State Senator Fires Back: Proposes to Strip Governor of Security Detail

PHOTO: Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe; official portrait

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VIENNA, VA — After the Virginia Attorney General announced last week that the Commonwealth will no longer recognize concealed handgun permits from 25 states, starting Feb. 1, there is a proposal afloat by a state senator that he says could strip Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe of his security detail.

States permits won’t be recognized because they have weaker laws that don’t meet Virginia’s standards, Herring said Tuesday when he announced the results of an audit of other states conducted by the Virginia State Police.

Protestors for more gun control gathered earlier this month in Northern Virginia outside NRA headquarters on the anniversary of the Sandy Hook school massacre. In attendance were the parents of Allison Parker, a TV reporter who was shot and killed by a former employee at the TV station in August while reporting in Roanoke.The gunman shot himself after police pulled him over on I-66; he was pronounced dead at Inova Fairfax Hospital. USA Today reported the gunman legally purchased the gun in Virginia.

Although the TV station where the gunman used to work detailed he was a disgruntled employee, it’s uncertain if any action was taken that would have shown up as a disqualification on a background check for the purchase of a gun in Virginia.

The new mandate by the Virginia attorney general goes into effect Feb. 1. It’s a measure that gun supporters don’t like.

Virginia state Sen. Bill Carrico (R-40th), says he plans to fire back partly due to concerns he says his constituents have who live on the border between Virginia and Tennessee; Tennessee is one of the states whose concealed gun permits Virginia will stop recognizing.

He tells the Bristol Herald Courier:

“A lot of the governor’s power is deferred to the General Assembly at that point and I’ll be getting with my collegues to circumvent everything this governor has done on this point,” he said. “I have a budget amendment that I’m looking at to take away his executive protection unit. If he’s so afraid of guns, then I’m not going to surround him with armed state policemen.”

The Virginia General Assembly convenes its regular legislative session Wednesday, Jan. 13 in Richmond.