Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc. (VCDL)

Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
PO. Box 513, Newington, VA 22122 • 804-639-0600 • 703-372-3285 • 757-271-3705 • 540-446-5783

09/12/09 - VCDL Update 9/11/09 - Part 1

Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VCDL Update 9/11/09 - "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws." =97 Tacitus (A.D. 55?-130?) 1. We are now on our way to 13,000 on VA-ALERT! 2. Survey USA poll: McDonnell and Cuccinelli leading Democrat opponents 3. Sound off on ObamaCare turns into opportunity to promote, discuss 2nd Amendment 4. Virginia Tech announces $10,000 reward for information about killings 5. Suffolk's city council aims at rifles 6. Fairfax Co. police search for mall parking lot attackers 7. Column: How is campus any different? 8. LTE: Competence is a key component in gun ownership 9. LTE: What is the issue with concealed weapons? 10. LTE: Carrying concealed weapons decreases crime rates 11. LTE: Good to know about lax gun laws 12. RTD improperly used "gunman" slur 13. Pro-gun opinion piece in the Washington Post 14. Washington Post reporter becomes a gun owner . . . well, almost 15. Accidental discharge in Danville, VA restaurant 16. Appomattox man charged in Campbell County invasion 17. Fredericksburg home invasion 18. RT LTE: Why does it always have to be about color? 19. Washington Times Editorial: False reports about guns 20. Anti-gun Roanoke Times column about CHP 21. Accidental causes of death in the U.S.A: Firearms are #7 22. Meditations on paper armour 23. What is an illegal gun that 400 mayors are against? 24. A warning from Massachusetts on gun rights 25. Carrying a gun for self-defense could cost you 26. Coburn dinner -- praises GOA, disses NRA 27. Glock 27 at long range (230 yards) 28. Has the 'assault' weapon scam backfired? 29. Gun control disproportionately harms African-Americans 30. New gun show 'study' uses emotion to push anti-gun agenda 31. Open-carry gun backers drop by popular car event 32. Gun owner uses a gun to rescue two from overturned SUV 33. VA-ALERT reader: 'slug article' numbers don't make sense ************************************************** 1. We are now on our way to 13,000 on VA-ALERT! ************************************************** The number of subscribers to VA-ALERT has nearly doubled in the last two years! Thanks to everyone who has worked so hard to promote VCDL to their friends and family members, and participated in VCDL events over the years. It is your hard work is what makes VCDL an effective organization and attracts more and more people to join our VA-ALERT list. ************************************************** 2. Survey USA poll: McDonnell and Cuccinelli leading Democrat opponents ************************************************** Interesting polling information on the Governor, LT. Governor, and Attorney General races here in Virginia. There is a ton of information about voters and their preferences broken out in the poll. According to the survey, gun owners prefer the Republican candidates over the Democratic candidates by approximately 62 to 32 percent, respectively. Non-gun owners prefer the Democratic candidates over the Republican candidates by approximately 52 to 43 percent, respectively. http://tinyurl.com/kka2ng ************************************************** 3. Sound off on ObamaCare turns into opportunity to promote, discuss 2nd Amendment ************************************************** "Guns Save Lives" stickers prove popular, spark debate at Mark Warner townhall meeting at Fredericksburg Expo Center. Bruce Jackson emailed me this report about passing out "Guns Save Lives" stickers at a recent Mark Warner townhall event. -- We, myself and the youngest, got there late, about 6:30, and started passing out the paper GSL stickers. We got about 3/4 through the first pass when they started. We finished by just making several passes through. Ended up giving out about 1000. The expo center folks estimated the crowd to be about 1400. They had set up 2200 chairs. People asked about the blue GSL stickers I had in my backpack. Sold a = few * $1 ea. I was approached by one women who stated "My nephew killed himself with a gun that was given to him by the chief of police so I find your sticker offensive." She then turned and started to walk off. I asked, "Are you going to give me a chance to respond?," but she kept walking. Emotion over logic in action...again. When it got closer to the end of the event we took a position by the doors and hawked both the blue (old standard) and the orange (new round) bumper stickers. Sold several of each. One person gave $5 for 1 sticker. Another handed me $20 and walked away. She came back about 10 minutes later and picked up one. One woman approached me and made an inverse comparison between the size of my gun