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

09/24/09 - VCDL Update 9/24/09 - Part 2

Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408 http://www.goapvf.org Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Catherine Crabill gave a stirring stump speech this summer in her pursuit of getting elected as a Republican to the Virginia House of Delegates. She addressed a July Tea Party in Northumberland County and eloquently affirmed the need to reassert the Tenth Amendment, and if need be, the Second Amendment. Not very unusual, you might think, for a state whose motto "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (Thus Always to Tyrants) is emblazoned on the state shield which depicts Lady Liberty standing with her foot on the neck of a vanquished tyrant. The Lady is holding her spear with one hand and a sword with the other. Crabill quoted from Patrick Henry's famous St. John's Church speech in which he proclaimed: "Give me liberty or give me death." Henry was a Virginian, and a member of the same House of Delegates (then called House of Burgesses) that Crabill is seeking to join. She is being condemned for this statement: "We have the opportunity to fight this at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box." Not unlike what Luby's massacre survivor Dr. Suzanna Gratia Hupp told Senator Charles Schumer in a Senate hearing that we need our guns "to protect ourselves from all of you guys up there." She went on to be elected as a Texas State Representative. Crabill's remarks are also right on message with a campaign ad run by former U.S. Senator Steve Symms: "In America, freedom and justice have always come from the ballot box, the jury box, and when that fails, the cartridge box." Symms was shooting skeet in the background. Who would object to that besides an anti-gunner? Well, for openers, the chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, Pat Mullins. Here is what he said: "We do not condone or support the comments Catherine Crabill has made. That kind of talk has no place in civil political discourse. She has received no assistance from the state party, nor will she in the future." It seems that Mullins is of the opinion that anything can be decided by voting and that nothing is off limits -- much the way three wolves and a sheep might vote for what to do for lunch. It is this attitude that the politicians can do anything that they want and grab more and more power to shove their unconstitutional agendas down our throat that has so aroused the American people. We can tell Catherine Crabill that we have her back and assure her that we support her. ************************************************** 17. Mother and child bound during home invasion ************************************************** Danville woman and 8-year-old child are bound with belts by three men wearing black clothes and masks, one with a gun. http://tinyurl.com/luwrrm www.wset.com Mother and Child Bound During Home Invasion posted 09/15/09 11:03 am Danville, VA - Danville Police (web) are investigating two crimes, one which involves a mother and child being tied up by intruders. Around 10:30 p.m. Monday, police were called to a home on Baugh Street in reference to a home invasion. The victim says three men wearing black clothes and masks forced their way into the home. One of them had a gun and demanded money. The victim says she and her eight-year-old child were restrained with belts. Neither of them were hurt. The clerk says a man in dark clothes and a hood came into the store around midnight last night, demanding money. He says it looked like the man had a gun under his shirt. If you have any information about either of these crimes, call Danville Crimestoppers at 434-793-0000. ************************************************** 18. Cops: Student uses sword to kill intruder ************************************************** Johns Hopkins University student uses a samurai sword to confront robber in his Baltimore home. Bill Hine emailed me this: -- http://tinyurl.com/qzax6j www.msnbc.com Cops: Student uses sword to kill intruder Cuts off man's hand, lacerates his upper body, police say Wed., Sept . 16, 2009 Associated Press BALTIMORE - A Johns Hopkins University student armed with a samurai sword killed a suspected burglar in a garage behind his off-campus home early Tuesday, hours after someone broke in and stole electronics. Some shocked neighbors said they heard bloodcurdling screams in an area just blocks from the university. Police held the student, a junior chemistry major who turns 21 on Sunday, for several hours, but no charges were filed by early afternoon, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. Around 1:20 a.m., the student heard noises behind the home and noticed a door to the garage was open, Guglielmi said. He grabbed the sword and confronted the intruder -- identified by police as Donald D. Rice, 49, a habitual offender who had just been released from jail. Rice was crouching beneath a counter, police said. The student asked him what he was doing and threatened to call police. "When he said that, the suspect lunged at him, kind of forced the kid against the wall, and he struck him with the sword," Guglielmi said. 