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 2

Oh, and the votes of five Supreme Court justices. They're the ones who = really made it possible for me, as a District resident, to own a handgun, a constitutional right as heavily debated and rigorously parsed as the freedoms of speech and religion. Just more than a year ago, by a 5-to-4 decision, the court struck down = the District's three-decades-old outright ban on handguns -- the most restrictive gun la w in the country. In District of Columbia v. Heller, Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said the Second = Amendment guarantees the right of an individual to bear arms, not just = Americans in a "well regulated Militia"; the District's prohibition was therefore unconstitutional. Reluctantly, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's administration set up a process through whi ch about 550 residents -- now including yours truly -- have acquired a handgun. But as my four trips to the police department = attest, D.C. officials haven't made it easy. Which was exactly their intent. The day the Heller decision was announced, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) vowed that the city was still "going to have the strictest handgun laws the Constitution allows." Fenty decried the ruling, saying that "more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence." Under threat of additional litigation, however, the city has already had to ease some of its initial restrictions by greatly expanding the range of gun models, including semiautomatic handguns, residents are allowed to own. Meanwhile, the battle over the right to bear arms in the nation's capital continues. The lawyer who won the Heller case recently filed a = federal lawsuit attempting to overturn the District law that prohibits = private citizens from packing heat in public. Earlier this year, Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) attempted to do away with the city's gun registration requirements. For now, the D.C. regulations are still in place. That meant that on my journey to gun ownership, I had to prove proficiency with a weapon on the range and in the classroom. I had to allow the District government to fire my gun before I did so its ballistics could be recorded. I had to vow that I was mentally sound and not under indictment. In the end, I got my gun. But I keep it locked in a box in my dresser. = Because despite the fact that my government trusts me to own a gun, I'm not sure how I feel about having a weapon that can send a piece of = metal the size of a thimble hurtling through space with such speed that it could make someone's head explode. I've been surrounded my whole life by people who see guns as a cause of social ill, not a cure. But what if they're wrong? I live in a dangerous part of a dangerous city. I've heard gunshots from my bedroom window clearly enough so there was no mistaking them for firecrackers. And then, about a month or so ago, my wife went out to her car and saw the glass on the ground and then the shattered window. = Nothing can make you want a gun more than that sickening, helpless moment when you realize you are more vulnerable than you had thought. * * * If I lived in Virginia, I'd simply walk into a shop, show my ID, fill out forms and then wait while the store calls for my background check, = which can take all of three minutes. If I pass, the gun is mine. Or I could buy a gun from a private citizen and forgo the background check. No safety course required (unless I'm applying for a concealed- handgun permit, which is not even an option in the District). No need to register the gun with the government (unless it's a machine gun, which is, again, not an option in the District). In Maryland, the process is more involved (though nothing close to what you have to go through in the District): There's an application, a background check, a mandatory 45-minute safety video and then a seven-day waiting period. But I live in the District, where the path to gun ownership, believed by some to be designed to intentionally thwart gun ownership, begins first with a trip to the police department to pick up the necessary paperwork. Then there 's a five-hour safety course (four hours in the classroom, one on the firing range) with one of about 30 instructors certified to teach the class. For those experienced with guns, the class may seem unnecessary, even ridiculous. But I'm grateful for it. I've never fired a handgun. Can't = say I've ever even held one. My experience with firearms is limited to .22-caliber rifles at summer camp, and a brief dove hunting excursion in Texas in which I never fired my shotgun. The course I choose costs $250 (group lessons are cheaper), and is taught in Temple Hills by Isaiah Abraham, a behemoth of a man who also = works as a Department of Defense police sergeant assigned to the Naval = Observatory. He