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

08/26/09 - VCDL Update 8/25/09 - Part 3

firearms into national parks and wildlife refuges as long as state law = allows it. The new law, which takes effect in February, will replace rules from the Reagan administration that generally require that guns in national parks be locked or stored in a glove compartment or trunk. "If they wanted to fight that, they could have," said Jonathan Dorn, editorial director of NationalParkTrips.com and editor-in-chief of Backpacker magazine. "That one just felt like a very political decision that was maybe more about politics than about maybe paying attention to the preferences of the vast majority of people who are frequent park users." Still, Dorn called the law "one hiccup" in an otherwise supportive parks agenda so far by the Obama administration. The Democratic-controlled Congress passed the less restrictive measure = with bipartisan support after Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., inserted it into Obama-backed legislation imposing new restrictions on credit card = companies. Democratic leaders decided not to challenge Coburn, and Obama signed the gun measure without comment. Politically, the move thrilled gun-rights advocates such as the National Rifle Association and outdoorsmen. They generally lean conservative, which may help Obama's soft standing with centrists and independents. But it certainly didn't set well with some of Obama's core Democratic constituencies, environmentalists and gun-control backers. The Obama family -- the president, the first lady and daughters Malia and Sasha -- had a busy sightseeing weekend planned: trekking in Yellowstone National Park on Saturday, including a visit to Old Faithful, and touring Grand Canyon National Park on Sunday. Their stops come during one of three summer weekends when the administration waived entrance fees at 147 national parks and monuments to spur tourism and boost local economies. Less than a year in office, Obama doesn't have much of a record when it comes to the national park system. Nonetheless, parks advocates say = the administration has indicated it wants to spend more on parks and expand the parks system. At this point, "it's more rhetoric than it is decisions" but "we believe there's a pretty bold and ambitious agenda brewing for national parks in this administration," said Ron Tipton, the National Parks Conservation Association's senior vice president of policy. "We're seeing the interest right out of the box, and we're seeing it exemplified by a president who takes his family to a national park in his first year in office. That's very unusual." Dorn, likewise, applauded Obama for "making a pretty significant statement this early in his administration at a time when he's got some pretty heavy things on his shoulders." From the outset of his presidency, Obama signaled his would be an administration sympathetic to the parks. He signed legislation that set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness. That was one of the largest expansions of wilderness protection in a quarter-century. Supporters said the law would strengthen the national parks system; opponents called it a "land grab." Since then, the administration has have taken several other steps that = have encouraged parks advocates: --Proposed cutting the number of snowmobiles allowed daily into Yellowstone in the winter to 318 and requiring guided tours. It proposed a similar policy at other national parks. Wyoming has asked a = federal judge to force Yellowstone to allow up to 740 snowmobiles a day. --Halted the filing of new mining claims on nearly 1 million acres of U.S. Forest Service land near the Grand Canyon for two years while the = administration studies whether uranium mining there should be permanently prohibited. It also has pledged to overhaul a 137-year-old = hardrock mining law that favors the mining industry. --Devoted $750 million in economic stimulus money to address a maintenance backlog in parks and increased the operations budget request to Congress for parks by $100 million. --Picked Jon Jarvis, a biologist and 30-year-veteran who oversees the national parks across the West, to head the National Parks Service. ************************************************** 24. Federal ruling helps protect shooting ranges ************************************************** Federal court upholds EPA ruling that shooting ranges do not need 'hazardous waste' permits. Bill Taggart emailed me this: -- Phil - Thought you might be interested in seeing this. Good news for shooting ranges. I'm an environmental attorney, and this issue has been around a while, = but this is the first federal litigation I have seen specifically on this point. Under federal hazardous waste law (the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)), a material that is "discarded" by being "disposed of" is