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 2

Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard. Hawaii and New Jersey had the lowest rates of crime gun exports, with rates of less than one crime gun export per 100,000 people. Hawaii and New Jersey rank among = the top ten states with the strongest gun laws on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard, making it harder for criminals in those states to get illegal guns. Georgia led the states with the highest total number of crime gun exports, not adjusted for population. Florida had the second highest total number of crime gun exports, followed by Virginia, Texas and Indiana. All five 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. Supplying the Criminal Market =F1 Crime Guns Supplied to Criminals In- State and Nationwide The Brady Center also ranked the states based on their per capita rate = of all crime gun sales =F1 crime guns traced to gun dealers in a state = and recovered in crime both in-state and out of state. Louisiana was number one with the highest rate of crime guns recovered both in and out of state, followed by Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, and Georgia. All five 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 Massachusetts had the lowest rates of total crime gun sales. Hawaii and Massachusetts rank among the top ten states with the strongest gun laws on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard, making it harder for criminals in those states to get illegal guns. Methodology The Brady Center determined state rankings based on ATF crime gun trace data released on August 3, 2009. The Brady Center analysis determined that gun dealers in states with weak gun laws supply criminals in other states with guns at a rate more than five times higher than in states with stronger gun laws by comparing 2008 per capita crime gun trace rates among the states having the strongest gun = laws and weakest gun laws on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence=EDs 2008 annual state scorecard. States with a score of fewer = than 5 out of 100 had a per capita crime gun trace export rate morethan five times higher than states that scored more than 40 out of = 100. The scorecard rates each state on the strength of its gun laws, and is = available at http://www.stategunlaws.org/xshare/pdf/scorecard/2008/2008_sco= recard_rankings.pdf ATF officials released a broad general set of crime gun trace data on the agency's website on August 3, 2009. The data is at http://www.atf.gov/firearms/trace_data/index2008.htm ************************************************** 13. Packing for school: Guns on campus one year later ************************************************** A thoughtful, common sense approach to carrying guns on campus. Whether it's a small rural school district in Texas or a large university in Virginia, having guns on campus means everyone is safer. http://tinyurl.com/nenzpm Ann Work - Times Record News reporternews.com Thursday, August 6, 2009 WICHITA FALLS - One year ago, David Thweatt made a decision so controversial and groundbreaking the story about it sped around the world. The superintendent of the isolated Harrold Independent School District, about 30 miles northwest of here, made history last August when he and his school board decided to allow select teachers and staff members at the 110-student school to carry guns on campus - a first for Texas and the nation. For Thweatt and his board, the decision was pure mathematics. The school, which sits in the middle of a prairie, was too far from law enforcement for police to come in time to fend off would-be attackers. The students and staff would be safer if on-site, trained staff members were equipped to handle a crisis at a moment's notice, they decided. Thweatt had already installed a $100,000 state-of-the-art security system in the school. Now, arming certain unnamed school staff members = by allowing them to strap a firearm under their clothing was the final = flourish. In the year since that historic decision, a gun was never brandished or fired at the school. There were no problems, Thweatt said. However, one week after school began, police busted a methamphetamine lab set up in an abandoned house that sat 50 feet from the school property. A deputy had peered inside and "saw something in the walls and windows = and called for backup," Thweatt said. "They made it to the abandoned house in 15 minutes. We had figured it would take 18 to 20 minutes in a typical situation." Had that been an armed intruder at his school, response time would have been too slow. "We're the first responders. We have to be," Thweatt said. "We don't have 5 minutes. We don't have 10 minutes. We would have had 20 minutes = of hell" if attackers had targeted the school. Harrold students, who grew up on ranches and in the middle of the North Texas gun culture, were unperturbed by the school district's new = gun policy. "The kids just laughed about it," Thweatt said. Thweatt himself is the son of a retired minister/missionary/teacher in = Abilene and a 1978 graduate of Abilene High School and Hardin-Simmons University. Too small for athletics, Thweatt spent his time at Abilene High focused on his studies, particularly interested in journalism. He wrote music and played guitar in a Christian band on weekends and was active in his father's nondenominational Abilene Fellowship ministry. Thweatt drove a school bus for the Abilene ISD and occasionally worked = as a substitute teacher to help fund his education, graduating in 1983. In Harrold, media attention was fierce all year. He talked to reporters from as far away as Ireland and New Zealand; he participated = on more than a dozen talk shows. The