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

08/18/09 - VCDL Update 8/17/09 - Part 1

Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VCDL Update 8/17/09 - Defending your right to defend yourself 1. VCDL President to speak at Liberty's 2009 Gun Rights Symposium. NRA instructors needed! 2. CHP Holders are the target of a nationwide hate campaign 3. RTD's Williams: "Bullet box" has no place in U.S. Democracy 4. Alexandria Mayor a member of "Mayors Against Guns" 5. LTE: Gun Control Advocates Wield Dishonest Numbers 6. Gun Owner Draws Scrutiny Outside Obama Town Hall 7. MSNBC Interviews Open Carrier at New Hampshire Town Hall 8. Video of NH police and open carry man at Obama rally 9. Second Amendment March at Virginia State Capitol has been Approved! 10. MARYLAND Transit Authority Police Harass Open Carrier in VIRGINIA Park! 11. Yet another STUPID move by Virginia Tech officials 12. States With Weak Gun Laws Fuel Illegal Gun Market? 13. Packing for school: Guns on campus one year later 14. Will gun rights be curtailed in the wake of the gym shooting? 15. Additional info concerning Mark Baker 16. Women, Handguns and Civilization 17. ATF: Officials see rise in militia groups across US 18. Send a Message to AARP on Gun Rights 19. Mona Charen: No Individual Initiative Please! We're Americans 20. Prospects Dim for Mexican Firearms Treaty 21. Who says people won't rob you for your groceries! 22. Lexington City Council repeals unlawful gun ban ordinance 23. Extra security at the Eric Cantor town hall meeting because of VCDL? ************************************************** 1. VCDL President to speak at Liberty's 2009 Gun Rights Symposium. NRA instructors needed! ************************************************** I have been invited to speak at the Liberty University School of Law's = 2009 Gun Rights Symposium on October 16. This event is open to the public. Details as well as directions are listed below. 2009 Gun Rights Symposium Hosted by Liberty University School of Law Sponsored by the Federalist Society Day 1: Gun Rights Lecture (open to everyone) Date: Friday, Oct.16th Time: 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. Location: Liberty University School of Law / Supreme Court Room Address: 1971 University Blvd. Lynchburg, VA 24502 Directions: Take U.S. 460 to Candlers Mountain Rd. exit. Cross over Candlers Mountain Rd. Parking lot is near LaHaye Ice Center on right. ALSO, on Saturday, October 17th, they are having a shoot for the law students and need some NRA instructors to teach firearms safety and keep an eye on the students as they shoot at a range. If you can volunteer to help, contact Jeremy Morris at: jrmorris2 *at* liberty.edu From the event flyer: -- On Friday, Oct. 16th, a panel of three gun rights experts will discuss = the current state of 2nd Amendment Rights & the right to Concealed Carry in the state of Virginia. The event is open to law students, undergraduate students, and the community. Food will be provided. Stephen Halbrook is one of the top Constitutional Scholars and litigators for gun rights. He regularly litigates on behalf of the NRA = and has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Robert Dowlut is Chief Counsel for the NRA and a member of the D.C. Bar. Mr. Dowlut is currently involved with numerous cases involving fallout from the Supreme Court's recent decision in D.C. v. Heller, 544 U.S. (2008) including a suit against the City of Chicago. Philip Van Cleave is the President of the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL). He is a leading advocate for the right to carry concealed firearms in the state of Virginia. Day 2: Barbeque and Gun Shoot (law students only) Date: Saturday, Oct. 17th Time: 1:00 =F1 3:00 p.m. Location: Izaak Walton League / Pistol & Rifle Range Directions: From Downtown Lynchburg Take U.S. 29 (Amherst Hwy) North to S. Coolwell Rd. Turn right at S. Coolwell Rd. Turn right at Izaak Walton Rd. From Liberty University Take U.S. 460 East to U.S. 29 North. Continue past 130 (Glade/Amelon Rd) to Izaak Walton Rd. Turn left on Izaak Walton Rd. The park is on the left. On Saturday, Oct. 17th, law students are invited to an outdoor barbeque and gun shoot at the Izaak Walton League Pistol & Rifle Range. Come enjoy some good ol' barbeque and celebrate 2nd Amendment rights! ************************************************** 2. CHP Holders are the target of a nationwide hate campaign ************************************************** There is a troubling trend right now for the anti-gunners to go after gun owners, and particularly CHP holders, with hatred. Some of this hatred is driven by frustration, since gun owners have been triumphant in restoring gun rights at a time in American history when they were supposed to be on the political ropes. Some of the hatred has always been there, just more subdued in the past. The antis tend to be a very