a waste. Disposal includes placing on or in the land. If the waste meets the definition of "hazardous waste," RCRA requires a permit for land disposal. U.S. EPA has stated in interpretive memoranda over the years that when = lead bullets are fired and end up in or on the ground, that does not constitute "disposal," but rather is use of a product in its intended manner. So although EPA knows that firing ranges will be full of lead = in the ground, EPA never has treated them as hazardous waste disposal sites. If the range owner or operator went out and dug up the berm and then wanted to throw away all the lead bullets, it would be a different matter. = But the range itself, where the bullets come to rest in the earth, is not a hazardous waste disposal site simply because the fired bullets end up in the ground. The Federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals just confirmed EPA's long- standing interpretation in a citizen suit against a range in Connecticut. The gun club has operated a shooting range in Simsbury, Conn., since the 1960s. In Cordiano v. Metacon Gun Club Inc., 2d Cir., No. 07-0795, July 31, 2009, a group of homeowners argued that the gun club violated RCRA by operating its range without a hazardous waste disposal permit. The Second Circuit disagreed, based on an amicus brief the government had filed: "The United States maintains that the 'EPA ... has consistently taken the position that the discharge of lead shot as part of the normal use = of that product (i.e., being fired from a gun at a firing range) does not render the materials 'discarded' within the meaning of the RCRA subtitle C permitting regulations under 42 U.S.C. S 6925(a),' and further that the 'EPA has repeatedly stated that its regulatory jurisdiction under RCRA does not apply to products that are applied to = the land in the ordinary manner of use, because such products are being used, not 'abandoned.' " The court deferred to EPA's interpretation and dismissed the complaint. The appeals court also rejected two other claims by the homeowners group: that the lead at the range amounted to an "imminent and substantial endangerment" under RCRA and that the gun club should have had a pollutant discharge permit under the Clean Water Act because some of the leaded bullets ended up in wetlands that were connected to a nearby river after heavy rainfall and flooding. Just thought you might be interested - and this is very good precedent, given how much shooting ranges are under attack from local citizens these days! - Bill Taggart ************************************************** 25. ABC World News on firearms and alcohol ************************************************** 'A new Tennessee law allows guns in places that serve alcohol' http://tinyurl.com/m9okgo [video] ************************************************** 26. Letting gun nuts pack weapons near Obama is insane ************************************************** U.S. News blogger blasts open carry laws as 'tantamount to allowing children to play with live hand grenades.' The antis are getting more and more hysterical as they are trying to get traction. But, no dice. When it comes to taking away our gun rights, they are standing on ice, and thin ice at that. But, to their credit, they are entertaining to watch: http://tinyurl.com/l6xfkl Letting Gun Nuts Pack Weapons Near Obama Is Insane August 18, 2009 11:27 AM ET By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog Watching CNN between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Monday, I was treated to the = sight of a young man with an automatic weapon strapped to his back across the street from a presidential rally in Arizona. This is not the first time armed persons have appeared outside a building where the president is making an appearance. This is a horrifying and, quite frankly, ridiculous development. It is = perfectly legal, according to the CNN anchor I watched, for Arizonans to parade in public with all manner of weapons, including semiautomatic mass killing machines. ***Such public policy is tantamount to allowing children to play with live hand grenades*** [emphasis added]. Disaster is certain. If a president is not assassinated, then certainly protesters are in much greater danger, as are members of the public who simply happen to be passing by. Considering the: A. level of mental illness in this country (and in all human populations for that matter), B. fact that we are in the midst of a deep recession, and C. outrageous levels of public anger displayed by some talk radio hosts and cable talk show hosts ... we are asking for people to be maimed or killed by allowing this type of behavior to continue. ************************************************** 27. American Seniors Association counters AARP on health care and Second Amendment ************************************************** 'Constitutionalist