The proposed regulation will have the opposite of the intended affect by playing into the hands of terrorists, violent criminals, and the criminally insane.  We have had no shootings in state agencies and this prohibition on those with a concealed handgun permit, some of whom have active and ongoing threats to their lives, is entirely without any justification, and needlessly and recklessly endangers innocent lives.

The proposed regulation is a solution for which there is no problem.  It endangers state employees, law abiding citizens, and the innocent by making state buildings a safe zone for terrorists, criminals, and the criminally insane to conduct their criminal and often savage actions. Disarming good citizens (who are the only ones likely to obey the prohibition) does not make them, or state agency personnel, any safer. Off-duty police officers are prevented from going about their business while legally armed. And if parking lots are included in the ban, citizens hoping to engage in business with the Commonwealth will be illegally disarmed by the Governor when going to and from their residences and everywhere in between. If time and space allowed, I could easily list many more instances and situations where this regulation provides infringements on safety and constitutionally protected rights.

Please consider as well that the Governor has no authority for this regulation. If the General Assembly wanted the Governor to have such power, they would have granted it to him explicitly, as is required constitutionally. The Governor is NOT Barack Obama.

This regulation should not be approved and the emergency regulation withdrawn. The comment period should be extended for another 30 days.