and a specific body part. Funny thing was, my holster was empty as the event was anti-gun (what is the inverse of zero anyway?). [PVC: Infinity. Nice complement you got there, Bruce ;-)] One gentleman approached me and asked "How can you say 'guns save lives'?" I explained the study by Dr. Gary Kleck. He said he was on the other side of the issue, but it was something to think about and thanked me. Several asked what guns had to do with heath care . . . I need a better sound-bite for that one. The explanation that health care bills could easily be used to overrun gun rights was more than many could comprehend. At least one looked at me like I was talking about space aliens and stated, "That could never happen!" Total income for the VCDL $99.00. Total public relations value based = on the hundreds of thumbs up received? Priceless! ************************************************** 4. Virginia Tech announces $10,000 reward for information about killings ************************************************** Crime can, and does, happen anywhere and at any time: Students found shot to death at Caldwell Fields campground. http://tinyurl.com/kk9taf www.roanoke.com Virginia Tech announces $10,000 reward for information about killings University administrators and members of the board of visitors donated = $10,000 for the reward. By Tonia Moxley Friday, September 04, 2009 Virginia Tech is offering a $10,000 reward for information that helps solve the slayings of Tech students Heidi Childs and David Metzler last week in the Jefferson National Forest. Childs, 18, of Forest and Metzler, 19, of Lynchburg were found shot to = death on Aug. 27 at the Caldwell Fields campground off Craig Creek Road in Montgomery County. Childs was a biochemistry major and Metzler was studying industrial systems engineering at Tech. Both were sophomores. The couple was last heard from about 8:30 or 9 p.m. on Aug. 26. Police = have said they believe the killings may have been random because investigators have been unable to find a motive. Lt. Brian Wright of the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said police = are looking for any information that may be pertinent to the case. Tech announced the reward Thursday afternoon. The funds were donated by university administrators and members of the board of visitors who have asked to remain anonymous, Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said. "We're hoping against hope it will help provide important information," Owczarski said. Police have boosted patrols in that area of the county, Wright said. The U.S. Forest Service has also beefed up patrols in and around Caldwell Fields and the nearby Pandapas Pond day-use area, said Barbara Walker of the Blacksburg district office. Users of forest property are encouraged to travel in groups and inform = people of their whereabouts. "These are good cautions to have any time, but especially right now," Walker said. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff's office at 382-2951. ************************************************** 5. Suffolk's city council aims at rifles ************************************************** Suffolk's council votes unanimously to leave rifle laws unchanged. VCDL Board member John Fenter is quoted. Bruce Jackson emailed me this link: -- http://tinyurl.com/ncmxom www.suffolknewsherald.com City council aims at rifles New rifle rule: Same as the old one By Tracy Agnew | Suffolk News-Herald Published Wednesday, September 2, 2009 After lobbying for and gaining the right to set its own rules regarding the use of rifles in the city, Suffolk's city council chose to make no changes to the regulations on Wednesday. Council voted unanimously to institute the same law the state had in its code last year. Three people spoke during the public hearing regarding the new ordinance, which prohibits the use of a rifle of any caliber for the hunting of bear and deer in Suffolk, except in the Great Dismal Swamp. Suffolk is creating its own rifle regulations after the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries repealed its regulation governing rifle use in the city, anticipating that it would be replaced by local regulation. The ordinance states rifles of any caliber for the hunting of bear and = deer in the city will be prohibited except in the Great Dismal Swamp. It also is unlawful to discharge a firearm or air gun of .177 caliber or larger in a densely populated area, within 100 yards of any structure used as a residence, business or storage facility without the permission of the owner; within 100 yards of any public street, except at a permitted firing range; or at or upon the property of another without permission. The restrictions do not apply to law enforcement officers engaged in the performance of their duties, or in any situation in which the discharge of a weapon is necessary for the