organization' believes in 'upholding all of the Constitution including the Second Amendment' Jay Britt emailed me this: -- http://tinyurl.com/l6cezc The American Seniors Association (ASA) has listed it's support for the = Second Amendment rights of citizens as it looks to compete with the AARP. I don't know if this has been their policy all along, or in response to the tens of thousands of seniors that are fleeing AARP. They have listed the following in their Frequently Asked Questions: "Where do you stand on the Second Amendment (Gun control)? "The American Seniors Association is a Constitutionalist organization and we believe in upholding all of the Constitution including the second amendment. We however have very specific issues that we have chosen to advocate for and those are our four pillars. They are Social = Security Reform, Medicare Reform, Tax Reform by way of the Fair Tax, and keeping citizen benefits our of the hands of Illegal Aliens." ************************************************** 28. Shirt-pocket trauma kit ************************************************** Kit made of normal household items could save your life if you're shot = or cut http://tinyurl.com/nvzhbf Shirt-pocket trauma kit By PoliceOne Contributor Jim Guffey August 10, 2009 To survive some calls you need to be able to carry everything on your duty belt. Below is a little kit I carried in my shirt pocket and would have given me the ability to survive three major types of gunshot wounds if the worst ever happened. The materials were simply a = plastic sandwich bag, a KOTEX sanitary pad and a tourniquet from a snake bite kit. Here's how you do it. The tourniquet: Find a snake-bite kit that has a tourniquet in it at any sporting goods store. The one I got is big enough when opened all the way to go over my thigh. Obviously, this is for any arterial or venous bleeding. Sanitary pad: I used KOTEX brand because it is small and square, the perfect size for a shirt pocket or extra handcuff case. These pads hold close to ten times their weight in blood. Perfect for serious wounds. Get the plain variety. You don't need scented ones. Plastic bag: In case of a chest wound, tension pneumothorax, simply put the bag over the wound and press down with both hands. The plastic = will keep air out and, if you leave pressure off the bottom of the bag, it will allow air in your chest to escape. This kit won't win any prizes and it isn't pretty or high-tech but if you have it with you it just might save your life. ************************************************** 29. Florida plan urges firearms in every Belleview home ************************************************** Resolution urges homeowners to keep a firearm to 'provide for the emergency management of the city,' protect safety of residents http://tinyurl.com/lf7nje Plan urges firearms in every Belleview home By Bill Thompson Staff writer Monday, August 17, 2009 A proposed resolution set to go before the Belleview City Commission urges the head of every household in the city to have a gun in order to protect their families and to keep the peace in an emergency. On Tuesday, the board will consider the plan, which has been introduced by Belleview resident Donny Barber, to encourage "all law abiding citizens to own a handgun, rifle or shotgun and receive adequate training to become proficient in the use of and safe handling = of the weapon so they are prepared to protect themselves and their families." The resolution also calls on homeowners to "maintain a firearm, together with ammunition" in order "to provide for the emergency management" of the city, as well as "to provide for and protect the safety, security and general welfare" of Belleview and its residents. Tuesday's action would be the first of two steps to enact the resolution. Commissioners would have to vote to direct staff to draft the document = in the city's official format. If they agree to that, the resolution would come back a second time in = September for final adoption. Barber is the executive director of the Sovereignty Action Committee, an Ocala-based group that wants the state to assert its rights against = federal encroachment, as outlined in the Constitution's 10th Amendment. His resolution offers 14 reasons why Belleview residents should arm themselves. He cites the Second Amendment, as well as the District of Columbia vs. = Heller case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution grants private citizens the right to own firearms. Barber also notes other court rulings that have held "citizens are ultimately responsible for their own defense. Furthermore, he mentions that criminals commit 10 million violent crimes a year, but several studies indicate that gun ownership helps deter crime. "The right of a person to possess a weapon to protect himself and his family should be an undeniable right of all Americans," one clause of the resolution