"RICHMOND, Oct. 16 -- Northern Virginia lawmakers invoked the sniper attacks today in proposing firearm restrictions at local and state government buildings, but were rebuffed by rural and Republican colleagues who oppose new gun controls.

The Militia and Police Committee of the House of Delegates voted by wide margins to defeat a proposal by Del. James F. Almand (D-Arlington) to ban all guns except police weapons in the state Capitol and General Assembly office building in Richmond, which have several heavily used public hearing rooms.

Almand's proposal would have banned even those guns for which the owner had obtained a concealed weapons permit, he said.

The House panel also defeated a proposal by Del. James M. Scott (D-Fairfax) to bar handguns from the chambers of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which favored the restriction.

Trudy Brisendine, the board's legislative liaison, told lawmakers that local leaders had worked with Scott on gun control issues for seven years and strongly supported his latest proposal, "in view of what's going on in Northern Virginia, which has a lot of people concerned now."

Four of the sniper's 11 victims have been shot in Northern Virginia, three of them fatally in Prince William, Spotsylvania and Fairfax counties.

Philip A. Van Cleave, president of the gun rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League Inc., told the House committee that Scott's proposal would impose unnecessary restrictions on those with legal permits to carry firearms.

"We don't see there's any need to restrict law-abiding citizens from bringing protection into these meetings," said Van Cleave of suburban Richmond.

Similarly, committee member R. Lee Ware Jr., a Republican delegate from Powhatan, said he opposed Almand's proposed gun ban at the Capitol complex because visitors with registered and legally concealed guns have a right to carry them.

Virginia's concealed weapons law "would make things safer here, rather than not safer," Ware said.

The majority of members on the militia and police panel are gun rights advocates and hunting supporters who have a record of opposing gun restrictions and have sought to expand firearm carrying privileges in recent years.

Almand's bill mustered three votes in favor, 15 against; Scott's bill was defeated by a similar margin.

"In this day of heightened security, we're all safer the fewer guns we have in the seat of government," Almand said after the vote." (R.H. Melton, The Washington Post, October 17, 2002)