'Hanging on by a thread' Rice's left hand was nearly severed -- Guglielmi described it as "hanging on by a thread" -- and he suffered a severe cut to the upper body. He died at the scene. On Monday, two laptops and a Sony PlayStation were stolen from the student's home, which he shares with three other students, but police were not sure whether Rice was responsible, Guglielmi said. There was a pool of blood Tuesday morning in the brick courtyard between the back porch of the home and the garage. The courtyard was strewn with debris, including what looked like broken glass. Guglielmi did not know why the student kept a sword. He said he may have had some martial arts training, but was not an expert. [PVC: Maybe because guns are so difficult to legally own and carry in Maryland, perhaps?] Rice's criminal history includes more than two dozen arrests for burglary, breaking and entering and auto theft. According to court records, he was charged in 2007 after he pulled a gun on a police officer, though prosecutors placed those charges on hold because the officer was on military leave. Rice was convicted in 2008 of unauthorized removal of property and sentenced to 18 months. He was released Saturday from the Baltimore County Detention Center. Several nearby residents said the community has experienced a rash of petty crimes in recent months, including home, garage and vehicle break-ins. Many homes have bars on windows and stickers advertising alarm systems. 'I could tell someone was scared' Michael Hughes, 43, said he was getting ready for bed when he heard the screams. "There was fear in the voice. I could tell someone was scared," Hughes said. Hughes called 911, and several police cars arrived while he was on the phone. Campus security officers and an off-duty city officer who were in the area responding to a suspicious person report also heard the screams. The diverse neighborhood includes a mix of students, professors and families, said Hughes, who lives with his wife and young children and works for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which is on another campus across town. "There seems to be a noticeable increase in crime in the neighborhood," Hughes said. "I am concerned for my family's safety." ************************************************** 19. A risk and an opportunity involving the Richmond tea party ************************************************** My suggestion to VCDL members and gun owners in general is to go easy on the Tea Party folks. Some Tea Party folks are new to the fight for liberty, something we have been doing for a very long time, and are our natural allies. They will make some mistakes, not think through how broad freedom really is, and so forth. Their hearts are in the right place and most are willing and eager to learn. A VA-ALERT reader who went to the recent Richmond tea party event emailed me this: -- Philip, Not sure how aware you are that there is some friction building between some OC guys (also VCDL members) and the Richmond Tea party. Apparently the venue the Tea Party chose, Baileys in Midlothian, was a Gun Free Zone and people were asked to leave or put guns in car. Apparently worse, the self identified guy in charge for the Tea party at Bailey''s got very snippy when confronted about the decision to the point of saying that maybe "VCDL can choose the venue next time". My take is, that the guy may not have really been that high up in the Tea Party Richmond, since so many went to DC he was just who was left. The Tea Party folks aren't smooth PR people, nor most of them even business owners use to dealing with public complaints. This is an OPPORTUNITY to educate people rather than isolate and squabble and divide. Granted, it is a slap in the face that apparently they just never even thought of gun rights as well. But if we can educate regular folks, we should be able to get these folks to understand and even embrace our cause. Or else they are really lousy libertarian types lol. Knowing a little (and I mean VERY little) about the decision process involved with the local tea party and associated groups, it seems to me that the idea of meeting at Bailey's was almost an afterthought. I have personally talked to several of the current and past founding types for the We Surround Them and the Tea Party groups. They explicitly stated that their main focus would be to get as MANY people to go to DC as possible. It may be they waited so long to get a place on Saturday that there were not a lot of choices? They picked somewhere that would let the group in - on