My dad is traveling to Virginia for about a week with a church group. After I talked to him, he has decided that it would be best to take his gun, leaving it in his vehicle, rather than not taking it as he was intending to. Now I'm trying to find out the best way he can do this. I've done a search and read through a few forums, and it seems that he has two options, since, as I said, he wishes to keep it in his vehicle. The options I see are:
1. Keep it in the vehicle, loaded, and visible, or
2. Keep it in the vehicle, unloaded, concealed, with the ammunition in a different place than the pistol.
Please tell me if I am wrong, and what you would recommend.
Thanks in advance.
You don't say if your dad has a recognized permit to carry concealed in Virginia, but from the way you worded your option 1, it may be a valid assumption that he does not, because if he did, he would not have to worry about it being visible.
However, there is a third option, a new law which just took effect in Virginia on July 1st allows him to store a loaded firearm in a "secured" container in the vehicle. The law specifically does not require the container to be "locked" due to the fact that the Governor changed the wording from "locked" to "secured" when he signed the bill into law. This change was then upheld by the General Assembly.
You may read the new portion of the concealed handgun law in Virginia by
looking here, then scroll down to the yellow highlighted portion, which is the pertinent change.
IANAL, but the general thought is that a glove box or center console that latches closed would be an acceptable place to store a firearm, even without a concealed permit. As noted, this is a brand new law, pretty sure there have been no test cases for it yet to see how the courts will interpret "secured".
Having said all that, I would strongly agree with the others, and advise against storing a firearm unattended in a vehicle. This change in the CHP law really only helps you while you are traveling in the vehicle with the firearm.
IANAL, so this is not legal advice!
TFred