Surprisingly the anti-gun McAuliffe agreed with the Republican legislature to overturn the unilateral action of the AG who cancelled all the state's reciprocity agreements. Given his virulent anti-gun stance, I'm wondering what his motivation is. The concession he got was not really earth shaking.

 

http://freebeacon.com/issues/virginia-reverses-course-on-concealed-carry-reciprocity/

Pretty amazing: Democrats and Republicans working together to actually do something on guns.

The entire country sent him hate mail and threats, including Virginia. He said as much.

Wasn't the legislature going to strip him of his protective detail?

Word to the wise - this is not yet a done deal. It has to make its way through the legislature and be signed by the governor by 2/1.

 

From the article linked in the OP...

 

There’s no word on whether the legislation will be signed by the February 1st deadline imposed by the Attorney General’s original order or if Virginians will still lose reciprocity with those other states until it is signed.

 

Adios,

 

Pizza Bob

Here's another story with additional 'political' analysis of why this happened. Some additional background info too.

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/01/29/mcauliffe-retreats-on-carry-permit-reciprocity-restores-agreements-with-25-states/

Seems like republicans should have pushed for blanket reciprocity

Republicans really did not want to go for the win. Pitty.  In doing so, I believe they lost a good chance for setting the tone in VA legislature.  I guess they were too busy looking over their shoulder again, worried about backlash.  Republicans always missing the opportunity to grab the golden ring and settling for 2nd place.

From what I read, I think there were three dems that did this. If the governor didn't agree, they would back the republican side to get the majority needed.

Additional background information on this 'deal'. It may be that it wasn't really a compromise, just publicized that way. If it really plays out as foretold in this article, it's a real advancement for VA firearm owners.

 

http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/01/mcauliffe-reciprocity-retreat-actually-a-surrender/