a college football Saturday even. And in the end, hadn't thought to consider everyone's rights or the importance of consistency when pursuing liberty. - AJ -- Here is a write-up on the event in Old Virginia News: http://tinyurl.com/nwlkhe http://news.oldva.org Bailey's Pub and Grille.. A Haven for Criminals ? Today is the D.C. march by the Tea Party. I always cover their local events, but you couldn't get me in Washington D.C. with a whip.The Tea Party people had arranged a remote viewing location: Join We Surround Them - Richmond at Bailey's Pub and Grille TO WATCH GLENN BECK'S LIVE BROADCAST WITH MCS THE LEE BROTHERS FROM WRVA-AM AND LOCAL PATRIOTIC MUSICIAN KEVIN REYNOLDS. DATE: 9/12/2009 TIME: 12:30 TO 3:00 PM PLACE: 11581 ROBIOUS ROAD, RICHMOND, VA 23235 (CORNER OF HUGUENOT ROAD) FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO VOLUNTEER TO HELP WST, CONTACT: WSTR.EVENTS*GMAIL.COM Great! Now I can cover that event. The only problem is that I had heard rumors about Baileys being Anti-Gun. "No way" I said...the Tea Party wouldn't promote a business that had contempt for the rights and safety of Virginia Citizens. LIKE HELL THEY WOULDN'T AND THEY DID!.... LOOK FOR PART TWO FOR THE STORY ABOUT THE TEA PARTY. I walked into Baileys and there was NO SIGN. I had been told there was one. What there was though was a cute little bar type girl, who told me that firearms weren't allowed. WHY, I asked? "Because Virginia law prohibits firearms wherever alcohol is served" she answered. I told her, she didn't know what she was talking about, that Virginia law prohibited the concealed carry of firearms in establishments like this. Open carry is legal. She said she'd get the Manager, and swished off. The Manager came to the front and I asked why firearms weren't allowed, same answer. That's not true I told him. Then he said he had called the State Police and they told him that. "Let's call them now", I said. Then the story changed to his legal department had called them. I repeated that Virginia law only prevented Concealed carry. It was time to wiggle so he started being RATIONAL....sort of. "Suppose I have a customer that has had too much to drink and you walk by. He grabs your gun and starts shooting. This is for your safety". It was getting deep and I was sick of it, so I explained that if his customer had too much to drink, the Pub was in violation of ABC laws and if his customer grabbed my gun, he was the criminal, not me. He didn't like that answer and said" I can refuse to allow entry to anyone I want". Well praise the lord, he finally told the truth about something. He can and I support that right to the end. That doesn't mean I think it's right and I won't spend a dime there. I encourage every law abiding person in the state to stay away also. Bailey's thinks a lot more of drunken criminals than, they do of law abiding and sober, patrons. Bailey' is definitely on the DON'T GO THERE LIST ! -- [PVC: My comments:] The common thread I see at many of these restaurants that prohibit firearms is the perception that "Virginia law prohibits firearms wherever alcohol is served". That's not true and we have these two official letters on our website as proof: 1. From the VSP: http://www.vcdl.org/letters/VASP_OPEN.pdf 2. From ABC: http://www.vcdl.org/letters/ABC_Letter.pdf You should provide copies of those letters to any manager who believes "Virginia law prohibits firearms wherever alcohol is served". ************************************************** 20. Open carry experiences this weekend ************************************************** Jack Doyle emailed me this: -- Philip, I had a couple of friends come up from Florida this past weekend for the 9-12 rally. They were so excited to come to Virginia and experience open carry. They cannot do that in Florida. We carried openly at the Roanoke City market area on Friday evening. They couldn't believe that nobody stared or even said anything to us. In fact, I asked a police officer where the coffee shop went and he was as surprised as we were that it was gone. My friend couldn't believe that the police officer didn't say anything to us, and clearly he was able to see that we were carrying. One of my buddies had a HK45 in a tactical thigh holster. He said had that been an Orlando police officer he would have been handcuffed, on the ground, and actively being tased. Flash forward a day to Washington DC rally. We carried the empty holsters and didn't have any trouble at all. I believe we caught a look from a couple of DC Metro PD officers, but nobody actually said anything to us.. until... That evening after open carrying to dinner at Outback in Reston we went to the Cold Stone Creamery. While paying for his ice cream, someone looked at Jaime's gun and asked him "what do you do?" Without missing a single beat, his friend said "he pays taxes." It was classic... and I had to share it. Jack Doyle ************************************************** 21. Details on Qik link - very useful when needing video as evidence ************************************************** A service captures streaming video from your cell phone. From EM John Pierce: On the topic of videoing these [anti-gun or unfriendly police] encounters, anyone who is not familiar with Qik should take a few minutes to familiarize themselves with this awesome FREE service and sign up (I just recently discovered it myself). Basically, it streams any recording you are making with your phone (it must be a supported model) direct to your Qik account and it is INSTANTLY available online (or you can make it private until you decide to release it). In any case, should your phone be confiscated "as evidence", the video is long gone and safely stored on the server where it can be used in your defense. Did I mention it is free? :) John -- Here's the link to Qik: http://qik.com/ and the link to phones that work on Qik: http://qik.com/info/supported_phones ************************************************** 22. The original meaning of the Second Amendment ************************************************** Second Amendment scholar at George Mason argues that gun rights are not limited to militias. David R. Neal emailed me this: -- This is an excerpt from an e-mail I sent out to my 2nd Amendment Activists group after reading Christian Trejbal's latest. It might be nice to point out to VCDL members Nelson Lund's take on the 2nd Amendment, which is one of the simplest, most accurate I've seen (I usually see only paragraph 2 and 3 quoted). http://tinyurl.com/2jktho www.heritage.org From Professor Nelson Lund of George Mason University-perhaps our foremost Constitutional scholar on the Second Amendment. Below is taken from the "The Original Meaning of the Second Amendment" section of his article. "The text of the Second Amendment does not imply that the right to arms is confined in any way to militia-related purposes. The most significant grammatical feature of the Second Amendment is that its preamble ("A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State...") is an absolute phrase. Such constructions are grammatically independent of the rest of the sentence and do not qualify any word in the operative clause to which they are appended. The usual function of absolute constructions is to convey some information about the circumstances surrounding the statement in the main clause. Another very significant grammatical feature of the Second Amendment is that the operative clause ("...the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed") is a command. Because nothing in that command is grammatically qualified by the prefatory assertion, the operative clause has the same meaning that it would have had if the preamble had been omitted or even if the preamble were demonstrably false. Consider a simple example. Suppose that a college dean announces: "The teacher being ill, class is cancelled." Nothing about the dean's prefatory statement, including its truth or falsity, can qualify or modify the operative command. If the teacher called in sick to watch a ball game, the cancellation of the class remains unaffected. If someone misunderstood a phone message and inadvertently misled the dean into thinking the teacher would be absent, the dean's order is not thereby modified." -------- It also might be nice to show how some (far?) left folks like Eugene Robinson have finally admitted (unlike Christian Trejbal) the 2nd means what it says, even though over the years he's been one those making the rounds advocating gun control/anti-2nd Amendment stances. Of course he's only half way there-he's wrong about the "deadly consequences". Below are a few points from his article-'course he knew all this even while he was making the rounds pushing gun-control-just as I suspect most proponents of gun control do. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/26/AR2008062603 656.html?sub=new www.washingtonpost.com Deadly Consequences -- But the Right Call By Eugene Robinson Friday, June 27, 2008 Few landmark Supreme Court rulings have been so widely predicted as yesterday's decision striking down the District of Columbia's ban on handguns. The mere fact that the court agreed to hear the case was a pretty good indication that the justices were itching to make some kind of big statement about the Second Amendment. Questions from the bench during oral arguments in March left little doubt as to which way the wind was blowing. This case, for me, is one of those uncomfortable situations in which my honest opinion is not the one I'd desperately like to be able to argue. As much as I abhor the possible real-word impact of the ruling, I fear that it's probably right. .... I realize that the now-defunct D.C. law was unusually comprehensive and restrictive and thus, in the legal sense, offered a