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 3

purposely endanger lives? Or you are a decent person, just like the other 200,000 people who have permits, and would never dream of taking = an innocent life or handling a gun recklessly? If it is the latter, then all this is much to do about nothing." Ken Stanton emailed me this: http://tinyurl.com/l4m57c www.roanoke.com Getting permit was the easy part By Dan Casey Sunday, August 30, 2009 Thank you, Commonwealth of Virginia. Thank you, Concealed Carry Institute. Thank you, state Sen. Ken Cuccinelli. All of you deserve my gratitude, because on Wednesday I joined 203,131 = other Virginians who hold state-issued permits to carry loaded, concealed handguns in the commonwealth. I can also carry a concealed handgun in 12 other states that grant reciprocity to Virginia permit holders. Among them are North Carolina, = Tennessee and West Virginia. Never mind that I have never fired a pistol. Never mind than I have never gripped one in my fingers. Never mind that, as of this column, I have never laid a finger on a handgun in my life. Under Virginia law, that is no bar to obtaining a concealed carry permit. You might wonder how something like this could come to pass. Can any idiot get a concealed carry permit? In Virginia, the answer is pretty much "Yes," with a few caveats. You have to be at least 21. You need a clean criminal record. You can't be mentally ill, or be a drug addict or dealer. Or have a restraining order against you. And you have to demonstrate "competence" with a gun. That fine print about "competence" always was the sticking point for a = handgun virgin like me. In states such as Arizona, you have to take an eight-hour, in-person class to demonstrate gun competence. In Florida, an instructor must witness you handling and firing a weapon. In Delaware, you have to fire at least 100 rounds on a range with the instructor present. Not in Virginia. Thanks to a law introduced by Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax County, and passed = by the Virginia General Assembly this year, you no longer need to demonstrate your competence to a live person. Instead, you can take a one-hour, $40 streaming video course on the Internet, courtesy of the Concealed Carry Institute, whose owner, Robert Marcus, in December donated $1,000 to Cuccinelli's campaign for = attorney general. You can do it in the privacy of your own home, while you nurse a six- pack if you like. And if you pass the true/false and multiple-choice quiz that comes after the video, your certificate pops up on your computer screen. You = just press a button to print it out. It's easier than pulling a trigger. Cuccinelli's law requires circuit court judges to accept my Concealed Carry Institute certificate as proof of competence. None of that touching bullets, loading a gun or actually firing it stuff. Then you take your printer-paper certificate down to the courthouse, fill out an application in the circuit court clerk's office, submit your fingerprints and photo, and then wait a month or so. The clerk calls when your permit is ready. That is how I obtained my concealed carry permit without ever touching = a handgun. I spoke to Cuccinelli's campaign spokesman about this Thursday. He was = not amused. Chris LaCivita said, more or less, that nobody besides me would be foolish enough to get a permit without knowing how to handle a gun. "You can go on your crusade about this ... but the bottom line is this: If you, as an individual, want to carry a concealed weapon without having the common sense to know how to use it, that's your choice," LaCivita said. "It's stupid, but it's your choice." And it was legislation Cuccinelli wrote that gave me that choice. The Virginia General Assembly passed this bill six times: three times in the state Senate and three time in the House of Delegates. Del. Steve Shannon, D-Fairfax, who is Cuccinelli's opponent in the attorney = general's race, voted for it, too. In a fit of common sense, Gov. Tim Kaine vetoed it. Both the House and Senate voted to override that veto. So now it is the law of the land. It took effect July 1. And I have my permit. Even though I have never laid a finger on a pistol in my life. To me, that's final proof that Virginia's concealed carry law is insanely weak, utterly ridiculous and absolutely reckless. It makes about as much sense as the General Assembly giving blind people permits to drive. ************************************************** 21. Accidental causes of death in the U.S.A: Firearms are #7 ************************************************** More people are killed by suffocation, fires, burns, and drowning than = by being shot. http://tinyurl.com/muc4le The top ten causes of accidental death in America There are so many interesting ways to die in America, that we felt it was just wrong to limit it to the most frequent causes, which are all boring diseases and infections and stuff. (Except in Alaska, where suicide generally makes it into the top ten.) You want to hear about the terrible calamities, the tragic consequences of an error in judgment or a general lack of coordination. Do we ever disappoint? 