preservation or protection of human life or property. They also do not apply to the use of muzzle- loading rifles during prescribed open seasons in the city, but the use = of such rifles is permitted only from a stand at least 10 feet above the ground. Peggy Ferguson, who lives in the Lake Meade area, said she hoped the council would come closer to banning the shooting of rifles altogether. Ferguson came before the council in December 2008 to complain about gun use regulations after the back of her home was hit by four gunshots in November. "Four gunshots were fired at my house," she said."Potentially, if anybody had been in my backyard, up to four people could have been injured or killed." Ferguson said Wednesday she has become fearful of spending time in her = backyard or getting out of her car in the driveway. "I want to live in peace," she said. "I have to worry about whether I'm going to be shot." Ferguson accused some hunters of being lax in safety standards. She asked the council to increase the distance people must be from dwellings before they can fire a weapon. John Fenter, who was at the meeting representing the Virginia Citizens = Defense League, said he was satisfied with the 8-0 vote, even though he'd asked the council to delay a vote to research the issue more. He encouraged Ferguson to report irresponsible hunters to the game department, to the sheriff's office or to the police department to have them arrested. ************************************************** 6. Fairfax Co. police search for mall parking lot attackers ************************************************** Who needs a gun in broad daylight in a mall parking lot? Just ask the = man who was knocked unconscious and his arm broken in daylight robbery = in Springfield Mall parking lot. :-( Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this: -- http://tinyurl.com/ko2kbq Fairfax Co. Police Search for Mall Parking Lot Attackers 09/01/09 SPRINGFIELD, Va. - A man who was brutally attacked in the middle of the day at the Springfield Mall has a warning for shoppers. Surveillance video shows four men on the verge of a violent mugging in = the Macy's parking lot garage in the Springfield Mall. The man who survived the vicious mob-style attack wants to protect his identity because the men who beat and robbed him have not been arrested. "The next thing you know you're surrounded by criminals [lying] unconscious in the parking garage. I could've been killed," the victim = said. He says the incident occurred at 5:30 p.m. on a Friday when he got off = the Metro at the Springfield station. He says he was just steps from his car parked in the mall garage when he was grabbed by one man and punched in the face by another. He says was knocked out unconscious for at least 10 minutes. "After I woke up, there was [an] imprint of his fist in my forehead like right about there -- you could see four knuckles," he said. He suffered head injuries and a broken arm and his wallet and cash were missing. Sources say a similar violent robbery happened days earlier but this time, police have video of their suspects and a composite sketch of at = least one of them. "We are concerned that they are out there and we haven't caught them but we are making every effort to ID these suspects and place charges on them," said Officer Tawny Wright of the Fairfax Police Department. That particular parking lot in the Springfield Mall has been the scene = of violence several times over the past couple of years -- including the case of an Alexandria woman who was carjacked and later killed in a crash by her abductors. Shoppers say they need to know the history of crime to protect themselves. "It's good to alert people like this so people can be like = watching and talk to each other about it," said James Walbrecht, a shopper. The man who survived his attack says he's worried others will become victims. "I think something really urgently needs to be done about that place. I don't know what but the way it is right now is not sufficient." ************************************************** 7. Column: How is campus any different? ************************************************** Virginia Tech student decries campus rules barring concealed carry. http://tinyurl.com/nsxhob Column: How is campus any different? by Sam Stephens, guest columnist Wednesday, September 2, 2009 I feel like I lead a good life. I'm a student at an incredible school in one of the top 10 engineering programs in the country. I have an incredible family, any one of which I'd take a bullet for. I have good = friends and just recently I've landed the most amazing girl I've ever met. But even with all the good in my life, I still can't answer a question that I deal with everyday. Why do I feel the need to be armed = when I lead a life that seems so amazing? It's a hard question to answer when nothing