BY CHELYEN DAVIS

RICHMOND—One group of citizens roaming the Capitol to lobby legislators yesterday  wore orange stickers that read “Guns save lives.”
On the lapels of another group were stickers reading “Background checks save lives.”
With many people off work for the holiday, Monday was a popular lobby day at the General Assembly, and the two sides of the gun debate were there in full force.
The pro-gun folks kicked their rally off first, standing in the cold outside the Bell Tower in Capitol Square and talking about their constitutional rights.
“The 2nd Amendment does not say ‘after you secure a permit,’” said Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jamie Radtke, speaking to the crowd.
Philip Van Cleave, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said his group will lobby this session in favor of a bill that would repeal the one-gun-per-month law. Van Cleave called the 20-year-old law “totally unnecessary.”
They’ll also support a bill from Del. Mark Cole that would eliminate Virginia’s concealed carry permit, making it so that anyone legally able to carry a gun could carry openly or concealed, without a permit.
Van Cleave said he also will push for a bill that limits the ability of state agencies to restrict the carrying of weapons, and his group favors bills to allow professors, at least, to carry guns on college campuses.
Van Cleave said he hopes to find the legislature more open to gun-friendly bills now that Republicans control both houses.
He called the bills’ chances “much better than the last few years.
“Given a fair shake, I think our gun bills will do fine,” Van Cleave said. “We have a good shot of getting a lot of these bills through. The makeup of the Senate is key. [I’m] definitely a lot more optimistic than I was a year ago.”
In the back of the crowd stood Lori Haas, who became a gun-control advocate after her daughter was wounded in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.
She is affiliated with several groups—including the Virginia Center for Public Safety and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, and said they oppose most of the bills Van Cleave supports.
“We think the laws on the books are reasonable,” Haas said. “In no way, shape or form do we need to weaken the laws in Virginia.”
Later in the afternoon, those groups held their own rally and vigil for people killed with guns.
Colin Goddard, who was also injured in the Virginia Tech shooting, spoke. He said that if an armed citizenry were the antidote to gun violence, America “should already be the safest place in the world.
“Guns are not the solution to gun violence,” Goddard said.
Sen. Don McEachin, D–Richmond, said he plans to introduce a bill that will expand background checks on gun purchasers. He would require all purchasers to undergo a background check—currently a buyer does not need a background check if buying from a private seller.
McEachin said it was important to make sure people who aren’t allowed to buy guns—former criminals, the mentally ill and others—don’t get them, and to ensure that “we don’t accidentally arm terrorists.”
Chelyen Davis:  804/343-2245
cdavis@freelancestar.com