walks me through the basics: Always treat a firearm as = if it's loaded; keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to = fire; never point at anything you don't intend to shoot. Then there's this bit of instruction that makes me shudder because I live in a Mount Pleasant rowhouse with neighbors on either side: Know your target and what's behind it because bullets can punch through doors and walls. We go over the parts of the gun so I can identify the difference between the hammer and the firing pin. Soon I'm learning to load a .38- caliber revolver with dummy bullets. From the moment I wrap my fingers around the grip, the gun feels uncomfortable, unwieldy and so surprisingly heavy that my entire arm dips a bit as Abraham hands it to me. A toy it is not. As I adjust my grip, the muzzle dances wildly around, pointing its deadly black eye all over the room. Disapprovingly, he takes the gun to show me how to hold it properly, and in his experienced hands the weapon is immediately obedient. Then again, guns have long been a part of his life. Growing up in Southeast = Washington, h e saw one of his friends get shot in the head "for candy = money" when he was in middle school. As an adult, he worked as a security guard in the projects, and later, as a D.C. cop, he patrolled = some of the toughest neighborhoods when crack cocaine was driving up the homicide rate. It's a cruel, violent world, he says. Which is why, when we get to the = range, he's going to want me to shoot with my left hand as well. Why? I ask. "If you get shot in this arm," he says pointing to my right, "I = don't want you to give up." If I get shot, I think, it's game over. Instead, I just nod and realize that beyond the safety requirements, general gun knowledge and = instructions on stance, grip and breathing, he's also preparing me to shoot at another human being. Because, really, isn't that what a handgun is for? It's not for squirrel hunting -- certainly not in the District, where the law prohibits me from taking the gun out of the house unless I'm going to a "lawful firearm-related activity" such as the shooting range. That's why Abraham tells me to always aim for the "center mass of your = available target" and to "pick up your weapon as if ready to fire" because, as he warns, a gun battle typically lasts just a couple of seconds. That's why the targets on the walls of his office are in the shape of torsos, some with faces on them, so you're firing at something that's looking back at you. And that's why at the range, he wants me to pick up the gun and fire three shots in four seconds. Which makes my palms sweat even more. My hands shake, which causes the gun to quiver and Abraham to say: "If I can just get you to relax. Loosen up." The first shots are an absolute shock, a full-body experience I feel in my shoulders, hips and knees. The gun doesn't fire so much as explode, kicking back ferociously, releasing a hot whiff of air and a bright red flash from the muzzle. It's louder, more violent and more cannonlike than I expected, and I realize that part of me is more than = nervous. I'm a little scared. But also thrilled. There is a rush, a blood-pumping high, which builds = with each shot as the once foreign sensation becomes more familiar and = evokes a basic, even primitive, emotion. Like Zeus throwing lightning bolts, I control that frightening explosion. I make the red flash. I make the smoke curl from the muzzle. Plus, it turns out I'm a decent shot. I get several in the bull's-eye. I'm no expert, but with each round, the gun feels more comfortable. The test feels like a game -- an adult = version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. I completely forget that the gun I'm holding is a deadly weapon. By the end, I find myself having so much fun that I ask for the target = to be moved back. For my last test, I want to try shooting two to the body, one to the head, which is more difficult than going for the bull's-eye in the middle of the target. I hit the body twice, but miss the head. Later, studying my target, Abraham says I pass, which is a huge relief. But he points to a bullet hole a few inches to the right of the head. "That's an innocent bystander," he says. * * * It may be legal to own a gun in the District, but you still can't buy one within the city limits. At least not in a gun store because there are none. Instead, you must make the purchase in one of the 50 states and have the weapon transferred into the custody of one man: Charles Sykes, who plays an odd role in the transaction. As a licensed firearms dealer, he could, theoretically, sell guns. But = he chooses not to because "I don't want to have to carry an inventory," he says. "Too much liability." Instead, he's the middleman, the only licensed dealer willing to help D.C. residents acquire handguns, a nice little side business for which he charges $125. So I head out of the city to Maryland Small Arms in Upper Marlboro. After shopping around a bit, I settle on a used Taurus Model 85 .38- caliber revolver. I like it because it's just like the one I used during my instruction, though smaller. And at $275, it was a relatively cheap beginner's gun, even though the dealer tacks on a $35 = fee for transferring it to Sykes. But the only thing I can bring home is the receipt. Only Sykes can bring the gun into the District, which he does two days later. The following week, I meet him at his office in An acostia, and we fill out the registration form. Then he hands me paperwork from the federal = Department of Justice that asks, among other things, if I am a "fugitive from justice" or if I have ever "renounced" my U.S. citizenship. Next, I have to go to the police station -- my second visit -- to get fingerprinted and pass a 20-question exam that covers D.C. gun laws, a = hurdle neither Maryland nor Virginia requires. Then I have to wait 10 days -- considerably longer than in Virginia or Maryland -- while police run a criminal background check. Only then will the gun be mine. * * * The assumption from the beginning was that I would never keep the gun. = This was to be a solely journalistic exercise: See what it takes to get a gun in the city. My editor, who had to persuade higher-ups at The Post to allow a reporter to expense a handgun purchase, assumed I'd sell it back when I was done reporting. My colleagues assumed that = as well. My wife insisted on it. (I believe her exact words were: "There's no way you're bringing that thing in the house.") Guns are dangerous, especially in an urban environment. I've read the horror stories, and even wrote one a few years ago about the 3-year- old son of a White House Secret Service agent who shot and critically wounded himself with his father's .357 semiautomatic. The chances of something bad happening with a gun in the house might very well outweigh the chances of using it effectively in that kill-or- be-killed situation. What's more likely: a Plaxico Burress-esque accidental discharge or a wild-eyed murdering-rapist crack addict breaking into the house? "Criminals prefer unarmed victims," read a bumper sticker I saw at a gun show a few weeks ago in Chantilly while mulling whether to keep the gun. Better to have and not need than to need and not have, I was told again and again by gun owners. While I'd love to believe I will never need, my wife and I have often seen drug dealers in our alley doing their business. To no avail, we have called the police. A couple of years ago, a neighbor was nearly abducted in front of her house. And then my wife's car was broken into = while parked directly behind our house. Which led to another of the should-we-move-to-the-burbs discussions that have become more frequent = of late. Once again, we talked about better lighting and alarm systems. But is that enough, I wonder. Even with the fastest of 911 responses, isn't a gun the only real protection in a doomsday scenario? Still, I'm torn. Say the murdering-rapist crack addict is charging up the stairs, coming to get us. Would I, as he raises his gun, be able to fire mine? The District can make me take a five-hour class and pass = an exam. But none of that ensures that in the heat of the moment my hands won't be shaking so badly that I send a bullet hurtling not into = the center mass of my would-be assailant but instead into the bedroom of my neighbor's teenage son. All of which raises perhaps the most difficult question of all: Does the gun indeed provide a much-needed layer of security in a dangerous city, or does it merely provide the perception of security? * * * After the 10 days, my background check complete, I go back to the police station (Visit 3) to pick up my registration, now stamped "APPROVED" in red ink. But that's only the first step in what becomes yet another series of gun-related errands that eat up three hours of my Monday. With my approved registration in hand, I have to go back to = Sykes's Anacostia office, where he then turns the gun over to me. When I get to my car, I put the gun in the trunk because the law says it cannot be "accessible from the passenger compartment of the transporting vehicle." I'm still not done. Next, it's back to the police station (Visit 4), this time so they can fire the gun and put its ballistics on file, which will help them identify the firearm if it's ever used in a crime. Then, finally, I can take it home. Two weeks after it began, the journey to gun ownership is over. Unloaded and locked in a box, into the dresser it goes, in between my jeans and sweaters, out of view but not out of mind. The act of firing the gun is a genuine thrill, and the gun itself is, I realize, an alluring work of art. The metal is sleek and smooth, the = trigger tight, the sight a precise, simple and altogether new