tragic has ever happened to me directly. Indirectly, tons of things have affected me, but I've never been in that spot where my life has been on the line. To a lot of people I come across as knowledgeable about a lot of things. I know a lot about math, science, how things work, and I think = I know a good bit about my rights and which ones are being slowly taken from me by this current Congress. But I cannot pretend to comprehend why someone would take two students' lives in the middle of their camping trip. No one can answer = what was on Cho's mind when he killed 32 of my classmates, and I will never know why no one acted when the girl was stabbed and decapitated in front of her fellow Hokies. The one thing that I do know is that not a single one of the victims of these crimes stood a fighting chance. I do know that as soon as I cross onto campus I can no longer have my weapon on me even though I'm = a law-abiding citizen with a concealed handgun permit. So why can I legally carry my weapon on one side of the street, but if = I cross it, I'm breaking the law? And why is there a stigma associated = with those of us who legally carry a concealed weapon? A CHP holder committed none of the aforementioned crimes, yet our universities, Congress and the news media are against even answering the question of = how legally armed, everyday citizens could have at least attempted to defend themselves. I don't feel empowered or manly when I carry. I don't carry because I'm full of testosterone or so weak I can't defend myself with my hands. My friends would tell you that I'm a modest person, and one of the nicest people you'll meet. It's just a real shame that there are people who would take anyone's life, including mine, without a blink of an eye. It's just as big of a = shame that I have to leave my right to self-defense at home when I step on campus when my campus has been the focus of so much senseless crime. ************************************************** 8. LTE: Competence is a key component in gun ownership ************************************************** http://tinyurl.com/km2t7n www.roanoke.com Competence is a key component in gun ownership Thursday, September 03, 2009 Dan Casey must be one of those idiotic people he wrote about in his recent Sunday column ("Getting permit was the easy part," Aug. 30 [http://t= inyurl.com/l4m57c ]), otherwise, he could have easily not wasted his time finding out how a responsible, law-abiding citizen would go about getting a concealed carry permit in the first place. He didn't need to spend his time complying with the law and waiting to = be issued his permit. Instead, he could simply carry his loaded handgun holstered on his hip in plain view. Open carry in the commonwealth of Virginia is not prohibited. He could have made that decision in the privacy of his own home, while = he nursed a six-pack if he liked. Or he could have chosen to do like the common criminal does and not bother to comply with the law in the first place. Common sense dictates that one would take the necessary time to become = familiar and proficient with a handgun before carrying it concealed or = open. Demonstrating competence is the first step to being proficient and responsible. Now that Casey has a concealed carry permit, I hope he doesn't carry a handgun until he becomes proficient. KEN GORSKY, JR. Retired Chief of Police Former Firearms Instructor ************************************************** 9. LTE: What is the issue with concealed weapons? ************************************************** http://tinyurl.com/km2t7n What is the issue with concealed weapons? Thursday, September 03, 2009 Re: Dan Casey's column, "Getting permit was the easy part" (Aug. 30): I do not understand the point of this article. I see no difference between an idiot (as Casey puts it) getting a concealed weapons permit = who does not know how to use a handgun and the same idiot buying a handgun and strapping it on his side, out in the open. I would have to agree with Chris LaCivita that anyone wanting to get a = firearm of any type, concealed or not, should use common sense. I think Casey has issues with anyone having a concealed weapons permit. That's what I get out of the article. I, for one, do not need the government to tell me if I have enough common sense. Maybe Casey does. OPHUS A. HUTHERSON III GLADE HILL ************************************************** 10. LTE: Carrying concealed weapons decreases crime rates ************************************************** http://tinyurl.com/n9pv3c Carrying concealed weapons decreases crime rates Friday, September 04, 2009 Re: "Would more guns solve the gun problem?" Aug. 16 letter: Bob Willis' pitiful attempt to poke fun at the people who have the right to carry a concealed weapon clearly shows that he is no comedian. The screening process for such a license results