Governor McAuliffe has grossly misused his power to intervene in emergencies. There is no emergency that could justify his recent action. The governor  knew he could not get his anti-gun law through the legislature so he misused his emergency powers to skirt the legislative process in order to force a law he desired upon the people of Virginia.

This change in the law needlessly complicates it and will likely cause some law abiding citizens to unwittingly violate it as they go about their day to day activities. The governor has put at risk workers and visitors to state agencies, as vicious mass killers prefer to perform their nefarious acts in locations where intended victims are as defenseless as possible.

I have been a resident of Virginia for slightly over 3 years. I formerly resided in Maryland (for more than 40 years) where very very few people can carry firearms legally. I compared the murder and felonious assault rates of the two states for 2010, the year of the most recent census. Using FBI uniform crime statistics and the census data I determined that adjacent Maryland had a murder rate that was 61% higher than Virginia and a felonious assault rate that was more than twice that of Virginia. I have good reason to feel safer here in Virginia. Apparently, Governor McAuliffe wants to force laws into existence to make Virginia more like Maryland.

I request that the period available for comments on Governor McAuliffe's action be extended beyond January 27, 2016.

John C. Dieman                                                                                                                                                                              Spotsylvania