On April 12, an affidavit arrived in the clerk’s office at Augusta County Circuit Court with a confession from Ralph Leon Jackson, the 56-year-old Stuarts Draft resident charged with first-degree and attempted capital murder in connection with the April 5 Blue Ridge Parkway shootings. The same day, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli attended a pro-gun rally in Richmond. According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the rally attracted more than 100 people, “many of them openly carrying firearms.”
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Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli reportedly told a crowd at a recent Second Amendment rally in Richmond that his office has “talked very clearly about being aggressive in protecting the Constitution, as it was written.” |
There is no word at present how Jackson obtained or carried his gun. Once disclosed, either factor could potentially complicate debate over policies from the reg-
ulation of sales at gun shows to the dis-
closure of concealed weapon permits. Until he pulled the trigger, Jackson was every bit as law-abiding as those who carried their weapons in the Richmond rally.
In fact, the Old Dominion is ranked by website OpenCarry.org (“A Right Unexercised is a Right Lost”) as one of 12 “Gold Star” states when it comes to the right to display a firearm in public. “There is complete state preemption of all firearms laws, open carry is increasingly common and law enforcement is well educated as to its legality,” according to the website.
When law enforcement arrested Jackson, they reportedly confiscated a car, a shotgun and ammunition. But as Lieutenant A.C. Powers of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office points out, a gun in a car is as legal as a gun in a rally in the Old Dominion.
“You can have a gun laying on the seat of your vehicle, [and] you’re fine. You don’t have to have a permit,” said Powers, whose office apprehended Jackson and continues to work the case. “But you can’t have it covered up.” Covering it up requires a concealed weapons permit, available for state residents age 21 or older and completed within 45 days.
While the open carry regulations have not changed considerably in years, a few new gun laws recently went on books. Last week, Governor Bob McDonnell signed House Bill 505 into law, enabling Virginians to pack heat in restaurants so long as they don’t cool off with a brew. McDonnell also passed House Bill 109, which means counties can no longer require handgun sellers to provide circuit court clerks with identifying information of either the purchaser or the gun.
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According to reports, 56-year-old Ralph Leon Jackson confessed to the April 5 Blue Ridge Parkway shootings. Lieutenant A.C. Powers of the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office said he’s seen more gun violence in Augusta in recent years. |
Meanwhile, for the third consecutive year, the General Assembly failed to pass legislation to further close the state’s “gun show loophole.” In 2008, Democratic Senator Henry Marsh introduced a bill to require criminal history checks of private individuals who buy, sell or trade firearms at gun shows. (Background checks are required when individuals purchase from licensed firearm dealers.) The bill was voted down in 2008 by a committee that included then-Senator Ken Cuccinelli, and has failed to pass in subsequent sessions.
“The General Assembly has rejected putting burdensome restrictions on private individuals buying or trading guns from one another,” wrote Brian Gottstein, director of communications for the Office of the Attorney General, in an e-mail. “For example, the bills that the General Assembly have rejected would have prevented a grandfather from giving a family rifle to his grandson without a background check.”
In Augusta County, where the parkway shootings took place, the number of concealed weapons permits has noticeably increased in recent years, according to Powers. The Augusta Expo will also host two gun shows during the next six months. Asked about the amount of gun violence in the county, Powers said there “seems to be more the last few years.
“You’ve got more population, you’ve got more crimes being committed,” he said.
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