in only law- abiding citizens receiving them. The crime rate is almost zero for this group. The ones to fear are the criminals who misuse guns, just as the people = who drive drunk misuse motor vehicles. The government-run news media would proclaim it to high heaven if someone with the right to carry a concealed weapon misused that responsibility. The answer to Willis' question is, yes. In every locality where the right to carry a concealed weapon has been tried, crime has decreased. = Willis should read the excellent book "More Guns, Less Crime." Liberals make a big to-do about tax tea parties and town hall meetings = over Obama Care bringing out crowds of angry people. If liberals keep trying to take away our Second Amendment rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, they have not seen the scope of the protests it will cause. GLENN WATSON MAX MEADOWS ************************************************** 11. LTE: Good to know about lax gun laws ************************************************** Come on in, Susan - the water's fine! http://tinyurl.com/n9pv3c Good to know about lax gun laws Friday, September 04, 2009 Thank you for having the guts to publish Dan Casey's column, "Getting permit was the easy part," on Aug. 30. I had no idea that our gun laws = were so lax, and I, for one, really appreciate your paper opening our eyes to this. Again, thank you, Roanoke Times, for publishing Casey's article on concealed weapons. SUSAN WOODS ROANOKE ************************************************** 12. RTD improperly used "gunman" slur ************************************************** Tom Mosca III emailed me this, hitting the nail on the head. Heck, I've even seen a reporter call a person who had STABBED someone a gunman! -- Dear Philip, For the record, emotionally charged, "politically correct" misinformation/imprecise technical terminology should always be challenged and corrected ... Yesterday the front-page headline of the Richmond Times-Dispatch read "GUNMAN SHOT BY POLICE DIES." Who was the "gunman?" Apparently a police officer shot someone. Is the police officer the gunman? If not, = why not? The reason is because "gunman" is a slur, intended to associate us with criminals. In my opinion it is no less distasteful than a racial slur. Imagine, if you will, the newspapers putting the race of a criminal in place of the word gunman. Would there be an outcry? I am a gunman, and you are a gunman. We are not criminals or terrorists. Take care, Tom ************************************************** 13. Pro-gun opinion piece in the Washington Post ************************************************** Deborah Jane Anderson emailed me this: http://tinyurl.com/m2p4x6 Gun Owners' Next Victory in D.C. By Robert A. Levy Washington The Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller, declared that Washington's 32-year ban on all functional firearms violated the Second Amendment. Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion, however, applied only to possession of guns in the home. The court did not address, and was not asked to address, firearms carried outside the home. That's the issue posed in a new lawsuit against the District by Tom Palmer (disclosure: my colleague at the Cato Institute) and four other plaintiffs -- represented by Alan Gura, the lawyer who successfully argued Heller before the court. After Heller, the District relaxed its ban on residents seeking "to register a pistol for use in self-defense within that person's home." But D.C. law still states that "[n]o person shall carry within the District of Columbia either openly or concealed on or about their person, a pistol, without a license." Currently, the city affords no process by which to issue such a license. A first violation of the carry ban is punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment for = up to five years. Does the Constitution mandate that the nation's capital allow firearms = to be carried outside the home? The right to bear arms, the court said = in Heller, is an "individual right unconnected to militia service." To = "bear" means to "carry." More specifically, when used with "arms," the = opinion said, "bear" means "carrying for a particular purpose -- confrontation." Nothing in that formulation implies a right that can be exercised only within one's home. Indeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, although she dissented in Heller, cited Black's Law Dictionary to suggest in a prior opinion that the Second Amendment entails a right to "wear, bear, or carry ..... upon the person or in the clothing or in a pocket, ..... armed and ready ..... in a case of conflict with another person." That language, = says Michael O'Shea in the West Virginia Law Review, "reads like a literal description of the practice of lawful concealed carry, as engaged in by millions of Americans in the