Hey all,
I was wondering if anyone knew if there are any laws that stretch out over the entire state. And if anyone knows about Fairfax county laws, that would be extremely helpful as well! Thanks and HH!!
No, there would be no all-encompassing laws for detecting that cover "the entire state". That's because the state is broken down into various sub-entities: Cities, counties, and private land. And City and county can have different (or simply no rules, ie.: silent on the subject). So anything shown to you about state-of-Virginia (like if you looked at the FMDAC's state-by-state listing), only pertain to state-owned lands. And even then-so, only state PARK land (not all state land is state "park" land). So, unlike murder, taxes, etc.... something as benign as detecting, is not all encompassing. Most cities and counties are simply silent on the subject. But you're more than welcome to check at your city and/or county level, if you want. Check it for yourself, as opposed to asking a desk-bound person "can I?" type questions. If you see nothing there saying "no metal detecting allowed", then presto, it must not be prohibited
The link mlamp20412 gives is a good starting point. But I would differ with him on assuming or thinking that if you saw something there about "dig" or "excavate", that you must automatically equate that to detecting. Because verbage like that (alterations, defacement, etc...) exist in EVERY city and/or county codes, EVERYWHERE. I mean, duh, of COURSE you can't "vandalize" and "deface" and "alter" the public's property. Doh! Those things predate detecting, and are of course. When you think of it, all such words/text inherently and distinctly apply to the END result. Do they not? So if you've left the area exactly as you found it (covered your traces, stomped and fluffed up, etc...), then by logical definition, you have not alter
ED, or defac
ED, or excavat
ED anything, now have you? Might someone debate you on the semantic of that, since there's the temporary evil process of extraction? SURE! Avoid such lookie-lou busy-bodies, and go at low traffic off-times (after 6pm, etc...)