story continues to spread; recently he saw a write-up in a Jerusalem newspaper. Only Finland and Switzerland reporters ignored the story; they already have high gun ownership rates, he said. "I had a lot of interviews from kids and college kids," he said. "They = needed to learn. I'm an educator," said Thweatt, who is opinionated but patient in interviews. "Would you stick a sign at a school that says, 'No guns on this property'? Why wouldn't you? It invites nasty people to come," he said. "That's what you've done to every public school in the nation. That's why there were no shootings until Columbine. It's turned into a = dad-gum shoot fest." Thweatt took calls from "just a handful" of Texas districts considering the same policy, but he wouldn't say if any other districts had modeled Harrold's M.O. According to Barbara Williams with the Texas Association of School Boards, Harrold remains the only Texas school district with a guns-on- campus policy. "We're not aware of any others," she said. However, when Harrold made its groundbreaking decision one year ago, she watched the story go as far as Malaysia. She was even called by the Dr. Phil show, who asked her to help plan a show on the topic because they were so fascinated by it. She refused. To her, it was so obvious as to be a non-issue. Dr. Phil, who claims to be a Texan, should know that, she said. "This is Texas. I have a magnet on my refrigerator of the state with a = plastic gun glued to it that says, 'We don't call 9-1-1.' We find that = funny in Texas," she said. When a London reporter asked Thweatt to explain why so many kooks go into schools looking for a body count, Thweatt said he couldn't explain such a devolution of society, but he did know a simple way to stop it - the same solution he chose for Harrold ISD. "Good guys with guns - good," he said. "Bad guys with guns - bad." ************************************************** 14. Will gun rights be curtailed in the wake of the gym shooting? ************************************************** As the saying goes, "Never let a tragedy go to waste". That seems to be the motto of Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center (VPC), as she uses a broad brush to paint all CHP holders as potential mass murders. Their assumptions are as flawed as the data they so proudly spout as fact. http://tinyurl.com/lvdfjx Personal Liberty News Desk personalliberty.com August 7, 2009 After this week's deadly shooting at a fitness center in Pittsburgh, anti-gun activists are seizing the opportunity to call for restrictions on carrying hidden or loaded guns in public. Freedom States Alliance, an organization working to reduce gun violence in America, points that the 48-year-old perpetrator had no criminal record and had a concealed weapons permit. It adds that so far in 2009 there have been three confirmed mass shootings committed by concealed carry permit holders, and these incidents disprove the gun lobby's claims that legal gun owners do not = commit violent crimes. "Concealed handgun permits were promoted by the gun lobby as a mechanism to arm 'law-abiding' citizens who, in theory, would prevent mass shootings," says Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence Policy Center (VPC). "Instead, the hard facts demonstrate that concealed handgun permit holders don't prevent mass shootings, they perpetrate them," she adds. VPC research suggests the Pittsburgh gunman was at least the sixth person licensed to carry a concealed weapon to commit a mass shooting since May 2007. Those incidents claimed 26 lives and injured 16 people. Police have confirmed three women were killed and nine others wounded when the gunman opened fire at the gym on Tuesday night. He later killed himself. Meanwhile, supporters of gun rights have been pushing for legislation to allow concealed and loaded weapons to be carried on college campuses and in government buildings. ************************************************** 15. Additional info concerning Mark Baker ************************************************** This is a follow-up email, and correction, to the information in last week's VA-ALERT Update 08/12/09, item #9 forwarded by a member (Mark Baker was paralyzed after grappling with an armed robber last year): -- Good morning John!. Mark has not been denied medical coverage. It is a very convoluted process, but he is currently covered by COBRA. Medicare will not kick in until he has been disabled for two years. = COBRA only covers 18 months and we are trying to figure out how to navigate through that time. Even this many months after the shooting, = we are still trying to assimilate all the insurance information. The biggest problem for him is that he had no long term disability insurance, which would have provided some income for life. We are hoping to have an insurance agent at Knuckleheads with whom people can = discuss these issues. Thank you very much for your interest in Mark's story. We hope to see = you at Knuckleheads. The fundraiser for Mark Baker is being held Sunday, August 30 at Knuckleheads Roadhouse 401 N. Witchduck Road in VA Beach, next to Southside Harley-Davidson ************************************************** 16. Women, Handguns and Civilization ************************************************** A citizen blogger shares her perspective on what it means to be armed and female. http://tinyurl.com/mok2cd Erin Solaro - Seattle PI seattlepi.com Friday, August 7, 2009 <snip> For a law-abiding citizen to bear personal arms is an act of civilization. Not just an act of self-defense or an act in defense of civilization, but an act of civilization. This is true for men and it is even more true for women. For a woman to bear personal arms means that