A Virginia House Bill (no. 567) was pre-filed on January 6, 2020, and then offered on January 8, 2020, is designed to shut down all gun ranges not owned by the state government. According to House Bill 567, any indoor shooting range would be prohibited by law – UNLESS it was inside of a building owned by the state. And any business owners who decided to defy the law could be facing up to a $100,000 fine and potential civil penalties. As commie as this is, the interesting thing about the bill is that these provisions seem to be targeted at the NRA headquarters range in Fairfax, Virginia. In fact HB 567 contains a number of provisions that single out the NRA HQ range from all other ranges.

The provisions of the bill are as follows:

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title 18.2 a section numbered 18.2-511.2 as follows:

§ 18.2-511.2. Indoor shooting ranges; prohibited in private buildings; exceptions; penalty.

A. As used in this section, “indoor shooting range” means any fully enclosed or indoor area or facility designed for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes, skeet, trap, or black powder or any other similar sport shooting.

B. It is unlawful to operate an indoor shooting range in any building not owned or leased by the Commonwealth or the federal government unless (i) fewer than 50 employees work in the building or (ii) (a) at least 90 percent of the users of the indoor shooting range are law-enforcement officers, as defined in § 9.1-101, or federal law-enforcement officers, (b) the indoor shooting range maintains a log of each user’s name, phone number, address, and the law-enforcement agency where such user is employed, and (c) the indoor shooting range verifies each user’s identity and address by requiring all users to present a government-issued photo-identification card.

C. Any person that violates the provisions of this section is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 nor more than $100,000 for the initial violation and $5,000 per day for each day of violation thereafter.

The NRA HQ range is located in the NRA HQ building at 11250 Waples Mill Rd. in Fairfax, Virginia.

• It is indoors.
• It is privately owned.
• More than 50 employees work in the building.
• It is open to the public.

After doing a little digging, we found that only one of the other indoor ranges in Virginia even remotely matched the provisions outlined in the bill. That range was the Colonial Shooting Acadamy, in Richmond, Virginia. The range is a large 3 story building. It has a few more than 50 employees working in its building. It is the biggest indoor range in Virginia. Colonial would like to expand and hire more employees. However this bill would make growth illegal. These provisions seem to be targeting 1 range in particular. The NRA range.

To be fair, the bill would likely face challenges under both the Virginia State Constitution and the federal Constitution under the Second Amendment. The availability of gun ranges, to serve the public, is protected to some extent, by the Second Amendment as ruled by the Seventh Circuit.

It seems unlikely that the Virginia bill would meet the requirements to become law up against the Second Amendment. But, there seems to be an assault on the the 2nd amendment and those supporting it (in this case the NRA) by those elected to defend it. Government officials have no problem spending your money to take your rights away. Lawsuits required to defend against these laws infringing on the Second Amendment in Virginia are costly and are always funded by private individuals. Americans. Patriots.

Patriots must band together into groups or organizations to fund these lawsuits. If not the NRA, then GOA. If not GOA then SAF. Hell, join JPFO if it suits you, but do not allow lawmakers to silence any group defending our Constitution against those legally sworn to do so.