way of looking at the world. I take the gun -- my gun -- out of the box and, knowing it's unloaded, pull the trigger. I love that satisfying snap as the hammer drops and the cylinder clicks into place, ready to fire once again. The gun's weight, once solely the cause of angst and discomfort, now feels impressive. My wife is adamant that that thing can't stay, and makes a compelling case that it's more likely to cause harm than to save us from it. And the more I think about keeping it, the more I'm convinced that the range is where the gun belongs. Not here at home, where it feels out of place, an intruder that shakes our sense of peace more than bolstering it. Maybe it's the wrong decision, maybe I'll later regret it, but the gun = is going back. And so am I . . . to the range, where I'll shoot rented = firearms. I think I've found a new hobby. -------- Mike Friedman emailed me this link to the video of the Washington Post = reporter buying his gun and learning how to shoot, which accompanied the above story: -- Philip: I'm sure you've seen this video but if you didn't.... here you go. http://tinyurl.com/ns7sqn ************************************************** 15. Accidental discharge in Danville, VA restaurant ************************************************** A retired police officer accidentally discharges a gun at a funeral luncheon in Danville, injuring 4. It will be interesting to see what actually happened, as guns don't "just go off." http://tinyurl.com/l8nfx4 ABC news 13 Gun Goes Off at Funeral Luncheon 08/31/09 reporter: Sarah Bloom producer: Amy Foster Danville, VA - Things took a strange turn at a funeral luncheon on Monday in Danville, after a gun fired in the restaurant injured four people. It seems to be an accidental shooting. It happened at Libby Hill Restaurant. Police said preliminary evidence shows a retired police officer, attending the funeral, was carrying a gun. The man- 73-year-old John William Martin Jr.- stood up, his gun went off, and a bullet hit the floor. Officials said the bullet shattered when it hit the ground and the shrapnel hit the legs of four people at = the table. Luckily, a doctor was there and able to help with the injuries. Four people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Employees said it sounded like someone dropping a dinner tray, and despite the unusual situation, no one was too alarmed. William Wyatt at Libby Hill Restaurant said, "The employees went out to figure out if maybe something had turned over. It seemed relatively calm, so everybody evidently figured out what had happened relatively quickly." Chief Philip Broadfoot with Danville Police Department said, "It doesn't happen easily. This is a freak kind of accident. Exactly to find out exactly what happened and how the gun went off." Martin served as a Danville police officer for 32 years. No charges have been filed, but the investigation continues. As for Libby Hill restaurant, it is open for service. Service actually = continued through the entire incident. ************************************************** 16. Appomattox man charged in Campbell County invasion ************************************************** Elderly woman gagged, home ransacked - who needs a gun at home? http://tinyurl.com/n52jou Appomattox man charged in Campbell County invasion Dave Thompson Lynchburg News & Advance Published: August 27, 2009 At least one Appomattox County man is facing charges in connection to a home invasion in Campbell County on Tuesday evening where an elderly = woman was gagged and her house ransacked, officials said. Capt. L.T. Guthrie said deputies obtained an arrest warrant for Donald = Eugene Collier III on Wednesday, but he was not in custody Wednesday evening. Guthrie said at about 5:15 p.m., three male suspects arrived at the home on Marshall Mill Road, off of U.S. 501 near Gladys, and approached an elderly male resident outside the house. The suspects, Guthrie said, claimed they were taking a survey for a school system, and one carried on a conversation with the resident, distracting him so the other two could enter the house. Once inside, Guthrie said, the two other suspects gagged the man's wife, forcing her into the house's bathroom while they rummaged through the house. The suspects fled the scene in a white Chevrolet pickup, Guthrie said. Later Tuesday evening, an Appomattox County deputy noticed the truck on Red House Road (Virginia 727), Guthrie said, but the subjects had fled on foot, leaving the truck running. Officials searched the area, even using the state's Med-flight III helicopter, Guthrie said. The sheriff's office received a report that the suspects had been picked up and taken from the scene in a white vehicle, Guthrie said. The investigation led to officials obtaining the warrant for Collier, charging him with robbery and abduction, Guthrie said. He said officials have identified