she will not be deprived of her legal = rights: to go any lawful place she pleases at any time; to be free in her body, meaning that she need not be defenseless against assailants; = to live. And it means that the uncivilized, those who would deprive her of life and the liberties of a free citizen, including freedom from unwanted sexual contact, do so at absolute risk to their lives. That is the fundamental moral principle. These are the facts. A handgun is not magic. You need to learn to use it and you need to be = willing to use it, i.e., to employ deadly force. If you are unwilling or unable to do this, then guns are not for you. However, a reliable handgun of man-stopping caliber (most commonly, 9mm and .45) is a terrific equalizer. And equality is the basis of citizenship. This is the foundation of civilization: that we live and posses our property and are free in our bodies by no man's leave, but by right under law. This is as true for women as it is for men. And unless civilization includes women, it does not exist. The "argument from prudence," otherwise known as "yes, but . . ." has no place here. Our rights as women citizens are unalienable, and the argument from prudence inevitably segues into "blame the victim" and the attempt to limit or abrogate those rights ? to argue that there are things we may not do, places we may not go, ways we may not dress or behave, because we are women. For women to bear arms routinely and commonly, in order to defend their lives, their property and their liberty ? the simple freedom of a realtor to show a client a property, to use the gym and shower during unstaffed hours, to drive cross country alone, to go for a walk = or a hike or a run or a ride alone, to be at home alone, all without fear of being overpowered ? to not need a chaperone or a protector ? is our right. It is also an act in defense of civilization, if only because those who commit violent crimes against women are often sadists for whom pleasure provides much of the motivation, and thus serial predators. And it is an act of civilization because it insists that we are part of civilization, a full and equal part. These things may not be done to us with impunity. Now, try saying this to other women. Especially feminists, like myself. They'll look at you as though you've suddenly grown horns. Then they'll respond with a litany of objections that I know by heart. = Yes, there are women, as there are men, who refuse to defend themselves with potentially lethal force for religious or philosophical reasons, or because they know themselves to be genuinely = incapable of it for other reasons. But for the vast majority of women, = the refusal to consider firearms or to grant the legitimacy of that choice to others, is based on little more than cowardice. What matters = now is to review the standard objections, then determine why they amount to not just physical, but also intellectual and moral cowardice. http://tinyurl.com/mok2cd to read the entire article. ************************************************** 17. ATF: Officials see rise in militia groups across US ************************************************** http://tinyurl.com/l9xxlg Eileen Sullivan - Associated Press wtopnews.com Wednesday, August 12, 2009 WASHINGTON (AP) - Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to = an organization that tracks such trends. The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a = secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the = public debate about illegal immigration. Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth he's seen in more than a decade. "All it's lacking is a spark," McEntire said in the report. It's reminiscent of what was seen in the 1990s - right-wing militias, people ideologically against paying taxes and so-called "sovereign citizens" are popping up in large numbers, according to the report to be released Wednesday. The SPLC is a nonprofit civil rights group that, among other activities, investigates hate groups. Last October, someone from the Ohio Militia posted a recruiting video on YouTube, billed as a "wake-up call" for America. It's been viewed more than 60,000 times. "Things are bad, things are real bad, and it's going to be a lot worse," said the man on the video, who did not give his name. "Our country is in peril." The man is holding an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and he encourages viewers to buy one. While anti-government sentiment has been on the rise over the last two = years, there aren't as many threats and violent acts at this point as there were in the 1990s, according to the report. That movement bore the likes of Timothy McVeigh, who in 1995 blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people. But McEntire fears it's only a matter of time. These militias are concentrated in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and the Deep South, according to Mark Potok, an SPLC staff director who co- wrote the report. Recruiting videos and other outreach on the Internet = are on the rise, he said, and researchers from his center found at least 50 new groups in the last few months. The militia movement of the 1990s gained traction with growing concerns about gun control, environmental laws and anything perceived as liberal government meddling. The spark for that movement came in 1992 with an FBI standoff with white separatist Randall Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Weaver's wife and son were killed by an FBI sniper. And in 1993, a 52-day standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas, resulted in nearly 80 deaths. These events rallied more people who became convinced that the government would murder its own citizens to promote its liberal