PA Bill Number: HB829
Title: In preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Description: An Act amending the act of April 12, 1951 (P.L.90, No.21), known as the Liquor Code, in preliminary provisions, further providing for definitions;
Last Action: Signed in House
Last Action Date: Jul 3, 2024
CPRC: UPDATED: Another mass public shooting, another place where the victims were banned from carrying guns, the attack at Virginia Beach :: 06/03/2019
Another horrifying attack and immediately gun control politicians and organizations are calling for more gun control laws. Former VP Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former congressman Beto O’Rourke, Cory Booker and many others put out calls for more gun control within a few hours of the tragedy. The question of “How many more?” is a question that we ask ourselves all the time. Now the desire “to do something” is very understandable, but let’s try to do something that would actually matter.
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Here is something that people might want to consider. Virginia Beach bans employees from being able to carry guns. In addition, while it was indeed possible for a civilian to enter the “Operations Building” where the attack occurred and carry a gun, the “Operations Building,” as its name suggests, was a building where virtually only employees would be in and indeed everyone who was killed in the building was a public employee. Note that the killer was a public employee and yet he still carried the gun into an area where he was banned from having a gun.
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Operations: IT; Planning; Public Works; Public Utilities; Communications and Information technology; traffic engineering; City/Schools Print services; Mail Room. Even with regarding Public Utilities, bills were not paid in that building. Bills were paid in Building 1, not Building 2. This operation actually ran the nuts and bolts of the Public Utilities. The attached picture below also shows how isolated this “operations” building is from the rest of the buildings.
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Not all municipal governments in Virginia ban employees from carrying guns. For example, it is OK for employees to carry in Bedford and, we are also told, Campbell Counties.
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The one person shot to death in his car outside the building is still missing information, but there are several points to make. Guns would have been allowed around there, though the relative isolation of Building 2 and the nature of who would be going in and out of that building is also relevant. Were there any other people in this area of the municipal center shortly after 4 PM? Was this person also an employee?
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More on our list of mass public shootings and gun-free zones since 1950 in the US is available here. For some of the quotes from the killers themselves on explicitly picking targets where people won’t have guns, see the information here. The prevalence of mass public shootings around the world can be seen here. Of course, all the mass public shootings in Europe since at least 1980 have taken place in gun-free zones.
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Here is a list of those who have been killed as well as information on their employment. Note that all but one of these twelve people were public employees who were banned from having a gun for protection.
- Laquita C. Brown of Chesapeake: A right-of-way agent with more than four years in public works.
- Tara Welch Gallagher of Virginia Beach: An engineer with six years in public works.
- Mary Louise Gayle of Virginia Beach: A right-of-way agent with 24 years in public works.
- Alexander Mikhail Gusev of Virginia Beach: A right-of-way agent with nine years in public works.
- Katherine A. Nixon of Virginia Beach: An engineer with 10 years in public utilities.
- Richard H. Nettleton of Norfolk: An engineer with 28 years in public utilities.
- Christopher Kelly Rapp of Powhatan: An engineer with 11 months in public works.
- Ryan Keith Cox of Virginia Beach: An account clerk with more than 12 years in public utilities.
- Joshua A. Hardy of Virginia Beach: An engineering technician with more than four years in public utilities.
- Michelle “Missy” Langer of Virginia Beach: An administrative assistant with 12 years in public utilities.
- Robert “Bobby” Williams of Chesapeake: Special projects coordinator with 41 years in public utilities.
- Herbert “Bert” Snelling of Virginia Beach: A contractor there to fill a permit.
The contractor was the one person who was killed outside the building. The Associated Press notes:
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Of course, the media seems immune to even discussing these points. The irony is that rather than going back and removing an existing policy that created a place where people couldn’t protect themselves, the attack will likely be used to make all the other buildings gun-free zones.
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