10. Machinery Deaths per year: 350 We can thank the farmers of America for the inclusion of this particular misfortune as a cause of death. Between corn-huskers and wheat-threshers, is it a wonder? The reason it is last on the list is that there just aren't enough people in farming these days. Ironically, they have all been replaced by machines. Hmm accident, or deliberate act by wanton machinery? We may never know. 9. Medical & Surgical Complications and Misadventures Deaths per year: 500 While we are incredibly insensitive people, we did not coin the term "medical misadventure"- the National Safety Council did. How is death by surgeon a "misadventure?" While we're not sure, we suspect that this number refers to elective surgeries that people undertake, such as liposuction. After all, the removal of a brain tumor is not usually = considered to be an "adventure." 8. Poisoning by gases Deaths per year: 700 There's nothing like the smell of napalm in the morning In this category, you mostly have deaths by carbon monoxide poisoning due to faulty operation of a heating or cooking appliance, or a standing automobile. We assume, however, that the noxious gasses emitted by Uncle Albert qualify too. 7. Firearms Deaths per year: 1,500 We can thank our second amendment rights for all 1500 of these deaths; = call it the "right to die" amendment. You probably don't want to know how many countries in the world do not even have "accidental death by firearms" on their top ten, or their top twenty. Suffice it to say that it's most of them. Of the 1500, you're looking at about 75% young = males between the age of 14 and 25 (and getting younger every year), who unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else. For more information on the place of guns in society, click over to our pros and cons section. [PVC: Perhaps schools should be required to offer a class on firearms safety?] 6. Suffocation Deaths per year: 3,300 Call this one the "Heimlich" section, as these deaths mostly resulted from blockages of the respiratory system by food or other objects. 5. Fires and burns Deaths per year: 3,700 This would include deaths resulting from fires, such as smoke inhalation, falling beams, and sitting through Backdraft. Ironic that cancer is number two on the total deaths list, and a by-product of smoking is responsible for one of the top causes of accidental deaths. = Are we getting the picture that this is a dangerous pastime? What kind = of warnings do we have to put on these boxes, anyway? 4. Drowning Deaths per year: 4,000 This includes all sorts of drownings in boat accidents and those resulting from swimming, playing in the water, falling in, or even having a bath. The human body is what, 70% water? And we begin our lives in a watery environment, there's lots of oxygen in water what's the deal? Something for the scientists to work on. 3. Poisoning by solids and liquids Deaths per year: 8,600 These would be all your commonly recognized poisons, as well as such items as mushrooms, shellfish, drug overdoses, and problems with medicines-which is a wide category, and why it is so high on the list. = What they leave out is things like food poisoning or salmonella, which = they classify as "disease deaths" and place on another list. 2. Falls Deaths per year: 14,900 Then we come to the America's Funniest Home Videos category of accidental death, including falls from ladders, down stairs, over curbs, off buses, into manholes, and through plate glass windows. 1. Motor vehicle crashes Deaths per year: 43,200 The winner, by a ridiculously huge (and ever-increasing) margin is: death by car wreck. Head on collision, sideswipe, single-vehicle smash- up, full car rollover, pedestrian takedown, choking on own carsick vomit, spontaneous combustion-the fun never stops for car owners. Try air travel instead; it's much safer. Do you see it anywhere on this list? ************************************************** 22. Meditations on paper armour ************************************************** Blogger says paper doesn't protect lives, guns do. I will be using his points in the future, myself. Clark Welsh emailed me this: http://tinyurl.com/mpfx54 SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2008 Meditations on paper armour I'm fond of paper. A single sheet of paper can hold ideas, hopes, dreams; it can carry a song, orders, love; it can recall history, bear witness when none are left and it can serve as the base of art for bairns as well as their great-grandsires. Many folks name the invention of the printing press as a foundation stone of human civilization -- but what is the use of a printing press = with no paper to work with? For all of it's utility and history, though, there is one area in which paper is sorely lacking: It makes lousy armour. Oh, I'm sure there are fantastic suits of papier-mache hauberks using fabled Oriental Death Bamboo paper and sacred Tibetan yak lacquer -- but let us cast our gaze upon a single sheet of 8 1/2 by 11 paper. Let us further stipulate that it is of a good, heavy kind of paper -- quality stuff -- say, 32 lb paper. Pretty, is it not? We shall hang this sheet of paper from something. A clothesline, maybe, or a door frame. Something that will hold the paper at the top and at the bottom, yet allow some room behind the paper. Now, flick a hand at the paper and see how much force it takes to tear = through it. A simple pass of the fingers, I'd wager. Nothing as vigorous as a baseball bat, or a fireplace poker, surely. If you were to lay a similar sheet of paper -- flat, as it is meant to = be read -- upon someone's cheek and then slap that cheek with all of your strength ... would it absorb the blow? Would an 8.5x11 inch sheet = of paper cause the impact to hurt less? How about a punch? Would a sheet of paper -- or two sheets, or three -- laid upon your stomach turn the trauma of a punch? A kick? Does anyone think a sheet of paper will stop a kitchen knife, or a bullet? No? Let us change the exercise a bit. Take a new sheet of paper, then rummage around and find your very favourite pen. With this most wonderful of writing instruments, I want you to write two words upon the pristine white surface of this sheet of paper. The first word shall be, "RESTRAINING", and just below that, write the = word, "ORDER". Just those two words. If those two words are not to your liking, you may substitute the words, "PEACE" and "BOND", the former above the latter. As you admire your penmanship, I urge you to contemplate how much those two words change the ability of that sheet of paper to stop slaps. To absorb punches. If this single sheet of paper was held in front of your stomach, would it stop a kick? Not so much? Take this sheet of paper and add columns of section signs (S) here and = there, write "In The Name Of The State of Texas" to the top, scribble a judge's name somewhere near the bottom. How about now? Has the paper now suddenly become magical? Will you now = trust this sheet of paper to stop a baseball bat aimed for your face -- because it has writing upon it? *sigh* Paper makes rotten armour, no matter how many inked symbols it holds. And when it comes down to you and a critter, in a deserted parking lot = in the afternoon; or a busy office at brunch; or your living room at midnight, at bad-breath distances -- that's all your ex parte restraint order or your peace bond is ... or even your Protective Order -- it is merely a piece of paper. Oh, I hear you now: "LawDog, if I have a valid Protective Order, and the critter violates it, he goes to jail!" Yes. He does. Remember, however, that when he does that violating, you = have to be able to contact the men with guns to come help you. And then they have to come to you from wherever they are at the time you call. Until they get there, if the only thing you've got is that piece = of paper ... Well, as we've seen, paper just doesn't make decent armour at all. Gentle Readers, nothing says, "Protected" quite like a Protective Order in one paw backed up by a self-defence tool in your other and the mindset and willingness to use it behind your eyes. Stay safe. LawDog ************************************************** 23. What is an illegal gun that 400 mayors are against? ************************************************** Mayors Against Illegal Guns are really just against guns. http://tinyurl.com/lnqa47 ************************************************** 24. A warning from Massachusetts on gun rights ************************************************** Former Virginia resident finds 2nd Amendment is not honored in his new = home of Massachusetts. JC, a Massachusetts gun owner sent me this email: -- Philip, It has been one year since I moved my family to The People's Republic of Massachusetts. I went to college in Virginia and stayed there for over 17 years. It was in Virginia that my affinity for the shooting and hunting sports blossomed. As a kid I was a subscriber to American Rifleman through my grandfather. He was a die hard conservative and had direct roots to the American Revolution. Clearly the 2nd Amendment = ran through his veins. In my late twenties and thirties, I became a collector of various pistols and Weatherby rifles. I loved to go to the NRA range and my hunting lease and shoot and practice and hunt. Our hunt club was fantastic and I have memories of hunting those woods = for hours that will last a life time. I brought my father to Virginia to hunt with me. He and I both harvested