bull's-eye for the pro-gun lobby. I also know that the law was easy to attack on grounds of efficacy: Given all the handgun killings in the city, was the ban really having any beneficial impact? .... The big problem, for me, is the clarity of the Second Amendment's guarantee of the "right of the people to keep and bear arms." The traditional argument in favor of gun control has been that this is a collective right, accorded to state militias. This has always struck me as a real stretch, if not a total dodge. I've never been able to understand why the Founders would stick a collective right into the middle of the greatest charter of individual rights and freedoms ever written -- and give it such pride of place -- the No. 2 position, right behind such bedrock freedoms as speech and religion. [...] ************************************************** 23. Federal judge rules police cannot detain people for openly carrying guns ************************************************** Open carrier is vindicated after being removed from movie theater by police. The door is now opened for police to pay 'damages' for such things. Bruce Jackson emailed me this: -- http://tinyurl.com/m77vos www.examiner.com Federal judge rules police cannot detain people for openly carrying guns September 9, 10:16 PM DC Gun Rights Examiner Mike Stollenwerk On September 8, 2009, United States District Judge Bruce D. Black of the United States District Court for New Mexico entered summary judgment in a civil case for damages against Alamogordo, NM police officers. The Judge's straight shootin' message to police: Leave open carriers alone unless you have "reason to believe that a crime [is] afoot." [...] ************************************************** 24. Appleseed project ************************************************** Richard Taylor emailed me this: -- Hi Phil; Just a little update. My wife Stephanie & I had the pleasure of attending an Appleseed on Sept.12-13 in Buckingham County. I have to say it was a fantastic experience. The instructors Doug, Mike and Eddie were very professional at showing us how to shoot a rifle safely and properly. They also had some very interesting history lessons about how we fought for our Freedom in 1775. I strongly recommend that VCDL members check out the Appleseed.org website to see what it is all about. These guys are very passionate about our Freedom and I think we can all learn something from them. Stef handed out a few VCDL applications. We both improved our shooting skills immensely and I went on to win a rifleman patch. HooRah! Richard W Taylor Sr. Link to the Applesed Project: http://www.appleseedinfo.org/ ************************************************** 25. Ricochet debate, part 4? ************************************************** Follow up to previous VA-ALERT ricochet story Robert D. Culver emailed me this: -- Philip, You can pass this on to your readers as a very general explanation of this bullet Flight / Skip question. In reading the original description it is clear that the original firing takes place on a level line a short distance above ground level. The projectile falls and strikes the ground at the distance determined by the height and time to drop that far and the resulting time to travel the distance to that point of impact; THE SKIP POINT. A good solid surface or smooth water, AND the right (shallow) angle of impact can result in a skip without the loss of much velocity. The trajectory AND stability of the projectile is altered, often it will be tumbling after the skip. The trajectory can be anything from just a few degrees up to quite a few degrees above the horizontal. The still fast moving skipped projectile can travel a long way if launched at a high angle after the skip, until it again comes down to earth. I listened to a .50BMG round go whining off over a mountain after firing into a berm with quite a bit of exposed gravel in it. I have two outstanding videos of skips actually striking people under very unusual conditions. I can send them if you are interested. I hope this clears up the physics part of the question. The responsible shooter part still applies; Know what is beyond your target and all possible ways a shot could go beyond the target. To illustrate this, last weekend we were teaching some very beginner students who noticed that the dirt was splattering on the berm 50 yards behind the close in targets and questioned what was causing that. We carefully and with a straight face explained that the bullets were passing through the cardboard targets until they found something substantial to stop them. The students now KNOW this fundamental rule. Bob Culver Montgomery Citizens for a Safer Maryland MCSM.org ************************************************** 26. Media hysteria (again) ************************************************** Coast Guard exercise triggers media panic Roy B. Scherer