unhappy, angry, and disrespectful bunch, but now they are getting desperate. What they are doing is trying to villainize CHP holders in particular. While never pointing out the day-to-day drumbeat across the nation of gun owners saving lives, the antis are putting an electron microscope over those rare events when CHP holders break the law. With somewhere between 5 and 6 MILLION CHP holders in America, such events are as rare as hen's teeth AND there are laws to deal with = transgressors. Of course, the antis aren't interested in such things. One group that particularly hates gun owners is the Freedom States Alliance (FSA). Their name is the direct opposite of their goals and their web site is dedicated to hatred of gun owners. Fortunately the FSA is ineffective and few are buying into FSA's baloney. http://www.freed= omstatesalliance.com/ One tactic is for the antis to attempt to push gun owners into an angry outburst so the antis can point and say, "See, these people are dangerous!" Chris Matthews of Hardball did his best to do that to William Kostric, of New Hampshire, over Kostric's open carrying outside of a town hall where President Obama was speaking(http://tinyurl.co= m/kq2pos ). An MSNBC news-anchor practically begged the police on the air to find some excuse, any excuse, to arrest Kostric. That really turned my stomach. If you find yourself in a position of being "baited" into anger by an anti-gunner or a reporter who is being rude or vicious to you, just take a deep breath and relax. The more they attack you, the more calm = you become. The bottom line: don't give in to their tactics, but instead, as Kostric did, show the antis for who THEY really are: the ones who are = out of control and out of touch. ************************************************** 3. RTD's Williams: "Bullet box" has no place in U.S. Democracy ************************************************** Last month, when Catherine Crabill (R), 99th District, dared to suggest that our Second Amendment right was to guard against a tyrannical government, the anti-gun blogs lit up with shock and outrage. The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Michael Williams chimes in with = yet another example of how the anti-gun crowd completely misses the point of a well-regulated citizen militia. This was my comment that I submitted to the Richmond Times-Dispatch on = the article below: -- ''Bullets over the ballot box'' is exactly what the 2nd Amendment was = put in place for. However, as long as the government is not "mutinous" over the people it is supposed to be serving and is not tyrannical, then the 2nd Amendment just sits there quietly protecting the right of the people to keep America free in case the unthinkable does happen. If bullets do start flying, it will be because we have no liberty left to forsake. -- http://tinyurl.com/kvp3gu MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS timesdispatch.com Published: August 8, 2009 Sounding more like Malcolm X than Patrick Henry, Virginia political candidate Catherine Crabill warned of armed insurrection during a Northern Neck "tea party" last month. "We have a chance to fight this battle at the ballot box, before we have to resort to the bullet box," said Crabill, the Republican nominee for the 99th District seat in the House of Delegates. "But that's the beauty of our Second Amendment right. . . . Our Second = Amendment right was to guard against tyranny." But can the tyranny of a distant monarch be legitimately likened to discontent with the policies of a democratically elected president? And does the inscrutable Second Amendment -- A well regulated Militia, = being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed -- give individual citizens the right to take up arms against their government? Crabill clearly thinks so, as does the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 5-4 vote last year, the court struck down a handgun ban in Washington, D.C., and concluded that fear of tyranny is a basis for individuals to possess firearms. Abraham Lincoln no doubt would have frowned upon that case, District of Columbia v. Heller. "Among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet," he wrote before being slain by a man who considered him a tyrant. When folks such as John Wilkes Booth and Catherine Crabill get to decide what constitutes tyranny, we should all be very afraid. "This debate has taken a radical turn," Joshua Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said during a panel discussion Wednesday at the YWCA of Richmond. When asked in an e-mail by Richmond Times-Dispatch political reporter Tyler Whitley to explain her "bullet" remark, Crabill hardly retreated. "Rather than scrutinize my comments, why doesn't the media examine how this administration's policies and trajectory into socialism/Marxism has incited the people to buy arms at an unprecedented rate?" she