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

07/04/10 - VCDL Update 7/4/2010 - Part 1

Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Happy 4th! 1. TV stations declare: 'Guns in bars!' July 1st (Oh, please) 2. Newspaper: Restaurants brace for armed patrons! (sheesh) 3. How does the earth's rotation affect the path of a bullet? 4. Who needs a gun in a Chesterfield restaurant? 5. Who needs a gun in Va. Beach? 6. Who needs a gun on the VCU Campus? 7. Suffolk widow, 66, describes violent home invasion 8. Girls with guns (including in Va.) 9. Wash. Times editorial on CHP 10. Lungren: 'Ladies and gentlemen, this is an affront to the Constitution = .. . . ' (Disclose Act) 11. John Stossel: Guns save lives 12. Who needs a gun on a busy highway? 13. More from his-dis-honor King Daley of Chicago 14. Criminal murders mother of 2, NY Daily News blames gun manufacturers 15. Perdue gun bill actions show sport shooters are not necessarily full Se= cond Amendment supporters. 16. In debate over gun-carry laws, critics are quick to shoot down the facts 17. Number of concealed weapons holders in Brevard, Fla. soars 18. Sheriff urges Texicans to arm themselves in absence of state,federal pr= otection 19. Man charged in Pa. stabbing rampage that killed 4 ************************************************** 1. TV stations declare: 'Guns in bars!' July 1st (Oh, please) ************************************************** And the never-ending 'guns in bars' slant the media likes to use: =46rom nbc12.com: http://tinyurl.com/29bw8a4 [Video] Guns-in-bars law begins July 1st in Virginia Updated: Jun 26, 2010 By Tara Morgan - bio | email RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - You could soon be sitting next to someone at a bar or= restaurant and not know they are packing heat. It's part of a new Virginia= law that starts July first, but there's a catch. Next Thursday, concealed handgun permit holders can walk into a bar or rest= aurant with their gun, but they can't drink alcohol. Gun rights advocates s= ay it's their right. One customer we spoke with says the new law makes her = uncomfortable. Emily Ward isn't thrilled that should she be out at dinner that the person = next to her could be armed and she wouldn't know it. 'That definitely makes me feel much more nervous knowing that people could = have a few drinks before the bar and then come here and have a gun,' said W= ard. But Ward says she can understand why someone would want to carry. 'If some body's walking home late at night by themselves in the Fan after t= hey work their shift or something, that makes it more acceptable,' said War= d. 'Hopefully there won't be any problems. Right, there might be an increase i= n problems. There might be a decrease in problems,' said New York Deli owne= r Demetrios Tsiptsis. When the guns-in-bars legislation was under debate earlier this year, one p= olice chief equated it to drinking and driving. But Governor Bob McDonnell = said he wanted to uphold the second amendment rights of law abiding citizen= s. 'I think the second amendment is how America won it's freedom and I think t= hat's the way we're going to have to keep it too,' said Eric Folkes. 'I don't see why it would be a problem if you have to go through the proces= s and you have to get all your papers, run your background check, you shoul= d be able to carry wherever you want in my opinion,' said Bruce Watson. James Timberlake is a concealed carry permit holder. But doesn't see himsel= f bringing his gun to a bar. It's mostly for his protection when traveling. 'Whose who say you're going to break down, you're in the middle of nowhere,= you don't know your surroundings - I mean it's just for safe measures,' sa= id Timberlake. If a concealed carry permit holder does bring a gun to a bar and is caught = drinking they could be charged with a class 2 misdemeanor. -------- http://tinyurl.com/23m9oyf [Video] www.wtvr.com ************************************************** 2. Newspaper: Restaurants brace for armed patrons! (sheesh) ************************************************** Let's all panic, law abiding CHP holders can now carry concealed in restaur= ants that serve alcohol! =46rom styleweekly.com: http://tinyurl.com/39dvhet www.styleweekly.com Restaurants Brace for Armed Patrons Posted On: 6/22/2010 by Peter Galuszka Just in time for the hot summer nights of parking-lot gunfights, pistol-tot= ing hombres will be able to pack even more heat in local restaurants. According to a new state law that takes effect July 1, pistol owners with c= oncealed handgun permits may take their pistols into restaurants as long as= they don't drink alcohol. Second Amendment rights advocates passed the law during the last General As= sembly with the blessing of conservatives such as Gov. Robert F. McDonnell = and Attorney General Kenneth N. Cuccinelli. It was fought by groups such as the Virginia Restaurant Association. 