a second suspect, but no warrant had = been issued Wednesday evening. In March, another elderly couple was bound and robbed at their home north of Rustburg, off of U.S. 501. Christopher Bryant Nowlin and Delphine Yvonne Scott, of Gladys, were charged in that incident. ------ http://tinyurl.com/mgu4r4 Second suspect charged in Campbell County home invasion By Carrie J. Sidener Published: September 1, 2009 Charges have been filed against a Lynchburg man in connection with a home invasion in Campbell County last week where a woman was gagged while her home was ransacked. Warrants have been obtained for Jeffrey Dejuan Page, 39, said Capt. L.T. Guthrie. He is not in custody. Neither is Donald Eugene Collier III, 18, of Appomattox, who also faces charges in the crime. Page is wanted on charges of malicious wounding, abduction and robbery; Collier on charges of robbery and abduction, Guthrie said. Around 5:15 p.m. on Aug. 25, three men approached an elderly man outside his house on Marshall Mill Road, off U.S. 501 near Gladys. The three men claimed they were taking a survey for the school system, = Guthrie said. While one distracted the man with conversation, the other two entered the house, gagged the man's wife and forced her into = a bathroom while they rummaged though the house, Guthrie said. They left the scene in a white Chevrolet pickup, Guthrie said. Later that evening, an Appomattox County deputy noticed a truck matching that description on Red House Road, Guthrie said, but the subjects ran, leaving the truck running. They reportedly had been picked up in a white vehicle, Guthrie said. ************************************************** 17. Fredericksburg home invasion ************************************************** Open backdoor led to early evening robbery - who needs a gun at home while watching television? http://tinyurl.com/npsofk http://fredericksburg.com City man arrested in home invasion A Fredericksburg man was arrested Friday shortly after he beat, tied up and robbed a man in his home, police said. Date published: 9/1/2009 BY KEITH EPPS A Fredericksburg man was arrested Friday shortly after he beat, tied up and robbed a man in his home, police said. The incident occurred about 6:30 p.m. in the 1200 block of Charles Street, city police spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe said. Bledsoe said a neighbor called police after hearing the victim screaming for help. The neighbor went outside and saw the victim on his front porch. The victim told her that someone was inside his home. The suspect then walked out of the home with an armload of items, Bledsoe said. When he noticed the neighbor, he walked back inside. The suspect then left through the back door. He was apprehended a short time later in the 1200 block of Sophia Street. Bledsoe said the victim told police he was in his living room watching = television when a man he didn't know walked in an open back door. He asked the victim for money and was told several times to leave, Bledsoe said. He then attacked the victim, hitting him several times in the head area. Police said the suspect then tied the victim's hands behind his back with an electrical cord. He then punched and kicked the victim again. He then went through the victim's home and took several items, including tools, a cell phone and the victim's wallet. The 45-year-old victim told police he was finally able to free himself. He said the ordeal lasted about 25 minutes. The neighbor gave police a good description of the suspect. Craig Owen = Vaczy, 30, was arrested a short time later. The victim's wallet was recovered. Vaczy, who has a long criminal record, was charged with robbery, abduction, malicious wounding, burglary, destruction of property and possession of drug paraphernalia. He was also served with an outstanding warrant from Spotsylvania. Vaczy was placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond. ************************************************** 18. RT LTE: Why does it always have to be about color? ************************************************** The media is quick to (wrongly) highlight race in gun debate: http://tinyurl.com/npzfvn Why does it always have to be about color? Re: Donald Johnson's statement about the gentleman in Arizona, a Republican state, milling around with weapons because, as he said, they "still have some freedoms" ("Secret service slacking on protecting president," Aug. 22 letter): When will Johnson acknowledge the fact that he, too, has freedoms in this country? The freedoms he enjoys may not be what I enjoy, but if they are legal, who am I to tread on his freedoms and his rights or he = to tread on mine? Many people today throw out the race card, and I am sickened by it. Perhaps Johnson may want to broaden his horizons to include other than = the mainstream liberal media that showed only a picture of