ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610030026
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TAZEWELL
A National Rifle Association lawyer is challenging a Virginia judge's requirement that applicants for concealed weapons permits get a mental evaluation.
Stefan Tahmassebi, an NRA attorney based in Fairfax, said Tazewell County Circuit Judge Don Mullins' policy goes against Virginia law.
``This is not a gun case,'' he said. ``It has to do with the very basic concepts of due process. This guy took an oath to uphold the law, and he sits in that chair abusing it.''
He abuses it, Tahmassebi said, by interjecting his own opinion into the proceedings and making his own law by requiring the evaluations.
The state Court of Appeals in Richmond overturned Mullins' refusal to grant the two-year permits to several Bluefield men. Two more appeals are pending.
Virginia's concealed handgun permit law was amended last year to reduce the discretion of judges in denying permits. The law does not demand psychosocial assessments.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Short : 30 linesby CNB