out first deer in the Commonwealth. Now I am a citizen of a much different Commonwealth. Here the taxes are obscene and the benefits are unknown. Conservatives are looked at as wild right wing extremists. There is more diversity of thought in a = morgue than in Massachusetts. It is truly a one dimensional state. Senator Kennedy recently passed and although his actions directly resulted in the death of a beautiful and innocent young woman, he was given a heroes farewell. Congressman Barney Frank ran a gay prostitution ring from his house and is reelected every two years. Our = founding fathers would be appalled at what they would see now. What is most stunning is the stomping of our constitution in Massachusetts. The 2nd amendment is an afterthought. As a proud supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I am so disappointed in this state and = its people. You must take hours of classes to learn how to properly fire a weapon. My teacher was a great guy and we chatted about guns more then anything, but you are required to sit in a classroom for three nights and be tested. Once you pass, then you must go to the local police station and be fingerprinted and interviewed! I pay my taxes, have no criminal history, and spent the $125 for my test and still may be denied if the Chief doesn't like me. Yes, the local police chief supersedes the Constitution of the United States of America. After 3 months of waiting, I finally received my license. Unfortunately, I missed deer season because of the delay. And my choices of firearms are very limited. If I want buy personal property (firearm) from another citizen, I must fill out a state form so it can = be recorded. If I keep a certain amount of ammo, then I must have a different license. I do not feel like a free man. Forget about the hunting. That is looked down upon even more and the bag limit is pathetic ... one. Your members must realize this could happen in Virginia. Liberal politicians and the negligent media will do all they can to strip you of your 2nd Amendment rights. Northern Virginia is a battlefield that cannot be lost. Please rally your members and stay focused. Trust me; you don't appreciate freedoms until they are gone. I pine for the days = of walking the gun shows in Richmond and Chantilly buying what I wanted and going to the range to shoot for an hour or so then walking upstairs to look at all the rifles and pistols in the NRA museum. I hope to bring my family south again. We live in great country but there are states that just don't look like America anymore. Don't let Virginia become one of those states. [PVC: I tend not to equate gun banners with liberals. Many are, but some are not. There are conservatives that don't like guns either. It's better to call such people what they are: anti-gunners.] JC ************************************************** 25. Carrying a gun for self-defense could cost you ************************************************** CHP holder is charged with illegally carrying concealed (but he has a CHP), carrying at a K-12 school (he was actually on the property of a private college), and brandishing (he drew the gun to defend himself from two attackers). Wow - talk about the police batting zero on this = arrest... The first two charges should be indisputably wrong, the third will really depend on the exact circumstances. However, two- against-one is pretty much a disparity of force in most situations. -- [Email from Albert Shank to PVC] Good Morning Mr. Van Cleave: This is a followup to the "Keystone Kops" situation that happened to my friend in the Amherst County jurisdiction. Yes, as children we all laughed at those "Keystone Kop" movies, and I have seen several examples of these individuals here in Virginia and elsewhere. However, the only problem with these "Keystone Kops" is that we folks have to take them and their antics seriously. In my friend's case, he faces the potential of losing his job over this dumb situation and his = folks (my personal close friends) had to shell out $3500 for an attorney retainer and $2500 (refundable) for a bondsman. How many of us have this kind of money in the monthly budget? Hopefully, our attorney will be able to get these trumped-up charges dropped, however, the very fact that my friend has been arrested will have to be listed on every application, etc., that he files for the rest of his life and he is not guilty of anything except trying to protect himself from being beaten up! This is justice? Or is this the "Keystone Kop" version of "justice"? The question is: who gives a person back their life after these ridiculous and unfounded charges have been adjudicated? And, I would like to remind anyone who cares to listen that even after charges have = been dismissed in a court of law, the dispositions often aren't sent to the state or federal criminal record repositories for updating of