Guns are welcome in Stafford County Government buildings and parks.
The Board of Supervisors resolved to not pass any new ordinances banning guns during its meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2020. The move comes nine months after the Board of Supervisors declared the county a 2nd-Amendment sanctuary, where the rights of gun-owning residents afforded to them by the U.S. Constitution would be protected.
After the declaration, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law new legislation that allows localities to ban guns and ammunition from public buildings.
“When you elect clowns you get a circus,” said Hartwood District Supervisor Gary Snellings. “We’re here because [Republicans] didn’t snow up to didn’t vote [during the November 2019 General Election].
Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch introduced the ordinance passed by the Board.
“One of the worst feelings as a woman is to feel unprotected and defenseless, and even worse, to stand there and have a criminal know you are defenseless,” said Vanuch.
Supervisors passed the resolution with a 6-1 vote, with Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen dissenting.
In June 2019, Stafford County employees gathered at the county’s veterans memorial to honor former public works director Christopher Rapp, who was killed in a mass shooting inside Virginia Beach City Hall on May 31, 2019. Rapp served for three years as the county’s public works director.
The mass shooting served as the impetus for much of the gun-related legislation passed during the General Assembly session this year.