'We op= posed the bill and now we are trying to educate our members about how to de= al with it,' says Katie Hellebush, a government relations official for the = trade group. The law comes in effect just as Richmond, once a U.S. murder capital, faces= growing tension over recent shootings, notably in the city's restaurant- a= nd nightclub-saturated Shockoe Bottom. ************************************************** 3. How does the earth's rotation affect the path of a bullet? ************************************************** Roy Scherer emailed me this: -- Philip - I think that the article below would be of interest to readers. I = certainly found it to be so. It's from a column called 'Straight Dope', wh= ich deals with ACCURATE answers to a multitude of questions. This is from the e= dition of 25JUN2010. -- Roy http://tinyurl.com/2g23jbn www.straightdope.com How does the earth's rotation affect the path of a bullet? June 25, 2010 Dear Cecil: I recently read an article about a Navy SEAL sniper. The author lists possi= ble variables that go into determining a shot, one of which is the rotation= of the earth. How exactly does this affect a bullet in flight? Also, for m= y nonsniper purposes, does it affect my gas mileage? -- Jason, Sacramento Cecil replies: Took a while to get to the bottom of this. But of course we did. The article I'm guessing you saw, entitled 'The Way of the Sniper,' appeare= d in Men's Journal, November 30, 2009. Written by Rick Telander, it tells t= he story of navy sniper Scott Tyler. Telander writes: 'Each rifle a sniper uses has unique characteristics that are compounded by= the ammunition and many, many exterior factors. There is wind. There is hu= midity. There is the spin of the Earth. There is even the fact that as a ri= fle is fired, its barrel heats up, the metal contracts, and the bullets are= propelled faster.' Reading this, your columnist didn't doubt the rotation of the earth affects= a bullet in flight. That's because of the Coriolis effect, discussed here = in the past: any object moving horizontally on or near the earth's surface = is deflected slightly off course due to the spinning of the planet beneath = it. The Coriolis effect has a big effect on phenomena like hurricanes and o= ther weather systems, a small effect on small objects. But if the small obj= ect is a precisely aimed rifle bullet, and that bullet travels far enough, = it's not something you can completely ignore. The question in my mind was: how, if at all, did a shooter account for the = Coriolis effect when aiming? Your wind, your humidity, and for that matter = your temperature and barometric pressure -- these are all dynamic condition= s that, to varying degrees, a marksman will want to factor into each shot. = However, it's hard to imagine a sniper on the field of battle drawing a bea= d and thinking: Damn, I better get the latest data on the rotation of the e= arth. Una agreed this was unlikely and began inquiring about what shooters actual= ly did. She couldn't reach Telander or a military sniper but did talk thing= s over with a couple of hard-core target shooters at her local rifle range = and online. Based on that plus her own calculations she determined as follo= ws: 1. Range is obviously critical. At 100 yards, typical of what a police shar= pshooter might encounter, most environmental factors, including the Corioli= s effect, are negligible. But military snipers generally are much farther a= way, typically 400 yards and up -- the current world record for a confirmed= kill in combat is 2,430 meters, or roughly 1.5 miles. 2. At 1,000 yards the Coriolis deflection is small but not necessarily triv= ial. Una computed that at the latitude of Sacramento, a bullet traveling 1,= 000 yards would be deflected about three inches to the right. In addition, = you'd have to aim higher or lower depending on the degree to which you were= facing east or west. If you were firing due east, you'd have to aim six in= ches lower, since the earth rotates from west to east and your target would= have dropped away from you slightly by the time the bullet arrived. If you= were firing due west, you'd have to aim six inches higher. 