agenda. Now officials are seeing a new generation of activists, according to the report. The law center spotlights Edward Koernke, a Michigan man who hosts an Internet radio show about militias. His father, Mark, was = a major figure in the 1990s militia movement and served six years in prison for charges including assaulting police. Last year, officials warned about an increase in activity from militias in a five-year threat projection by the Homeland Security Department. "White supremacists and militias are more violent and thus more likely = to conduct mass-casualty attacks on the scale of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing," the threat projection said. A series of domestic terrorism incidents over the past year have not been directly tied to organized militias, but the rhetoric behind some = of the crimes are similar with that of the militia movement. For instance, the man charged with the April killings of three Pittsburgh police officers posted some of his views online. Richard Andrew Poplawski wrote that U.S. troops could be used against American citizens, and he thinks a gun ban could be coming. The FBI's assistant director for counterterrorism, Michael Heimbach, said that law enforcement officials need to identify people who go beyond hateful rhetoric and decide to commit violent acts and crimes. Heimbach said one of the bigger challenges is identifying the lone- wolf offenders. One alleged example of a lone-wolf offender is the 88-year-old man charged in the June shooting death of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. ************************************************** 18. Send a Message to AARP on Gun Rights ************************************************** First a note: VCDL has had AARP on our "Gun Owner Unfriendly" list for years now. There anti-gun baloney is not new, but for those of you who don't know about it, you might want to cancel your membership with them. VCDL member Rick Povich sent us his suggestion on how to tell AARP how = you feel about their anti-gun policy. "I have a suggestion for everyone. When AARP begin to send folks membership applications have them return a copy of the anti-gun letter = in the AARP envelope. Include a short note and politely decline the invitation to spend money to join the organization and ask AARP to contact the folks when they've changed their anti-gun policy. This may not change AARP's policy right away but they'll get the message." I've included a link to the AARP letter on the Second Amendment Sisters web site. http://tinyurl.com/n9sgmr ************************************************** 19. Mona Charen: No Individual Initiative Please! We're Americans ************************************************** VCDL, and similar state groups, have been on the forefront of "Defending your right to ..." well, in our case specifically, "defend yourself." But the issue is bigger than that. VCDL is ultimately defending your right as an adult Virginian to be a grownup and act for yourself. Anti-gunners want to take that away from us so the government does everything for us. http://tinyurl.com/obdnxs Mona Charen creators.com A plucky teller foiled a robbery attempt at Key Bank in Seattle. But the story does not end happily. When a small man in a beanie cap, dark = clothing, and sunglasses pushed a backpack across the counter and announced, "This is a ransom. Fill the bag with money," teller Jim Nicholson ignored his training and "instinct took over." He lunged across the counter and attempted to grab the thief by the throat or at = least to pull his glasses off. The nonplussed would-be robber bolted for the door with Nicholson on his heels. A couple of blocks away, with the help of others, Nicholson tackled the guy and held him until police arrived. Two days later, Key Bank got in touch with Nicholson. A bonus perhaps? = A commendation? Not quite. He was fired. It seems he had violated the bank's strict policy that tellers should always comply with robber demands. A Key Bank spokesman has not returned a call asking for comment. "We always recommend citizens, including employees of institutions, be = good witnesses," Seattle police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb told the Seattle Times. "When confronted by a violent criminal, it is best to comply unless they feel their personal safety is in jeopardy. It is possible that taking action and confronting the criminal may lead to the injury = of the victim or other bystanders." A nation of "good witnesses" - is that what we aspire to be? Tame victims who hand over the money and file legible police reports? Mentioned in passing in the AP's account is a factor that may be more important than any other in explaining the passivity banks require of their employees: "Police and the FBI discourage such heroics" for money that is "federally insured." Now we get to the nub. Federal insurance has doubtless spared the nation the agony of bank runs. But by immediately replacing losses due to crime, it saps some of the righteous anger from victims. Don't attempt to nab the guy, just fill out the proper paperwork. My husband and I had the experience of being robbed by a babysitter who found my blank checks and wrote herself the most generous compensation for a three-hour work shift in the history of baby-sitting. I was shocked, when I reported this to bank employees, at their utter lack of interest in details about the larcenist. I had her address, phone number, and likely whereabouts. Yawn. Not interested (nor were the police =F3 a story for another day). Bank employees assured me that = our $5,000 would be immediately credited to our account. As for the thief =F3 no action. Compensation thus undermines justice. Deposit insurance