says. "Guns in the hands of law abiding citizens make all people safer including those who do not own guns." One commissioner reached for comment on Friday labeled the proposal "redundant" in light of the Second Amendment, and expressed doubt that = the board would advance it. "They've got a long way to go to convince me" that the resolution is needed, Commissioner Ken Nadeau said. The proposal does contain great latitude. Exempt from the suggestion to own and keep a gun would be residents with a mental or physical disability that prohibits them from owning firearms, convicted felons, "paupers" and those who "conscientiously oppose maintaining firearms as a result of beliefs or religious doctrine." ************************************************** 30. Connecticut Citizens Defense League ************************************************** New 'Citizens Defense League' to defend gun rights in Connecticut. As = with all other "Citizens Defense Leagues," they are not directly affiliated with VCDL, but they did model at least part of their organization after us. Scott Wilson Sr. of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League emailed me = this: -- http://tinyurl.com/lsgbjk Good Afternoon Phillip, This is the new email address for myself * CCDL, Inc. in case you would like it. Our new website is up and running as well... First CCDL Picnic is 09/05/09 Check out the site if you get a chance. We are still loading files and = working out a few bugs along the way... Thanks Phillip, Carry on! Scott Wilson Sr. President CCDL, Inc. ************************************************** 31. Anti-gun bigotry may be losing traction ************************************************** Open carry at town halls shows most people accept right to bear arms http://tinyurl.com/qlfjyh [includes video] ************************************************** 32. Info on the roots of the anti-gun "Gun Guys" blog ************************************************** Gun Guys blog a 'shill' for anti-gun Joyce Foundation Clint Kritzer emailed me this: -- Philip - It's been a few years since these guys were exposed, so searching the archives is a bit tricky. Say Uncle had a pretty good roundup on them but there is little supporting documentation. http://tinyurl.com/ldc5u2 Non-grass, non-roots Posted December 21st, 2006 by SayUncle I appreciate LaPierre's post tyring to get people to call the ATF to report the fact that Michael Bloomberg's people broke the law. And I do hope the NRA makes that a campaign. But dealing the The Gun Guys is a waste of time. They are paid liars. And that is, generally, all they do. It's one of the many non- grassroots, shill organizations funded by the Joyce Foundation. It's ran by Mark Karlin & Associates, who also does Buzzflash. And this guy = is affiliated with them, per THR. Here's a big list of Joyce Funded, Karlin run sites. And there's some sites the Brady Bunch runs there too. But Wayne catches them in a couple of big lies. -------- Here's more from Uncle: http://tinyurl.com/lknnsx I hope the Joyce Foundation kept their receipt because they might need = a refund Posted on May 30th, 2007 by SayUncle It's amusing. From Joe, I learn that Gun Guy Gonzo linked to me stating we gun bloggers are full of venom and vitriol, cursing and overcompensating masculinity, and instead of providing insight on the news, they provide rehashes of decades-old NRA lies and propaganda. This is particularly amusing when you're in the know that this guy (who also is affiliated with Buzzflash) is a hack bought and paid for by the Joyce Foundation, who also funds Mayors Against Guns (that group Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam is a member of). It's called projection, Mr. Karlin and Associates, when you accuse me of having your traits and characteristics. He's also some comedian/voice actor you've never heard of. More background here. But that's not the best part, this is: It's no secret that the gun guys seem to have a much larger voice on the Internet than those against gun violence- maybe there's something about posting angry blogs from their parents' basement that just appeals to them more, but when you go looking for intelligent commentary about gun laws on the 'net, mostly you'll just find idiotic = rants about how the Second Amendment grants everyone the right to own an AK-47, and how it doesn't matter if children die, as long as we can = all shoot up wrecked cars with military grade weapons on the weekend. When it comes to reasonable insights about firearms and gun laws on the Internet, there isn't really much out there except for us here at Gun Guys. Well, that's because no one is buying what you're selling. People don't like liars and propagandists. And, as evidenced from my site stats, no one is reading you. And here's the other thing: I'm not paid = by anyone. I'm not a member of the NRA. And I get no talking points dictated to me. At all. I do it because I like to. And I do it to entertain me. And I don't do it from my parents' basement, I do it from either my own basement (which is in my 3,800 square foot house) or my executive suite. What scares these guys most is that in the last 20 years, there have been tremendous gains in the right to arms. Sure they passed the ban on weapons that look like assault weapons but it sunset and good riddance. 