asked. Indeed, gun sales have soared since President Barack Obama took office. So has the mutinous mood of citizens who oppose his policies, real or imagined, or simply can't stomach him in the White House. A man who shot to death three Pittsburgh police officers in April reportedly had expressed fear of an Obama gun ban. But Horwitz, co-author of "Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist Idea," argues that the right of individuals to take up arms against the government was not the Founders' intent. Horwitz said the notion that guns should tilt the balance in a democracy "violates the most fundamental idea we have in America" -- that citizens are political equals. He was joined Wednesday by a panel of area clergy and the parents of two Virginia Tech massacre survivors. Crabill's "bullet box" remarks, which are making the rounds on YouTube, left an indelible impression. In his blog the next day, the Rev. D. Wallace Adams-Riley, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, said Crabill's language is "seditious, reckless, inflammatory, and is an incitement to violence. In a word, it is a threat to the democratic process and thus a threat to Americans." Indeed, a democracy that resorts to the bullet over the ballot is forsaking liberty for death. ************************************************** 4. Alexandria Mayor a member of "Mayors Against Guns" ************************************************** Thanks to VCDL member Bob McMahan for alerting us that Alexandria's Mayor, William D Euille, has joined NY Mayor Bloomberg's "Mayors Against Guns". Bob also took a few minutes of his time to write the Mayor and express his concerns. If you would like to contact him as well, you can follow the link below to the city's official web page. http://tinyurl.com/6aumoq Here is Bob's email to the Mayor: -- Bill, I see that you are a member of Mayor Bloomberg's anti-gun group of mayors. Are you not a little embarrassed that you are now a party to his goofy position on guns for citizens? Our Commonwealth, as you well know, has had a concealed carry law since 1995. Has that law resulted in even one untoward incident anywhere in the state? It has not. You may well remember that a few years ago, the wife of Alexandria's sheriff was murdered. If memory serves, that awful event = took place in October and the press reported that it was the first murder in the city of Alexandria that year. Now Washington, D.C. has just the kind of gun laws Mayor Bloomberg seeks to impose on Virginia. In that city, whose ethnic and class profile is not too far = from Alexandria's, a murder takes place just about each and every day, = and sometimes there is more than one. Is that what you want for Alexandria? If you have even a little bit of the good sense God gave a = jack-rabbit, you will repudiate Mayor Bloomberg's position on this issue. At a minimum, you will state for the record the obvious point that law-abiding gun owners are not a problem. Respectfully, Bob McMahan ************************************************** 5. LTE: Gun Control Advocates Wield Dishonest Numbers ************************************************** EM Hal Macklin writes: Great LTE published in the RTD. How many Richmond area members remember the Beverly Hills Jeweler's shootout? That incident refutes everything Williams [PVC: Update item = #3, above] has said and bears repeating. 'Lead and diamonds: the Richmond jewelry store shootout' - The Ayoob Files American Handgunner, May-June, 2003 by Massad Ayoob http://tinyurl.com/qnyb6w http://tinyurl.com/ljl32r (fourth letter down the page) Editor, Times-Dispatch: timesdispatch.com Gun-Control Advocates Wield Dishonest Numbers Rather than recognizing that the recent shootout at the Golden Food Market illustrates precisely why so many states have enacted "shall- issue" laws allowing law-abiding citizens to carry handguns for their own defense, Michael Paul Williams begrudgingly admits that it "worked = that time" -- but then trots out a few worn-out arguments as to why it = can't or won't work ["Patron With Gun Won -- This Time"]. Williams quotes a former Virginia Tech student, wounded by Seung-Hui Cho, and now an activist with the Brady Campaign, who also begrudgingly admits that the armed citizen at the Golden Food Market prevented several deaths that day. The activist is quick to follow up with: "There are other situations where that doesn't work out. And that situation could have worked out in a million different ways." Could have, might have -- but didn't. The young man offers no actual accounts of such situations gone so terribly wrong that citizens should not be allowed to protect themselves. Williams cites a self-serving Brady Campaign statistic that "there are = fewer than 200 justifiable gun homicides each year out of a total of more than 10,000 gun homicides." This fails utterly to acknowledge the = tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of incidents each year in which a firearm is used defensively to prevent any killing or violent crime. Often the mere display of a firearm is enough to drive off a would-be attacker. Even when the victim must fire his or her weapon in defense, the result more often is only a wounded attacker, not a dead one. If we're going to trot out statistics, then let us also recognize that = a study performed under the Clinton administration concluded that firearms are used defensively each year in this country at least nine times more often than they are used to commit a crime. Williams bemoans that we have "lost the battle" if "citizens see themselves as the last line of defense." If I am not the last line of my own self-defense, then who or what is? Abdication to the state, one = supposes. Bill Taggart. Henrico. ************************************************** 6. Gun Owner Draws Scrutiny Outside Obama Town Hall ************************************************** Interesting. If you exercise your rights, you'll likely end up on someone's "radar screen?" http://tinyurl.com/nhm4qy Declan McCullagh - cbsnews.com New Hampshire state law is pretty clear about protecting its citizens' = rights to carry firearms in public. Carrying a pistol or revolver openly is permitted without a license; carrying a concealed weapon requires a license from the state or local police. William Kostric took advantage of that law on Tuesday to show up outside President Obama's Portsmouth, N.H. town hall meeting and hold a sign saying "It Is Time To Water The Tree Of Liberty." That invokes a phrase from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots = and tyrants." Kostric did not immediately respond to an interview request from CBSNews.com. Portsmouth police spokesman Lt. Frank Warchol told the Boston Globe that because Kostric was on private property -- it belongs to a church = near the school with the town hall meeting -- he would not be arrested. "We can't do anything about it," Warchol said. "Obviously he's on our radar screen at this time." Kostric was there around 11 a.m. ET, before Mr. Obama even left the White House en route for the Granite State, and there's no indication he ever laid eyes on the president. Nevertheless, around that time (11:35 a.m., to be precise) MSNBC's Carlos Watson called for Kostric to be forcibly disarmed: "I cannot imagine that there aren't enough lawyers in New Hampshire who can't file some sort of emergency injunction." One of his guests added: "Why can't we get rid of him now?" MSNBC's Chris Matthews invited Kostric on his show and wondered why "you're carrying a [PVC: I deleted an expletive here, no kidding] gun at a presidential event?" (Kostric's reply: He was there peacefully, guns aren't unusual in New Hampshire, and Americans lose rights unless = they exercise them.) One MSNBC.com report indicates that Kostric was approached by a detective, possibly a Secret Service agent, who told him he could be arrested within 1,000 feet of a school with a weapon under a federal law. Some background: the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act said that it "shall be unlawful" to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of an elementary or secondary school. That law is no longer on the books. In the case of U.S. v. Lopez, decided in 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court said violated Congress' powers = to regulate interstate commerce and was therefore unconstitutional. Congress re-enacted a version in 1996 with a narrower definition of interstate commerce; it says the statute does not apply "on private property not part of school grounds" or to anyone with a carry permit, = with Kostric may or may not have. It's reasonable to not understand the intricacies of gun laws; many vary from state to state, and few are written especially clearly. But you'd hope that television commentators would take the time to learn at least a little before calling for measures such as court injunctions and disarming by police. One thing that MSNBC's hosts could have added is that a lawsuit filed last week in Washington, D.C. = seeks to establish a broad Second Amendment right to carry firearms in = public -- which, if successful, could mean that William Kostric's exercise in public handgun ownership will become much more commonplace. ************************************************** 7. MSNBC Interviews Open Carrier at New Hampshire Town Hall ************************************************** An open carrier in New Hampshire has Chris Matthews of Hardball foaming at the mouth because the gun owner had the audacity to openly carry a gun a short distance from a town hall meeting where Obama was speaking. The gun owner does a very good job, especially considering the pressure from Matthews. Matthews can't imagine that someone would actually carry a gun for self-defense. Matthews