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

09/16/09 - VCDL Update 9/15/09 - Part 2

We understand the emotions surrounding this issue, but would just like = to suggest that those who oppose gun control stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Do they really want to be on the side of those who buy and sell guns for the express purpose of committing violent crimes. Because that is where the anti-gun-control movement now makes its stand. [PVC: We want our gun rights UN-INFRINGED, just like the Constitution says.] Our position is simple. Americans have a right to own weapons. The government has the right to know where those weapons are and who bought them. [PVC: Here we go again - the government DOES NOT HAVE RIGHTS!] It also has the right to decide that certain kinds of weapons are detrimental to the security of a free state when distributed freely to all comers, including violent criminals, and take measures to stop that from happening. The government, which has the well-established right to protect the health of its citizens by banning smoking in public spaces, has the right to protect the health of its citizens by requiring that gun makers install simple and cheap devices that have no impact on the legal functions of a firearm but protect children from accidental discharge. [PVC: Cigarettes are not = constitutionally protected with a "shall not be infringed" status. The government is granted none of these authorities by the Constitution. Nice try at creating a "living constitution", New York Times, but no cigar.] ************************************************** 11. VA-ALERT reader expands on the dynamics of a ricochet ************************************************** A VA-ALERT reader comments on an article about a shotgun slug ricochet = in a previous VA-ALERT ("VA-ALERT reader: 'slug article' numbers don't = make sense," item #33, 9/11/09). Dan Brooks emailed me this: -- With regard to Joe's question about traveling distance of a slug after = firing, the numbers make perfect sense to me. When you figure how far a projectile will travel before it hits the ground, you simply take the velocity in feet per second when it leaves = the gun and multiply by the time that it takes an object to fall from shoulder height to the ground. Maybe a quarter of a second. This will give you an approximate distance to impact with the ground. Once the projectile hits the ground, it's travel on the bounce is a function of it's friction with the ground and air and it's mass and it's striking speed. Heavier goes farther, faster goes farther and smoother goes farther. Heavier goes farther because greater mass has greater momentum. Faster goes farther because it moves a greater distance in the same time between bounces. Smoother goes farther for two reasons. First, it looses less energy from friction with the ground at impact. Second it has a lower drag when passing through the air. Tumbling will add resistance, as will certain shapes of projectile. Viewed in this light, I found the numbers quite believable, even discounting the variations for wind speed and direction, air density, temperature, slug composition, etc. that also factor in to a lesser degree. Sincerely, Dan Brooks VCDL Member ************************************************** 12. NY Post Video: Gun totin' rabbis ************************************************** A rabbi, who is also a former NYPD officer, helps to prepare his congregation to defend themselves against an armed attacker. John Higi Tel Aviv, Israel emailed me this -- Philip - I thought you might be interested in this video: via the NY Post: NY rabbis talking about self-defense in their synagogue ahead of = the high Jewish holy days. http://tinyurl.com/ln3oq6 ************************************************** 13. Alternet: 30 death threats a day ************************************************** The antis are upset because some Americans carry guns to political events regardless of the fact that the gun owners are not near the president and are carrying their guns completely peaceably. What strikes me as duplicitous is that CNN's Rich Sanchez tries to use = guilt by association between Chris Broughton, the black man who carried an AR-15 on his shoulder outside an Obama event, and Steven Anderson, a preacher who wishes Obama would die of natural causes. Rich Sanchez claims that Broughton attends Anderson's church, which Sanchez says is chilling. I wonder where Sanchez's chills were when Obama attended church where a preacher, Jeremiah Wright, poured hatred from the pulpit regularly? = Asking God to damn America, blaming America for 9/11/2001, and making = racist remarks against Jews isn't a chilling thing for a President's preacher to be saying? Sanchez seems to prefer pushing guilt by association only when it suits a political purpose of his own. By trying to tie threats to the President to the peaceable gun owners carrying at political events is nothing more than an attempt to vilify = gun owners at all costs: http://tinyurl.com/nxa5mb act.credoaction.com The right-wing hate speech polluting the debate over health care is generating more and more threats against President Obama, some truly frightening. CNN anchor Rick Sanchez reports that when President Obama visited Phoenix, Ariz. on August 17, local minister Steven Anderson of the Faithful World Baptist Church, who strongly expresses hatred for Obama = in many of his sermons, told his congregation that he wished him dead. = In a disturbing twist, it was discovered that Chris Broughton, the man = who brought an AR 15 assault rifle to the Phoenix rally where Obama spoke, had attended Anderson's sermon. In a later interview, Broughton = said he concurred with his pastor's wish to see Obama "die and go to hell." As many as twelve men were seen walking around the Phoenix Convention Center with guns on that day. President Obama faces 30 death threats a day, a 400 percent increase from former President Bush, according to Ronald Kessler, a veteran investigative journalist and conservative who recently authored a book = about the Secret Service. Kessler notes that funding