the record. Personal example: I was arrested on a simple assault charge in my home state of Iowa when I was 20 years old. I was trying to prevent a youngster from beating on my new car with a stick and no one was hurt as I merely took the stick away from the boy and ran him off away from my property. His mother called the police, I was arrested at work, before God and everyone else, hauled off to jail, forced to post a bond, etc. Later, the charges were dismissed and I was released, etc., but the disposition of the case was never posted to my record and to this day, I am dogged by this fact because every time I try to buy a handgun or a rifle here in Virginia, my application and purchase is held up while the State Police check me out! No closing disposition was ever posted to the record! And we are talking of a simple arrest by knuckleheads almost 50 years ago! A recent handgun purchase here in Charlottesville took over a week (!) to clear from the State Police! I have had a concealed handgun permit for several years as well! This is justice? Sounds like more "Keystone = Kop" stuff to me. Well, I know you have better things to do than listen to the remonstrations of a disgruntled citizen, however, I wish you would share this with all the membership so that we are all continuously reminded of the frontal assault taking place on our 2nd Amendment rights each and every minute of the day. Best regards, Albert Shank ************************************************** 26. Coburn dinner -- praises GOA, disses NRA ************************************************** Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) speaking at a Gun Owners of America awards banquet, says GOA wanted him to put in the National Park carry amendment to the Credit Card bill a few months ago, while the NRA tried to discourage him. Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America emailed me this: -- Coburn laid bare the NRA efforts to derail his parks amendment. That part starts around 7:00 minutes in. Please feel free to post and to distribute. http://tinyurl.com/m47q57 ************************************************** 27. Glock 27 at long range (230 yards) ************************************************** Long-range shooting video shows accuracy of 'baby' Glocks In the last issue of the VCDL Defender newsletter, I talked about shooting self-defense handguns at 100 yards. Here's a video of someone shooting a baby Glock at 230 yards and hitting a gong with it! If you are at a range that allows it, give it a try - it's a lot of fun. http://tinyurl.com/lsy72c ************************************************** 28. Has the 'assault' weapon scam backfired? ************************************************** Stephen P. Wenger emailed me this: -- http://tinyurl.com/l8olgd Has the "Assault Weapon" Scam Backfired? Vanity Posted on August 27, 2009 by grady "The weapons' menacing looks, coupled with the public's confusion over = fully-automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic assault weapons - anything that looks like a machine gun is assumed to be a machine gun - can only increase the chance of public support for restrictions on these weapons." - Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center (VPC) - 1989 Twenty years ago, when Sugarman made the above quote, the universe of "black rifles" and those who possessed them was a small fraction of what it is today. Now, the AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the country and other military pattern semi-auto rifles are selling better = than ever as well. Based on sales and common usage within the shooting = community, it would not appear that the gun control lobby's demonization of semi-automatic rifles has worked as planned. Moreover, I'm beginning to think that, to those who have believe the lie, the proliferation of semi-autos does in fact appear to be a proliferation of full-auto weapons - and the because sky has not fallen, they aren't terribly bothered by the idea. Now, I'm not referring here to the rabid hoplophobe, but to the non-shooter who doesn't have a particular interest or a strong opinion on the subject. Sugarman is right - perception is the key. But has that perception helped or hurt us? When my non-gun-owing parents and siblings first saw pictures of me and my family at the range with my post-ban AR-15, they didn't find them particularly interesting and just wondered why I = needed a machine gun. Despite my explanation that it wasn't a machine gun, the perception stuck. Ten years later, when my sister and her fiance visited, they wanted to do some shooting. When they were set up = with the M4gery, the first thing they noticed was that it only went bang once. How disappointing. "How do you make it shoot full auto?" they asked. They expected that it was a machine gun and weren't particularly bothered at the notion that I or anybody else