forty-eight states that authorize the carrying of concealed handguns." Of course, Second Amendment rights, like First Amendment rights, are not absolute. Scalia was careful to note that "nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms." Lawyers call such statements dicta -- a statement not necessary to the holding and, therefore, not binding in other cases. Nonetheless, dicta can be important. Gura, for that reason, took pains = to fashion his new complaint to fit Scalia's framework. The Palmer lawsuit acknowledges that Washington "retains the ability to regulate the manner of carrying handguns, prohibit the carrying of handguns in specific, narrowly defined sensitive places, prohibit the carrying of arms that are not within the scope of Second Amendment protection, and = disqualify specific, particularly dangerous individuals from carrying handguns." Restrictions on carrying are permissible, but an outright ban is not. As Gura put it, the District "may not completely ban the carrying of handguns for self-defense, deny individuals the right to carry handguns in non-sensitive places, [or] deprive individuals of the right to carry handguns in an arbitrary and capricious manner." Proponents of a total ban have seized on another of Scalia's pronouncements in Heller. He pointed out that 19th-century courts considered prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons "lawful under the Second Amendment or state analogues." That statement, too, is dicta. Perhaps more significant, open-carry rather than concealed- carry was the preferred mode of arms-bearing in the 19th century. To be sure, some states prohibited concealed-carry, but only because they = allowed open-carry -- an alternative that the District probably would reject. An early Georgia case, for example, upheld a concealed-carry ban but struck down an open-carry ban. Ditto for other cases cited in Heller. Essentially, the Second Amendment demands that peaceable citizens be allowed to carry defensive weapons in some manner. The right to bear arms can be limited, but it cannot be destroyed. Prediction: The courts will (and should) invalidate Washington's unconditional ban on carrying, as well as similar bans in Wisconsin and Illinois, the only two states to have such bans. Regulations consistent with the Heller opinion will be permitted. But the Supreme Court has affirmed that the Second Amendment secures an individual right, expressly enumerated in the Constitution. That means government = has the burden of demonstrating that its proposed regulations are necessary. Robert A. Levy is chairman of the Cato Institute and was co-counsel to = the plaintiffs in District of Columbia v. Heller. ************************************************** 14. Washington Post reporter becomes a gun owner . . . well, almost ************************************************** A Washington Post reporter required to buy gun for an article was surprised to find out that he liked shooting. I'm not surprised that he was surprised, though. Deborah Jane Anderson emailed me this: -- Philip, I found this really great story in the Washington Post today. It blew me away, to be quite honest! Anyway, a reporter for the Washington Post (a young dude -- late 20s, early 30s) was supposed to just go through the whole process to get a gun in DC so he could do a story on the process -- but in the end, he ends up loving the shooting experience, and he decides to keep the gun = permanently. The only problem is that his wife so strongly objects to = having it in the home, he decides to bring the gun back, but still go to the range to shoot . . . rented guns. You REALLY have to see the video that accompanies the story, too. To put it mildly, the video is PRICELESS -- and I think the best part of the video is when he goes back to the range all by himself! You can tell he's really HOOKED on shooting! Never did I think I'd see something so pro-gun in the Washington Post -- but, today I just have to say, "Will wonders never cease?!" I'm gonna e-mail the reporter and encourage him to come out to the next VCDL meeting in Annandale -- and I'm gonna encourage him to move to VA, too, so that he can FULLY exercise his rights under the Second Amendment! He needs to be reassured that owning a gun -- and keeping it in his home for protection -- is the best thing he could do. Blessings, Deborah Jane Anderson http://tinyurl.com/nn9qdt Get a Gun in D.C. -- Do You Feel Lucky? Not Just Strict Rules Test Your Decision By Christian Davenport Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, September 2, 2009 It took $833.69, a total of 15 hours 50 minutes, four trips to the Metropolitan Police Department, two background checks, a set of fingerprints, a five-hour class and a 20-question multiple-choice exam. Oh, and the votes of five Supreme Court justices. They're the ones who = Continued ...