cannot explain all of it, though. Some of this is the bureaucratization of America =F3 the deliberate attempt to drain individual judgment and initiative from life. While Nicholson was sprinting after a thief, a Fairfax County, Va., man was issued a ticket for stopping traffic to permit a gaggle of geese to cross a four-lane highway safely. We see Canadian geese crossing roadways all the time here in Fairfax County. Usually it's an adult goose followed by four to six fuzzy gray = goslings with another adult goose bringing up the rear. One assumes a family unit. Jozsef Vamosi was driving to work around 9:30 a.m. when he saw such a family assembling to cross a busy thoroughfare. "They were walking like gentlemen," Vamosi told the Washington Post. "Like the Beatles on 'Abbey Road.'" Vamosi got out of his car, held up a hand to stop traffic and escorted the birds to the median. He then did = the same thing on the other side of the road. The geese went safely on = their way. "Everything came out fantastic," the Hungarian immigrant explained. That is, until a Fairfax County police officer arrived on the scene berating Vamosi and questioning his sanity. Vamosi was issued a ticket for jaywalking. A police spokesman advised, "We can appreciate the citizen's response and compassion for wildlife. But a more prudent response would be to pull off the road and use their cellphone. Call the police, and have them respond." By the time even the most responsive police could have arrived for such a call (and don't they have more important matters to attend to?) = the geese would have been pate. Nicholson and Vamosi acted on impulse =F3 and I for one would not like to live in a country where such instincts have been ironed out of us. To find out more about Mona Charen and read features by other Creators = Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. ************************************************** 20. Prospects Dim for Mexican Firearms Treaty ************************************************** http://tinyurl.com/l7mgj8 Stephen Dinan - Washington Times washingtontimes.com August 9, 2009 President Obama's call for the Senate to ratify a hemispheric small- firearms treaty dominated his last visit to Mexico, but in the four months since, both the treaty pledge and the drug violence that prompted it have dropped off the radar - a victim of Congress' full schedule and gun politics. That means on Sunday Mr. Obama will go with an empty hand to Mexico, which blames the U.S. for many of the weapons used by drug cartels that have violently thwarted a crackdown by Mexican authorities. And even though Mr. Obama and his administration have accepted that blame, prospects are dim for passage of the treaty, which calls on countries to license gun manufacturers and try to control illicit trafficking in firearms, ammunition and explosives. The chief U.S. negotiator for the 1997 treaty, known by its Spanish acronym of CIFTA, says it was written specifically to avoid forcing the U.S. to change its laws, and says it does not give any other country a say over what is legal or illegal in the U.S. - and that gun- rights groups were even involved in writing parts of the treaty. But the National Rifle Association now claims CIFTA could hurt hunters = and says U.S. Second Amendment interests should not be controlled by an international treaty. Key senators such as Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat whose gun-rights credentials may be crucial to = his winning re-election next year, was cool to Mr. Obama's call for ratification in April, and a spokesman said nothing has changed since. "We must work with Mexico to curtail the violence and drug trafficking = on America's southern border, and must protect Americans' Second Amendment rights," Mr. Reid said in April. "I look forward to working with the president to ensure we do both in a responsible way." Treaties require a two-thirds vote by the Senate to be ratified - probably an impossible goal, given opposition from both sides of the aisle. Chris W. Cox, the National Rifle Association's chief lobbyist, would not give a tally, but said that "there are a number of both Republicans and Democrats who share our concerns about the potential for abuse should this treaty be ratified." On his two-day trip, Mr. Obama is expected to meet first with Mexican President Felipe Calderon - both men will then meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The White House says that talking, even = without having any tangible "deliverables" to show for it, is important. "We will see more of these dialogues in the future and at a relatively = frequent pace," National Security Adviser James L. Jones, a retired Marine general, told reporters in previewing the trip. "From that, I think good things will come." Both Mexican and Canadian officials bring to the meeting concerns that = the U.S. is moving away from free trade. Canada is worried about buy-American provisions in the economic stimulus spending bill, and Mexico has imposed retaliatory measures in = response to Congress' halting a program to allow Mexican trucks on U.S. highways. The program is part of U.S. trade obligations. For its part, the U.S. is eager to discuss coordination on swine flu precautions and combating global warming. Still, the issue of drug-cartel violence along the U.S.-Mexico border, = which dominated the springtime meeting in Mexico City between Mr. Obama and Mr. Calderon, will be a hot topic yet again. Mr. Obama hopes to continue the flow of U.S. aid to combat drug trafficking, known as the Merida Initiative, which began under President George W. Bush, but that hit a snag last week. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said 15 percent of the drug-