48 states now allow concealed carry permits of some kind. Also, the justice department for the first time in 4 decades views the = second amendment as an individual right, as does the Congress and both = major party platforms. The DC circuit supports an individual right, as = does the fifth circuit. States are passing castle doctrine laws so fast, my head is spinning. And they've expanded self-defense laws. The = Democrats won't touch gun control with a ten foot pole. And anti- gunners like Romney and Giuliani are recanting their old positions. We, the real gun guys, are winning. And that scares them. Bad. So, here's the SayUncle challenge: For every unique visitor I get from = The Gun Guys between yesterday and tonight at midnight, I will buy one = box of ammo. So far, in the roughly 16 hours the link has been there, that's a whopping total of four boxes. If it weren't for Joe, I'd have = never noticed you. --------- Georgia Packing also lists them as a Joyce Foundation group: http://tinyurl.com/mx2a2f -------- Ah! (writing this while I research) 45Superman - I think his real name = is Keith - seems to have found the real money trail on this back in February of 2007: http://tinyurl.com/lfa7o6 Follow the money -- a look at the Gun Guys' sugar daddies WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2007 Posted by 45superman Anyone who reads this blog semi-regularly has probably noticed that I really enjoy picking on the Gun Guys website. There's just something about the hysterical dissemination of outright lies (such as "where there is a firearm, there will be firearms violence."--the kind of thing they say all the time, and about as honest as saying "where there are children and parents, there will be child abuse.") that bothers me. Today, though, instead of making fun of the Gun Guys directly (which was kind of fun for awhile, but way too easy), I thought it would be interesting to take a look at their funding. Comments from 1957 Human provided much of the inspiration for this little project--thanks '57. The Gun Guys are part of the cynically named "Freedom States Alliance" (that name might be the biggest lie of all), which also boasts such paragons of internet wisdom as 50 Caliber Terror--about the "horrific threat" of .50 caliber rifles (tell me, guys, have you uncovered a single case of someone in the U.S. being killed with one of those yet--get back to me when you do), License to Murder--which is = their catchy name (they do like lurid sensationalism, don't they?) for = laws that explicitly state that the burden of proof that a self- defense shooting was not self-defense lies with the prosecution (apparently, the whole concept of the presumption of innocence pending = proof of guilt offends them), and (I'm not kidding here) Newspaper Loophole (apparently, the mythical "gunshow loophole" isn't quite silly enough for these geniuses, so now they're trying to make it impossible for people to place classified ads to sell their used guns). Of all the Freedom States Alliance websites, the Gun Guys would seem to be the flagship--at least it gets updated regularly--the rest seem to be pretty static. The Freedom States Alliance, in turn, is apparently part of, or managed by Mark Karlin and Associates, a Chicago based public relations firm. The funding, or at least a vast chunk of it, comes from the Joyce Foundation. According to this, in 2006, the Joyce Foundation gave $650,000 to the Mark Karlin group, for = the Freedom States Alliance (they also gave $185,000 to the same PR firm in 2003, "to help raise the media presence and capacity of Midwest gun violence prevention groups," although this may have been before the Freedom States Alliance was formed). Actually, a look on the Joyce Foundation's list of grants for public policy dealing with "gun violence" is something of a who's who of anti-gun groups--and the = money involved is huge: $500,000 to the Violence Policy Center, a staggering $1,795,000, since July, 2004, to the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence (here, here, here, and here)--and that's just = a sampling--in all, there's over six and a quarter million dollars devoted just to pushing more restrictive gun laws (according to this)-- and that doesn't count all the money for firearms "research." Something I found interesting is that over half a million dollars (here and here) of that money has gone to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, just in the last year. That