What some see as a right of gun owners, others see as a recipe for disaster.
Now the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police is urging Gov. Bob McDonnell to veto a bill allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons in bars.
It's one of two gun-rights bills that passed the legislature this session.
The other allows gun owners without concealed-carry permits to store firearms in locked vehicle compartments.
Allowing concealed weapons in bars is a recipe for disaster, said Jake Jacocks Jr. in a letter sent to the governor on behalf of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police.
"We can fully expect that at some point in the future a disagreement that today would likely end up in a verbal confrontation, or a bar fight, will inevitably end with gunfire if you sign this legislation into law," Jacocks wrote.
The letter is unlikely to sway the governor, who has already said he'd sign the bill.
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The governor will "continue to protect and uphold the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens," said Taylor Thornley, the governor's spokesperson.
Similar bills passed the assembly in previous years but were vetoed by former Gov. Tim Kaine.
This year the two bills made it through the assembly before the Democratic-controlled Senate formed a special subcommittee to kill several gun-rights bills, including a repeal of the law limiting handgun purchases to one a month.
