By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
The concept of state preemption may be on the line in a case filed by gun groups and private citizens in Virginia challenging an ordinance in the City of Winchester that was adopted as a result of the Virginia General Assembly’s passage last year of a revision in state statute that allows local governments to adopt gun control regulations.
Winchester is located in northeast Virginia, a few miles northwest from Washington, D.C.
The 42-page lawsuit, which may be read here, was filed by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Gun Owners of America, Gun Owners Foundation, U.S. Law Shield of Virginia, Stonewall Arms and four private citizens. They are represented by attorneys Gilbert Ambler of Winchester, Robert J. Olson and William J. Olson, also based in Winchester, and David G. Browne of Richmond.
Named as defendants are the City of Winchester and Police Chief John Piper, in his official capacity. The lawsuit was filed in the Circuit Court for the City of Winchester.
While the National Rifle Association is based in Virginia, and had even cautioned its members about the gun ban when it was first proposed earlier this year, NRA is not a plaintiff.
Winchester’s ordinance prohibits carrying firearms, even with a carry permit, in certain public places. The VCDL says the ordinance “puts residents of and visitors to Winchester into danger. The overwhelming number of mass shootings occur in ‘gun free zones,’ where criminals know they will meet little resistance, and thus this ordinance increases the danger to every person who lives, works in, or visits Winchester.
“A similar Fairfax County ordinance was challenged previously,” VCDL noted in a news release, “but the challenge to Winchester could be the first to be heard and help determine whether Virginians will continue to be able to enjoy their constitutional rights.”
Plaintiffs contend “the Winchester ordinance violates no fewer than four provisions of the Virginia Constitutions — those protecting: (i) the right to keep and bear arms; (ii) the right to be afforded due process of law by being given clear notice of what a criminal law prohibits; (iii) the right to free speech and assembly; and (iv) the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures,” according to the VCDL release.
Anti-gun organizations and many municipal officials don’t like preemption laws because they prevent local governments from adopting a hodgepodge of confusing and sometimes conflicting gun laws. Several states have adopted preemption statutes and they have been under constant attack from gun control lobbying groups and anti-gun local officials. Other Virginia municipalities have adopted their own firearms regulations since the Democrat-controlled General Assembly loosed its grip on gun laws last July. The lineup includes Alexandria, Arlington, Blacksburg, Charlottesville, Fairfax (city and county), Falls Church, Loudon, Newport News, Richmond and Roanoke.