certainly = sounds impressive, (or would--if one believes that an international group should have a say in U.S. public policy). The Gun Guys, by the way, quote the IACP all the time--apparently, half a million dollars in one year buys quite a lot of support for one's position to strip Americans of their Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right = of the individual to keep and bear arms. In fairness, attacking the Second Amendment isn't the Joyce Foundation's only passion--they also seem to have it in for the First Amendment, as seen here by their monetary support for the McCain- Feingold Act of 2002 Joyce helped fund several of the groups that provided critical research and advocacy on behalf of state and federal campaign finance reforms. After Congress passed the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (McCain-Feingold) in 2002, Joyce provided funding to the Brennan Center at New York University, Democracy 21, the Campaign Legal Center, and the Public Citizen Litigation Group to help defend the act = against lawsuits challenging its constitutionality. The Supreme Court upheld BCRA in 2003. Does anyone besides me find it ironic that they would use money to support legislation ostensibly aimed at "keeping money out of politics"? So it seems that the Gun Guys and their pals are well funded. You'd think with all that money, they could afford a word processing program = with a spell check feature, or am I just not clever enough to have encountered the word, "renowed" before? Update: I guess they dropped in, learned of their spelling problem, and fixed it--hey Gun Guys, how about sending some of that Joyce Foundation money this way, if you're going to use my proofreading service? EDITED TO ADD: Living as I do (unfortunately) in the self-defense denied state of Illinois, I kind of left out the Joyce Foundation's contributions to self-defense suppression in other states--to give an idea, since 2003, they've given $1,270,000 to WAVE Educational Fund, $112,000 to Citizens for a Safer Minnesota Education Fund, $350,000 to = Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence, and $250,000 to Iowans for the Prevention of Gun Violence. Basically, if you're a gun rights deprivation advocacy group in the Midwest, the Joyce Foundation has a big stack of blank checks for you. UPDATE: When I was looking into the Joyce Foundation's list of grants to human rights suppression groups, I ignored the "firearms research" category, and looked only at "improving public policy." That was a mistake on my part, because in addition to the $500,000 I already mentioned coming from the Foundation to the VPC for "improving public policy," it has donated another $1,650,000 to them (here, here, and here) for "research." -------- Update: As you can see from my previous email, it is not the VPC but the Joyce Foundation that directly funds the Gun Guys (though they seem to be close cousins or even siblings). The Joyce Foundation also has a colorful history, including this tie to the White House: http://tinyurl.com/5x5z6n pajamasmedia.com Obama and the attempt to destroy the 2nd Amendment Talk about a smoking gun . . . October 6, 2008 by David T. Hardy As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama must demonstrate executive experience, but he remains strangely silent about his eight years (1994-2002) as a director of the Joyce Foundation, a billion dollar tax-exempt organization. He has one obvious reason: during his time as = director, Joyce Foundation spent millions creating and supporting anti- gun organizations. There is another, less known, reason. During Obama's tenure, the Joyce Foundation board planned and implemented a program targeting the Supreme Court. The work began five = years into Obama's directorship, when the Foundation had experience in = turning its millions into anti-gun "grassroots" organizations, but none at converting cash into legal scholarship. The plan's objective was bold: the judicial obliteration of the Second = Amendment. Joyce's directors found a vulnerable point. When judges cannot rely upon past decisions, they sometimes turn to law review articles. Law reviews are impartial, and famed for meticulous cite-checking. They are also produced on a shoestring. Authors of articles receive no compensation; editors are law students who work for a tiny stipend. In 1999, midway through Obama's tenure, the Joyce board voted to grant = the Chicago-Kent Law Review $84,000, a staggering sum by law review standards. The Review promptly published an issue in which all articles attacked the individual right view of the Second Amendment. In a breach of law review custom, Chicago-Kent let an "outsider" serve = as editor; he was Carl Bogus, a faculty member of a different law school. Bogus had a unique distinction: he had been a director of Handgun Control Inc. (today's Brady Campaign), and was on the advisory =