Monday, the Falls Church City Council approved a 2017 Legislative Program of priorities for legislative action in Richmond that it will forward to members of the delegation representing the City, State Sen. Dick Saslaw and State Del. Marcus Simon, in advance of the convening of the annual legislative session in Richmond in early January.

The document includes the City School Board’s legislative priorities and it recommends that the legislative programs of the Virginia Municipal League be adopted. Listed as priorities in the City’s program are matters related to public safety, including a request that the City be allowed to adopt an ordinance prohibiting possession of firearms and other dangerous weapons in any City-owned or publicly leased property or facility, including recreational facilities and libraries, City administrative offices and meeting rooms where Council and other boards and commissions formally meet to conduct the City’s business, and also to authorize the City to adopt an ordinance prohibiting an individual from knowingly possessing any firearm while such person is in a school zone, which is defined as the area within a distance of 1,000 feet of a school.