is fixated on the his mistaken concept that guns are only to threaten and impose force on others. http://tinyurl.com/kq2pos (Chris Matthews Interview) http://tinyurl.com/klhats (Response from open carrier) ************************************************** 8. Video of NH police and open carry man at Obama rally ************************************************** This link was sent to us by Matt Gottshalk. It shows how the NH police = went out of their way to be courteous and professional to William Kostric, the man who was open carrying near the Obama town hall meeting. Hats off to the Portsmouth, NH police! http://tinyurl.com/oybdwz (Youtube) Here is a video of a thug trying to intimidate protesters. They assaulted some people and picked on the open carrier before noticing his gun and then they moved on - so I guess they aren't as stupid as they look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUxjahek0f8 ************************************************** 9. Second Amendment March at Virginia State Capitol has been Approved! ************************************************** Received the following message from one of the organizers of a Second Amendment March in Richmond: -- Mark your calendars for the Second Amendment March at the Virginia State Capitol -- our application was approved. The March is "good to go" on April 12, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m. Please contact me and let me know if you plan to be there; and if you need help with transportation, parking information (I will post a diagram of nearby public parking lots at a later point). Please see the rules that we have to follow on the grounds and plan to = adhere to them as stated http://tinyurl.com/kjvv5p (PDF format). Thank you, and I will post more later. Leyla Myers leyla.myers*secondamendmentmarch.com http://tinyurl.com/ms3bkf For more information on upcoming Second Amendment Marches across the country, as well as to the U.S. Capital, go the Official site of the Second Amendment March. http://secondamendmentmarch.com/ ************************************************** 10. MARYLAND Transit Authority Police Harass Open Carrier in VIRGINIA Park! ************************************************** Rick Sandlin, administrator of the Virginia Gun Owners Forum, describes an unusual and disturbing encounter with a Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) police officer while he was open carrying. What makes this so unusual is that it happened in Virginia. If that Maryland officer had held a law-abiding gun owner in Virginia at gun point for doing nothing illegal, there would have been hell to pay (criminal charges and a civil suit). Luckily for the officer, he didn't do it. http://tinyurl.com/krd2u7 Rick Sandlin - vagunforum.net So, I had some time to kill and went to the beach at the Potomac River = where the Route 301 Nice Bridge crosses the river. Two kids in tow and = my .38 special on my belt. We passed by a Maryland Transit Authority (MTA) car on the way to park at the beach and I thought nothing of it. = Parked the truck and we got out. The kids were looking for shells on the beach and I was wandering around with them. About 5 minutes later, = I hear "Excuse me, Sir". I turned and there was the MTA deputy (or whatever they're called). MTA: "May I see your handgun permit?" Me: "I don't need a permit." MTA: "And why don't you need a permit?" Me: "I can open carry in Virginia without a permit - anyone who is legally allowed to own a firearm (no felonies, no domestic assault, etc), may carry a firearm openly in Virginia." He let me know that he had called the local Sheriff's Office and that someone was on their way and I let him know that if he was going to sit on the Virginia side of the bridge that he should know the law. He = asked me why I need to carry a gun, and I asked him why he needed to carry one. Well of course he needed one because he's a police officer and I need one because I never know what kind of freaky idiot I'm going to encounter at the scummy waters of the Potomac River. The local deputy showed up and let the MTA guy know that I was within the law. Then they both let me know that I shouldn't be Open Carrying in the park unless I wanted to draw negative attention and that I should get a Concealed Handgun Permit. I told the county guy that I had one. When MTA guy heard that, he accused me of lying to him and telling him that I didn't have one when he asked me. I said "No, you asked to see my handgun permit, and I told you that I didn't need one to Open Carry my firearm". He pressed on that point again about me lying to him and I pressed back and he said he didn't want to argue about it. Long story short, the local county deputy was really good about it and = he let the Maryland guy know the law (which is exactly what I told him = as well). The Maryland guy was pretty much a jerk about it all, essentially