could own one. After all, Sugarman, Brady, Helmke, Schumer, etc., have convinced = them that we all do anyway. When they found out it was only semi-auto, = they were less then impressed, and far from horrified. The incident in which a gentleman carried his AR-15 at the presidential town hall in Arizona further illustrates the point. While = we argue about the media myth, pointing out that it's only a semi- auto, most of the public never hear the explanation. Therefore, as people are becoming desensitized to the presence of semi-auto rifles, theythink they're becoming desensitized to machine guns. Thanks Josh Sugarman. In response to the Arizona incident, the media continued the = Sugarman lie and tried to create outrage. But when no collective outrage materialized, did the lie again help to normalize the idea of common ownership of full-autos and public acceptance thereof? ************************************************** 29. Gun control disproportionately harms African-Americans ************************************************** FBI study compares justifiable homicide statistics by race in right-to- carry and non-right-to-carry states. Bruce Jackson emailed me this: http://tinyurl.com/m8qaz7 ************************************************** 30. New gun show 'study' uses emotion to push anti-gun agenda ************************************************** The "study" 'Infers' that "gun show loophole" leads to more crime: http://tinyurl.com/nbgqa5 ************************************************** 31. Open-carry gun backers drop by popular car event ************************************************** Escondido open-carriers use hot-rod event to educate about California gun laws. Bruce Jackson emailed me this: http://tinyurl.com/ntnnar Open-carry gun backers stop by popular car event 2:00 a.m. September 5, 2009 ESCONDIDO: The Escondido Open Carry movement went to the North County city's popular hot-rod event, Cruisin' Grand, last night. Three men and two women who belong to the group were there to make a statement about their constitutional right to bear arms, and their privilege under California law to carry unloaded weapons openly. They stopped car buffs on Grand Avenue downtown to talk about their movement and passed out cards about California's gun laws. Some ignored them, but a handful stopped to talk. Others didn't notice = that the group members were wearing guns. "I don't know why they feel they need it," said Shanna O'Brien of Escondido, holding the hand of her 3-year-old son, Ian. "I don't want my son to see it." [PVC: You have GOT to be KIDDING ME! So every time a policeman walks by she runs over to her child and puts her hands over his eyes?] Sonya Bost of Hemet was with her son, 7-year-old Kaleb, but she didn't = mind the weapons. "He needs to learn that guns don't kill people. People kill people," Bost said. -- A.L. ************************************************** 32. Gun owner uses a gun to rescue two from overturned SUV ************************************************** First at the scene of an accident, a gun owner uses a gun in a unique way to save lives. Citizens most often ARE the first responders. Dana Albert Greenly emailed me this: -- Phil, I wanted to tell you a story that happened to me several weeks ago coming home from vacation from the outer banks of NC. My son and I were traveling west on route 158 coming off the island. We were approximately 3 miles inland when I noticed on the East bound lane, an = H3 Hummer tumbling end over end. We immediately stopped to assist knowing that with that type of crash, there must be injured people in the vehicle. I assisted a shaken and hysterical mother out of the vehicle which stopped on its side with the passenger door facing upward. The engine was still running and the wheels were still turning. I later realized that the bellowing smoke that I saw was from oil leaking past the valves and into the cylinders. In the heat of the moment however, this = never crossed my mind. Fearing the worst, I grabbed the daughter, I would say she was about 15 and pulled her free from the wreckage. Just as I thought we were done, someone standing by said that they heard a voice from the rear of the vehicle. The ladies were so hysterical they couldn't speak to ask them if anyone else was in the car. I looked through the rear window however the tinting was so dark, = I couldn't see inside. I tried to kick the rear window in however it wouldn't break. No one had anything on them to break the window so I withdrew my .38 Detective Special, unloaded the weapon and broke the rear window with the butt end of my gun. Fortunately, there were no more passengers in the vehicle and unbelievably, besides some bruising, there were no injuries to either passenger. I think my grips took the brunt of the damage but that would be a small price to pay had someone really been in the rear of