For 1 day, a gun is a line pass

-- Looking for a quick way into the General Assembly Building? Bring a gun.

You don't have to use it; won't have to brandish it.

If you have a concealed-weapons permit, you can use the equivalent of an express lane -- but only on Jan. 19, when the legislature is expected to be overrun by thousands in town for, among other things, the final public hearing on the out-of-whack budget.

When the General Assembly convenes Wednesday to conduct the people's business, one will be reminded just how difficult it can be for people to actually see their business conducted.

The state Capitol may be roomier because of a $105 million makeover and expansion completed in 2007, but it's still somewhat inaccessible.

Post-9/11 jitters require most people use a single entrance on Bank Street, clear security and then trudge uphill -- through a broad, underground corridor -- to the Capitol itself.

Last year, more than 103,000 people visited the Jefferson-designed edifice, according to chief docent Mark Greenough.

Parking is a nightmare.

Public lots are scarce. On-street parking is limited. Both can be pricey, particularly the latter if you get a ticket.

To accommodate our hard-working worthies -- they would be senators and delegates -- state employees who park beneath the Library of Virginia across Broad Street from Capitol Square temporarily lose their spaces.

Workers may get some relief and that may free up space for the rest of us -- but not for a while. The chairmen of the money committees are proposing the sale of $16 million in bonds to finance construction of a 1,000-space parking deck at Seventh and Franklin Streets, next door to the office tower purchased by the state last year.

The General Assembly Building, where most committees meet and legislators and their aides work, is akin to a Havahart trap: There's one way in.

And once you're there, you're often stuck.

The elevators, recently replaced, are in constant use. They can be as crowded as those in a department store at Christmas.

There are few places to take a load off. Only one for grabbing a bite or beverage: a cafeteria on the sixth floor. Some of the bathrooms recall VMI -- before women.

To get through security, visitors sometimes queue in the cobblestone plaza outside the building's main entrance, occasionally in the rain and snow.

There's no wait, though, for lawmakers, staff, lobbyists and -- yes -- reporters. They get frontsies by flashing a state-issued identity card.

The Capitol Police hope to break the bottleneck at the General Assembly Building, at least on the 19th, with a special entrance at Ninth Street.

That day, people packing heat, as well as the disabled -- those using wheelchairs, walkers or crutches -- won't have to wait and wait and wait.

Rather than walking through metal detectors, they'll be scanned by officers using hand-held security wands. Visitors carrying concealed handguns are required to show their permits and a photo ID, said Police Chief Kimberly Lettner.

Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights organization, is thrilled with the arrangement.

"Great news," he says in an e-mail to members. "For everyone -- you have your own fast lane!"

And because, with apologies to the Beatles, happiness is your own gun.
Contact Jeff E. Schapiro at (804) 6496814 or . Watch his video column Thursdays on inRich.com. Listen to his analysis Fridays at 8:33 a.m. on WCVE radio (88.9 FM).