Ends Ban On Guns In State Parks

Gov. Bob McDonnell has ordered an immediate end to a ban on firearms carried openly in Virginia state parks.

The Republican governor ordered Conservation and Recreation Department Director David Johnson to stop enforcing the ban in a letter sent Friday.

McDonnell also gave initial approval to another administrative change allowing firearms to be carried openly in state forests.

Concealed handgun permit holders were already free to carry firearms. The right to openly carry guns is widely recognized across Virginia.

In his letter, McDonnell wrote that the department lacks authority under state law to prohibit firearms being carried in plain view.

McDonnell said it was clear that the General Assembly never intended to restrict firearms in parks. "Lacking specific legislative authorization to further regulate firearms, the Department of Conservation and Recreation can not promulgate a regulation that does so," he wrote.

The ban was put in place by McDonnell's predecessor, former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, now chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said J. Tucker Martin, McDonnell's chief spokesman.

"These regulations ... would simply allow law-abiding Virginians who legally own a firearm to exercise the same rights in a Virginia state forest or state park that they already possess while elsewhere in the commonwealth," Martin said.

In his letter to Johnson, McDonnell cites an opinion he wrote as attorney general on Sept. 26, 2008, answering an inquiry from then-Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican who is now attorney general.

In the opinion, McDonnell told Cuccinelli that although state laws don't explicitly permit weapons carried openly in parks, nothing in the law prohibits it, either.

Gun control advocate Lori Haas, whose daughter survived a gunshot in the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, said it was bad for public safety and for tourism.

"You really think we're going to get tourists to Virginia parks if people are carrying firearms everywhere," Haas said. "Who would want to be camping in a state park if the person in the next campsite is carrying an AK-47?"
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Eastern Shore Tourism Budget Cut Could Hurt Shore

With the tax revenue shortfalls currently taking place everywhere around us, many programs and services will be cut by local governments. The Eastern Shore Tourism Commission is currently looking at a proposed $20,000 cut to their budget from the Accomack County Board of Directors. Donna Bozza and Steve Potts of the Eastern Shore Tourism Commission say that is not a good idea.

"We need to feed our economic drivers. Tourism is an economic driver," said Bozza. "People come to our Welcome Center and our surveys show that they leave and go to towns up and down the Eastern Shore. So here we have tourists, coming into our towns and spending money in our stores."

If the Accomack County Board of Supervisors approves the cuts, it could lead to closings of the recently opened Welcome Center by the Bay Bridge Tunnel. Governor McDonnell has proposed increasing state tourism funding by approximately $7 million.

"These cuts would force us to close the newly opened Welcome Center several months out of the year," explains Bozza, then continued "there was an article in the Virginia Pilot recently about Virginia Beach opening up a new Welcome Center on the Seagull Pier that will be open and staffed 7 days a week. If our doors are closed, we will be sending the tourists over to Virginia Beach."

Bozza and Potts say the Eastern Shore Tourism Commission has been responsible for getting the Eastern Shore into many travel publications including the New York Times, Budget Travel Magazine, National Geographic, the New York Daily News and the Today Show. With the budget of the Tourism Commission cut, it will hinder the ability of the Commission to travel to meet with such publications and provide this form of advertising for Eastern Shore Tourism.

The next budget meeting will be Monday night at 5:00, which both Bozza and Potts plan on attending.

More Information Virginia Pilot Article About VA Beach Welcome Center

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