an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle thrown over a shoulder without any part of the picture showing that the gentleman carrying the rifle was indeed African-American -- though I am betting if you asked him, he would be happy to say he is just an American. My guess is this won't be printed by our local, anti-gun liberal newspaper as they, too, hate guns. WARREN R. BURCH TROUTVILLE ************************************************** 19. Washington Times Editorial: False reports about guns ************************************************** CBS and MSNBC paint false picture of gun owners http://tinyurl.com/nrn4us EDITORIAL: False reports about guns CBS and MSNBC peddle phony stories about arms, race and violence By THE WASHINGTON TIMES Monday, August 31, 2009 Many media outlets have misfired about guns.Countless newspapers and television networks -- from CBS to MSNBC -- have misreported that conservative protesters are threatening President Obama with guns at public events. It hasn't happened. In Portsmouth, N.H., a man carrying a gun, William Kostric, joined an Aug. 11 health care protest. This was blocks away and hours before Mr. = Obama's town-hall meeting in that city. Mr. Kostric was given permission to be on church property where the protest occurred and was = not at the place the president visited. What most of the coverage left = out was that Mr. Kostric didn't carry his gun only for the protest; he = legally carries a gun with him all the time for protection. While the media regularly used terms such as "hotheads" to mischaracterize the situation, the coverage ignored that union members = who opposed the protest had attacked Mr. Kostric and a friend, kicking, pushing and spitting on them. Despite violence against him by = Mr. Obama's supporters, Mr. Kostric did not draw his gun or threaten anyone. On the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric asked, "Are we really still debating health care when a man brings a handgun to a church where the = president is speaking?" Deliberately or not, she got the facts wrong. As we know, Mr. Kostric did bring a gun to the church, but the president was not there and never was scheduled to speak there. Mr. Obama spoke at a separate event at a local high school at a different time. Not letting facts get in the way of her hysterical story line, Ms. Couric linked Mr. Kostric's gun to "fear and frankly ignorance drown[ing] out the serious debate that needs to take place about an issue that affects the lives of millions of people." In another case in Arizona, a black man staged an event with a local radio host and carried a semiautomatic rifle a few blocks away from another Obama town-hall meeting. According to the radio station, the staged event was "partially motivated to do so because of the controversy surrounding William Kostric." This occurrence was not an example of an outraged gun-toting Obama protester, but a stunt to garner attention for a shock jock. Of course, this inconvenient truth was ignored by most news outlets. MSNBC misrepresented the facts to try to back up a bogus claim about racism being behind opposition to Mr. Obama's agenda. On Donny Deutsch's Aug. 18 show about the Arizona town-hall meeting, the producers aired a clip of the anonymous black man carrying the so- called assault rifle -- but the network edited the tape so the man's race was obscured. Truth be damned, MSNBC anchor Contessa Brewer said, = "There are questions whether this has a racial overtone. I mean, here you have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with guns strapped to their waists." Another commentator on the same show worried about the "anger about a black person being president." The supposed result: "You know we see these hate groups rising up." MSNBC's irresponsible behavior is more than just bad journalism; it sows distrust between races. Ernest Hancock, the radio host who staged = the event, was hoping to get some free publicity for himself and his show. Whatever one thinks of this PR stunt, it had nothing to do with race. MSNBC misrepresented a black man carrying a gun as a white man to invent a racial dynamic that didn't exist. Media disinformation about guns is a sad sign of the drastic action liberals will take to undermine support for gun rights for law-abiding = citizens. It's also an indication of liberals' extreme desperation as Mr. Obama's agenda unravels. ************************************************** 20. Anti-gun Roanoke Times column about CHP ************************************************** Roanoke Times columnist says Virginia CHP laws are too lax. Here was my response to him: "So now that you have your permit, are you going to go berserk, Dan, and start killing innocent people at will? (You could do that without a permit, BTW.) Would you knowingly handle a gun recklessly and purposely endanger lives? Or you are a decent person, just like the