emailed me this: -- Philip - I'm way behind on email, but just checked the last two VCDL postings, and this wasn't mentioned, so hereby bringing it to your attention. On September 11th, Obama was at a memorial service at the Pentagon. Meanwhile, on the river, the Coast Guard was doing routine training: an exercise involving a couple of CG craft intercepting a suspicious watercraft. As part of that exercise, the training scenario called for the CG craft to fire a burst of automatic-weapon. As is customary in a non-live-fire exercise, this was simulated by one of the crew saying, on the radio, "Bang, bang, bang!" Someone in the media had a scanner, and picked this up: Someone saying, "Bang, bang, bang!" Instant panic, FBI and law enforcement called, national news stories on CNN and elsewhere about "Shots being fired near the President". Stupidity abounds. http://tinyurl.com/mhtx3o www.ajc.com 'Bang, bang': Coast Guard drill, phony gunfire shake up Washington on 9/11 anniversary WASHINGTON (AP) -- A morning of remembrance turned into one of flashbacks, fear and media mishaps Friday when a Coast Guard exercise -- unfolding near Pentagon ceremonies marking the Sept. 11, 2001, anniversary -- was mistaken as an attack. The false reports of gunfire on the river briefly spooked the capital, sending FBI agents to the scene and grounding flights. The episode left the Coast Guard promising to "take a good hard look at what we did here today" and military families sore that officials would simulate a confrontation on the Potomac River on a day of raw emotions and high security. But the exercise, involving speeding boats and at least one helicopter, probably would have passed unnoticed except that two TV networks confused simulated chatter over a Coast Guard radio for actual events and reported that the Coast Guard had opened fire on a suspicious vessel near ceremonies attended by President Barack Obama. A chain of errors on television and online raised fears the capital might be under assault eight years to the day -- almost the moment -- after the terrorist attack on the Pentagon. CNN reported 10 shots had been fired, based on information it heard over the network's police scanner. On Twitter, the network reported: "Coast Guard confronts boat as Obama visits Pentagon, police scanner reports say shots fired." -------- You can check out the YouTube video of the CNN report and follow-up here: http://tinyurl.com/l8u3j6 ************************************************** 27. Who needs a gun on campus? ************************************************** Even in a highly secured laboratory at a university, where only special access is granted, there is a murder. Philip Levy emailed me this: -- http://tinyurl.com/lazt2v http://news.yahoo.com Experts: Defense in Yale killing has tough job By MICHAEL HILL and PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press Writers - Sun Sep 20, 2009 NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Defending a Yale University lab technician charged with murder against what appears to be a mountain of forensic evidence might mean trying to convince jurors that the crime scene was contaminated because police didn't immediately shut down the lab where the victim was found, legal experts said. Raymond Clark III is charged with murder for the death of Yale graduate student Annie Le. Le vanished from a research building in Yale's medical school complex on Sept. 8; her body was found hidden in a wall recess five days later, on what was to be her wedding day. Police charged Clark after reviewing some 300 pieces of evidence, including DNA samples taken from him a day before he was arrested. Clark's bond was set at $3 million, and he did not enter a plea. .... ************************************************** 28. At some point, gun owners must wonder if they're being played ************************************************** http://tinyurl.com/qdylsm www.examiner.com At some point, gun owners must wonder if they're being played September 16, 2009 Seattle Gun Rights Examiner Dave Workman Historically, politicians from all over the political spectrum have had a rather annoying habit of acknowledging the existence of firearms owners and gun rights groups only when they need their votes. While that's not a rule carved in stone, it is hardly a rare situation. I recall a certain long-term congressman from a western state who, years ago facing re-election, arranged through a staffer to have his photograph taken to appear on the cover of a now-defunct outdoors publication. So the congressman shows up, somebody hands him a shotgun that was not his, and a pheasant that he did not shoot and poses him in front of a tree in the alley behind the building so he could extol his support for sportsmen. And ever since, that guy has not supported a single major pro-gun bill. More recently, after having been a pro-gun member of the 111th