cutbacks have already left the first African-American president in U.S. history particularly vulnerable. The book, which alleges that the cash-strapped Secret Service is endangering the president by cutting corners, has sent shockwaves through Washington. "There's no question his life is in danger." "Tomorrow, Obama could be assassinated ... simply because the Secret Service was not doing what it used to do, " said Kessler. "We have half the number of agents we need, but requests for more agents have fallen on deaf ears at headquarters," a Secret Service agent told Kessler. "There's a tremendous feeling within the Secret Service that they are risking an assassination," Kessler told Canadian TV. As CNN's Rick Sanchez said on the air, "This looks serious. This almost looks like this is coming to the point where we are even beyond = maybe where this nation was on November 22 of 1963, when JFK was assassinated, when there was also an environment of hate in this country." As racist attacks increase and protestors continue to bring guns to presidential events, it is strikingly clear that President Obama is vulnerable to harm. Are the Secret Service and FBI doing enough to protect him? Will they confront and investigate those who threaten our = president so that they can be prosecuted and jailed? We cannot allow funding problems to weaken the organizations charged with protecting the life of our nation's president. In 2003, the Secret Service and FBI became part of the Department of Homeland Security and now must compete with 20 other agencies for oversight from their chief, Janet Napolitano. She must use her authority to ensure that the Secret Service and FBI put more agents on the ground to protect President Obama and confront and investigate those who threaten him. It is time for Americans of every stripe to insist that the Secret Service and FBI operate at the highest levels of effectiveness. Sign your name to this petition so that Janet Napolitano, Secretary of = Homeland Security hears the message loud and clear. And please pass this message on to your friends and colleagues. It is a difficult time = in America, and we have to stand up and make sure our president is safe. ************************************************** 14. Millionaire faces jail for attack on knife raider at his home ************************************************** England is sinking into quagmire much faster that the US. Picture this: you are at home, THREE thugs break into your home and hold you, your spouse, and your kids at knife-point. Fearing for your = life, you see your chance and attack, beating the hell out of one of the attackers and holding him for police after the other two criminals = flee. Rather than thanking you for catching a dangerous criminal, the police = instead charge YOU for beating the miscreant and the court finds YOU GUILTY!!! What message is being sent to criminals in the UK? You will be seeing = more and more of these home invasions over there, mark my words: http://tinyurl.com/pq7rv3 dailymail.co.uk A millionaire businessman is facing jail for attacking a career criminal who had held his family hostage at knifepoint. Munir Hussain, 52, was told he would be killed when three raiders invaded his home. He and his wife, their teenage daughter and two sons were ordered to lie on the floor of the living room with their hands behind their backs. But the Hussains' teenage son managed to escape through a window and when the men realised that, two of them fled. Hussain then threw a coffee table at the third man, 56-year-old Walid Salem, hitting him in the face. His older son Awais, 20, joined the fight and although Salem tried to escape he was bundled into a nearby garden. Neighbours in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, then saw several men beating him with weapons including a cricket bat and a metal pole. He was left with injuries including a fractured skull and bruising on the = brain. Hussain denied attacking Salem, claiming it was a group of local youths. But a jury at Reading Crown Court found him guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent. His brother Tokeer, 35, was convicted on the same charge but the jury failed to reach a verdict on their nephew Wahleed Hussain, 20. Judge John Reddihough freed the brothers on bail until October 9, but warned them that this did not mean they would not be jailed. The maximum sentence for GBH with intent is life. A family member said last night: 'This is one more shocking blow for a = man who thought he had suffered enough last September. We are absolutely devastated, it's hard to believe in justice any more.' In a further twist, legal sources said Mr Salem would be eligible for criminal injury compensation - with a fractured skull worth around =A36,000 - even though he recovered to commit further crimes. The court heard that Salem, from Borehamwood, had a long criminal record, with over 50 convictions. In contrast, Munir Hussain, an engineer by training, had an impeccable = character. He came to Britain in 1964 and founded a company which employs nine people and had a =A32.4million turnover last year. In 2004 he won the Business Link small business of the year award. He is a former chairman of the Wycombe Race Equality Council and chairman = of the Asian Business Council, which he helped found. Defence barrister Michael Wolkind, QC, said: 'The robber ruined his life, traumatised his wife, threatened his children with a knife. Who is the real victim?' He said if Hussain was convicted 'Walid Salem wins again'. Mr Wolkind added: 'We are really sorry that the thief, cheat, robber, possessor of stolen credit cards, carrier of a knife, the person who threatened to kill Munir and his family, the disgusting career criminal who invaded the home of a good family, got hurt. We mean that = most sincerely.' Prosecutor John Price, QC, admitted: 'Walid Salem is not someone for whom anyone would = feel any instinctive sympathy and on this night he was engaged with others, which makes it worse, in a grave crime, intent, it seems, on causing harm to the occupants in that house. A family, with children. 