The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Amanda Chase, is the mother of a first responder. (Photo: Facebook/Sen. Amanda Chase)
The Virginia Senate passed legislation this week that would allow firefighters and emergency medical personnel to carry concealed firearms, provided they have obtained a concealed-carry permit and been given permission from the fire chief or emergency medical services chief.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Amanda F. Chase, argued that emergency personnel are often called to the scene of a volatile situation where law enforcement has not yet arrived, especially in more rural areas. As the mother of an EMT, she said that emergency responders might need to defend themselves.
Led by Democrat Sen. Jeremy S. McPike, opponents argued that allowing emergency personnel to be armed without training would pose a danger and create legal liability.
The freshman Sen. Chase already made a splash this legislative session when she appeared on the chamber floor with a .38 Special on her hip. While quite a few Virginia legislators carry firearms on the chamber floor, most do not carry openly. Chase argued that openly carrying a firearm provides a deterrent to unwanted advances.
SEE ALSO: BREAKING: Sen. Cornyn Reintroduces National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Legislation
“I’ve had people get in my face. I’ve had people come up and try to touch me inappropriately,” Chase said. “And it [the gun] is a deterrent.”
Usually Chase carries concealed because she doesn’t want to alarm her colleagues.
“I respect that it may raise an eyebrow with people, so I always conceal-carry,” Chase told the Washington Post. “I don’t want to raise an alarm for other people.”
Chase first decided to carry openly after one of her colleagues, Sen. Richard H. Black, was accosted by immigration activists who were angry after he presented a bill to ban sanctuary cities.
SEE ALSO: Arkansas Governor Signals Support for Reduced Concealed Carry Fees
“It concerned me,” she said of the incident with Black. “I’ve had threats. I’ve had stalkers since I’ve been in the General Assembly. I am going to continue to represent the issues that are important to my constituents, and I’m not going to be intimidated by people who would try to physically harm me.”
The senator said that many of her colleagues have given her a “positive reception,” some of them calling her a “badass.”
Others have been less supportive. Senate Minority Leader Richard L. Saslaw mockingly suggested she adopted the nickname “Senator Annie Oakley Chase.”
“If she gets in an argument, what’s she gonna [do], pull out a gun and shoot them?” he said. “I just think it’s absurd.”
Chase’s EMT bill passed on a narrow party-line vote (21-19) and now heads to the House, where a similar measure was defeated by the Republican-controlled chamber. Virginia’s governor is an anti-gun Democrat, Ralph Northam.
Stupid autocorrect should’ve been just say’n.
Open carry is only “dumb ” because the “elite,s” fooled society into believing it was to”civilized “to have to need to defend themselves. Their claims of how violent the “wild west”was because almost everyone had guns is major BS! Criminals would not attack civilians if they knew that they might end up taking a dirt nap .2nd amendment clearly says right to keep and bear arms, doesn’t say only concealed arms.To me bad guys not knowing that I’m bearing my arms, makes them think, mess with them and it could get shot! Everyone open carrying might just stop them in there tracks! Just say!
Open carry is a bad idea. It makes you the first person to be taken out when a bad guy walks into the room.
Interesting point, Dick. And you’re probably correct in a potential active shooter situation. But then you’d have to weigh that against the number of crimes that DON’T get committed where someone is carrying openly. Problem is, it’s impossible to determine how many crimes have been prevented by open carry. Bottom line: Follow your instincts.