Calling it "Operation Freedom's No Loophole," the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) will rally at the Virginia Capitol on Monday, January 17, 2011, also a federal holiday known as Martin Luther King Day.  In a press release issued today, VCDL declared its aim to "make Virginia both a 'shall accept' & 'constitutional carry' state this session." 

The "shall accept" bill, most recently adopted in Iowa and effective there on January first of this year, would declare that Virginia accepts all other state's concealed handgun permits.  The "constitutional carry" bill, most recently adopted in Arizona, would allow adults to carry handguns concealed without a permit.  Both bills have some caveats and restrictions.

Apparently in response to calls by some pundits around the United States for more gun control legislation since last week's assassination attempt on a US Congresswoman in Arizona by a mentally troubled man, VCDL declared that it "has a zero toleration policy regarding anti-gun legislation." 

VCDL President Philip Van Cleave's press release noted that in addition to pushing pro-gun legislation, he will focus his thousands of members' efforts "on defeating 3 odious efforts to roll back gun rights in Virginia.  The first would weaken Virginia’s preemption law and allow localities to ban gun carry in libraries (Delegate Bacote’s HB 1600), the second would ban gun carry in Capitol Square buildings (Delegate Hope’s HB 1813), and the third bill would register private gun sales and make it almost impossible to hold a gun show in Virginia (Delegate McClellan’s HB 1669)."

In past years, VCDL lobby day festivities have attracted upwards of an estimated 1,000 people (including families with children) in some years, many of whom carried handguns openly and concealed while lobbying legislators, speaking at legislative committee hearings, and attending the VCDL Bell Tower rally event.  The Virginia General Assembly Building, Capitol, and Capitol Square grounds will be open to the public, and VCDL's Bell Tower rally event with speakers starts at 11:00 AM.

Richmond area tourists have been known to stop by VCDL lobby day events in the past, as have some residents from nearby Maryland, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia, many of whom have obtained mail order gun carry permits accepted in Virginia from a number of sources, including the Virginia State Police and Pennsylvania Sheriffs.  Anyone planning to attend should arrive early if they want to find a street parking spot.  Street parking is traditionally free in Richmond on Martin Luther King Day.