'There is therefore a sense - and there is no point in hiding from it - of responding, as one might over a drink in a public house, "well he got his just desserts didn't he?".' Mr Price said that when the Hussains fought with Salem inside the house: 'They were acting entirely lawfully in defence of themselves and their families. 'If they had stopped there, they would not be where they are now. But they did not.' He said witnesses had told of seeing three or four Asian men encircling Salem in a garden, ' kicking and stamping on him as he lay there' for several minutes. The court had heard that Hussain, his wife Shaheen, 49, sons Awais, 20, and Samad, 15, and daughter Arooj, 18, were ambushed by a knifeman = [PVC: a KNIFEMAN? Now they are vilifying knives in the same manner as guns.] wearing a balaclava at 11pm on September 3 last year after returning to their detached home from prayers at a local mosque. In a police interview, Hussain compared his case to that of Tony Martin, jailed for life in 2000 after he shot dead a teenage burglar at his isolated farmhouse in Norfolk. After a national outcry, his murder conviction was reduced on appeal to manslaughter and his sentence to five years. If you use force which is 'not excessive' against burglars then the law is on your side The Government has promised that people who fight back against burglars will find the law is on their side, so long as they do not use excessive or disproportionate violence. Last year's Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill contained clauses to = protect them from prosecution if they act instinctively and out of fear for their safety. Justice Secretary Jack Straw said: 'Law-abiding citizens should not be = put off tackling criminals by fear of excessive investigation. 'For a passer-by witnessing a street crime or a householder faced with = a burglar, we are reassuring them that if they use force which is not excessive or disproportionate, the law really is behind them.' ************************************************** 15. Georgia: South Ossetians cling to arms ************************************************** Regardless of where we call home, we all share the most basic human right of all. The right to defend ourselves. "All these gun owners are united by a common sentiment: they do not completely trust Russian troops to defend their interests, so they must retain the ability to fight their own potential battles." Boy, no kidding! James D Durso emailed me this: -- http://tinyurl.com/lpmt2k eurasianet.org A EurasiaNet photo essay by Karen Mirzoyan 9/03/09 Guns have been a fixture of life in Georgia's breakaway region of South Ossetia for almost 20 years, needed by citizen-soldiers in the fight for their sovereignty. But now with Russian troops protecting the territory, the South Ossetian leadership is trying to disarm the population. As this EurasiaNet photo essay by Karen Mirzoyan shows, many Ossetians are unwilling to part with their guns. In late summer, the government asked residents to voluntarily give up their weapons to police, while opening numerous cases against citizens = accused of illegal arms possession. Authorities also said they would soon implement a program under which participating citizens would receive a payment of up to $400 in return for handing over their weapons. In the weeks since the official appeal to hand over arms, police have received or taken 100 machine guns and 110 pounds of explosives. There are plenty of citizens who aren't interested in taking up any government offers of cash for guns. These holdouts come from a wide variety of backgrounds: they include family men with basement arsenals, a journalism professor ready to mobilize his sons, and a painter who hides his Kalashnikov from the grandmother he cares for. All these gun owners are united by a common sentiment: they do not completely trust Russian troops to defend their interests, so they must retain the ability to fight their own potential battles. ************************************************** 16. VCDL EM to speak at Tea Party in Lynchburg ************************************************** VCDL EM Patricia Webb is going to be speaking at the Constitution Day Tea Party this Thursday, September 17th in Lynchburg. She will be speaking about, you guessed it, Second Amendment issues. For more information, click on this link: http://lynchburgteaparty.blogspot.com/2009/09/our-full-official-list-of-spe= akers.html If you can make it, come to the event and give Pat your support! ************************************************** 17. Petition to allow concealed carry in state forests moves forward ************************************************** Everyone who signed on as a supporter of a regulation change to allow concealed carry in state forests have received the following email from the Department of Forestry: -- During the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action (NOIRA) stage, the Department of Forestry (DOF) received 1926 comments supporting the amendment of State Forest regulations to allow the carrying of concealed handguns on State Forests by persons possessing a valid concealed weapon permit. The DOF will proceed to the Proposed Regulation Public Comment stage with the intent to amend the State Forest regulations to allow the carrying of concealed handguns on State Forests by persons possessing a valid concealed weapon permit. = DOF will also provide a public hearing opportunity during the Notice of Proposed Regulation Public Comment stage. DOF appreciates receiving comments from all who commented on the proposed regulatory amendment during the NOIRA stage. For information regarding this matter, please feel free to contact Ron Jenkins, Assistant State Forester, at 434 - 220 - 9022, or by email at ron.jenkins*dof.virginia.gov= =2E -- When they hold their public hearing we want to flood the building with = people urging the DOF to support open carry, as well as concealed carry, in state forests. When we have a date, I will let you know. ------------------------------------------- ***************************************************************************