telling me that I shouldn't be carrying a gun in a park with my kids. So, it was an exciting 15 minutes and my first discussion with police about my carrying of a firearm. I may have pressed the guy a little hard, but I knew he was outside his jurisdiction and that he clearly didn't know the law. I'm glad the county deputy came and straightened it all out. Again, the deputy was really nice about everything. Oh yeah, then after the deputy left, the MTA guy told me, "You know, when I came down here to check on you, instead of just asking to speak = with you, I could have put pulled my gun and ordered you prone on the ground and put you in cuffs until the Sheriff's deputy got here." [PVC: That officer needs to be fired. His job is not to push his weight around from behind a badge and intimidate law-abiding citizens.] I was good and kept my mouth shut about that one and just nodded my head. ************************************************** 11. Yet another STUPID move by Virginia Tech officials ************************************************** Another way to message students during an emergency to tell them there = is a good chance they are going to die, helpless and disarmed, as they = wait for help that will probably get there too late: http://tinyurl.com/qqek3a wjla.com August 12, 2009 BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech has expanded its emergency notification system with a software application that connects it to supported computers on the Internet. The university said in a news release Wednesday the VT Desktop Alerts software will monitor the school's emergency notification system. When = an important message is posted, the application will notify the user with audio and a message with details. The software can be downloaded to any desktop or notebook computer running a supported version of Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS X. Virginia Tech expanded its emergency notification system following the = mass shootings in April 2007 in which 33 people died. Messages already are sent by e-mail, text messages, calls to designated phone numbers, online instant messages, outdoor sirens and electronic message boards in classrooms. ************************************************** 12. States With Weak Gun Laws Fuel Illegal Gun Market? ************************************************** Surprise: more lies by the Brady Campaign. They are using "trace" data = from the federal government to show that states with few gun restrictions export crime guns in higher numbers. What they Brady Campaign doesn't want you to know is that the vast, vast majority of the guns in the trace database are not used in crime, but are simply a = check to see if they are stolen! Also, these guns don't even show up in the database until after 3 YEARS! Nice try, Brady Campaign, but no cigar: http://tinyurl.com/kjfqev News Release bradycampaign.org Newly Released Crime Gun Data Shows States With Weak Gun Laws Fuel Illegal Gun Market Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama Have Highest = Crime Gun Export Rates For Immediate Release: 08-05-2009 Contact Communications: (202) 289-7319 Washington, DC =F1 Gun dealers in states with weak gun laws supply guns = to criminals in other states at a rate more than five times higher than dealers in states with stronger gun laws, according to a Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence analysis of newly released ATF crime gun trace data. The data was released Monday by the federal Bureau of = Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) for crime guns recovered = and traced in 2008. The data shows that in states with strong gun laws, criminals find it more difficult to obtain guns from local sources and frequently must obtain guns from traffickers supplied by out-of-state gun dealers. This fuels the =ECiron pipeline=EE described in past federal law enforcement reports. =ECStates with strong gun laws protect their communities by making it more difficult for criminals to get firearms,=EE said Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence President Paul Helmke. =ECStates with weak gun laws are the top suppliers of the illegal gun market nationwide, making it too easy for dangerous people to get deadly weapons.=EE Interstate Gun Trafficking =F1 Crime Gun Exports The Brady Center analysis also ranked the states based on their contribution to interstate gun trafficking. The Center measured each state=EDs per capita rate of crime gun exports =F1 guns moving across state lines before being recovered in crime. Mississippi was number one with the highest rate of crime gun exports, followed by West Virginia, Alabama, Virginia, and South Carolina. These states have weak gun laws making it easy for criminals to get firearms, scoring fewer than 20 out of 100 on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard. Hawaii and New Jersey had Continued ...