http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2010/03/va_general_assembly_approves_b.html
Gun-rights supporters had reason to cheer Tuesday after the Virginia General Assembly gave final approval to a bill allowing concealed weapons permit holders to enter restaurants that serve alcohol. Two other bills friendly to gun owners also won final approval.
On a day when the U.S. Supreme Court was hearing perhaps the most widely followed Second Amendment case in years, Virginia's House of Delegates gave final passage to a Senate bill that opens bars to people licensed to carry handguns.
The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R), who is expected to sign it.
The measure would not prevent restaurateurs or bar owners from forbidding guns on their premises, its backers said.
The bill, SB334, sponsored by Sen. Emmett W. Hanger Jr., passed the House on Tuesday by a vote of 72 to 27. The Senate gave its approval 22 to 18 on Feb. 16.
Hanger's bill differed from a bill that passed only the House by adding criminal penalties for drinking alcohol in a bar while also carrying a handgun. Under the version that passed both chambers, drinking in a bar while carrying a weapon would be a misdemeanor.
A House version --HB505, submitted by Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) -- is expected to die with other House-approved gun-rights bills in a new Senate subcommittee packed with senators who are supportive of gun-control measures. But Gilbert said he was pleased that the measure passed, whomever the sponsor.
"We have been waiting a long time for a governor who would be more agreeable to advancing the rights of law-abiding gun owners," Gilbert said Tuesday.
The General Assembly also gave final approval to two other gun-rights bills.
Holders of concealed weapons permits could renew their licenses by mail under a bill sponsored by Sen. Ralph K. Smith (R-Roanoke). Smith's bill, SB3, passed the House on Tuesday by 81 to 18. It passed the Senate on Feb. 16 by a vote of 29 to 11.
The other bill, SB408, approved Tuesday, would allow any person who is qualified to possess a handgun to store the weapon, loaded or not, in a locked container or compartment in a boat or motor vehicle. SB408, sponsored by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel (R-Winchester), passed the House Tuesday by a vote of 74 to 25. The Senate approved the bill by a vote of 24 to 16 on Feb. 16.