3. Amateur long-range shooters can improve their aim using laser rangefinde= rs and scopes with bullet-drop compensators; they'll also consult 'cheat sh= eets' of bullet and rifle performance and their own log of prior results, c= alled a DOPE ('data on personal equipment') book. Military snipers may not = always have access to such stuff in combat. But let's take it as given that= , one way or another, you can adjust for obvious environmental factors in t= he field -- no doubt the best shooters do it instinctively. 4. Horizontal deflection caused by the Coriolis effect is more esoteric but= in theory easy to adjust for, since it's a function of your distance from = the equator. When possible, any shooter, whether professional or amateur, m= akes a few test shots on arriving at a new location and tweaks his or her s= ights accordingly. Mostly this is to correct for maladjustments due to jost= ling in transit and such, but it also compensates for the Coriolis effect. 5. As we've seen, vertical deflection depends on, and can vary considerably= according to, what direction you're shooting. Nonetheless, none of the ama= teur shooters we heard from worried much about it, and my guess is military= snipers don't either. More important things can go wrong, and besides, ass= uming your target is standing, what's a couple inches up or down? Turning now to your wimpy civilian concerns, don't sweat the Coriolis effec= t on your gas mileage. In Sacramento, the rotation of the earth causes your= car to drift about 16 feet to the right per mile. That may be an issue if = you're barreling down a narrow two-lane, but correcting for it costs you le= ss than a hundredth of a mile per gallon. -- Cecil Adams ************************************************** 4. Who needs a gun in a Chesterfield restaurant? ************************************************** Apparently from other stories on this situation, the VSU student was trying= to help a lady being murdered by her husband. The unarmed student was sho= t, but is OK. Bill Hine emailed me this: -- =46rom nbc12.com: http://tinyurl.com/2bxrh8b UPDATE: Arrest made in Chesterfield restaurant shooting Updated: Jun 24, 2010 CHESTERFIELD, VA (WWBT) - This morning, Richard Parker appeared by Video Te= leconference in Chesterfield District Court to face three charges in the sh= ooting from the Pietro's Pizza Restaurant around 8 p.m. on Wednesday evenin= g. On Wednesday evening, police say Parker, 56, shot an 18-year-old man and ki= lled his wife, Cindy. It took place at Pietro's Pizza and Italian Restaurant in the 2600 block of= Osborne Road in Chesterfield. The police warrants list the name of the victim as that of Michael Dudley, = a 2010 graduate of Thomas Dale High School who plans to be a student-athlet= e at Virginia State University on a football scholarship. Dudley had surgery at VCU Medical Center this morning. His father, David Du= dley, said he is expected to make a full recovery. On Thursday, Parker appeared in court twice for two separate arraignment he= arings. One hearing in relation to the charges of malicious wounding, the u= se of a firearm to kill, and use of a firearm-aggravated assault against th= at 18-year-old. Then Parker appeared again, for a second degree murder char= ge in the death of his wife, Cindy Parker. The first hearing involving the teenager took place in General District Cou= rt. All of the charges against Parker were nolle prossed, meaning they were= dropped but can be brought back against Parker. Prosecutors say the move is part of an effort to consolidate the case. They= want to have the proceeding in Juvenile Domestic Relations Court which is = where Parker faces second-degree murder charges in the death of his wife. During that arraignment hearing Parker asked the judge for a court appointe= d attorney stating he's unemployed and has no income. The judge granted the= request and told Parker that he would not be given bond at this point. Par= ker and his attorney can request a bond hearing in the future. Parker is slated to next appear in court in August for a preliminary hearin= g. In the meantime, he's being held in the Chesterfield County jail. Original Post: 'It was pretty scary,' said Charlene Brice who heard the shots. 'It sounded= like a loud pop, pop, pop.' George Maitland saw the aftermath. 'When I pulled up it looked like a young man lying here, and he got in the = ambulance, and then they pulled a lady out of Pietro's on a stretcher, and = put her on the ambulance,' said Maitland. Police say a man walked inside the restaurant and opened fire on another ma= n and a woman. Ambulances rushed both victims to VCU Medical Center. A Virginia state police trooper was at the gas station across the street. H= e heard the commotion and came right over. Police say the gunman wasn't on = the run for very long. Parker was arrested after a traffic stop. 'It looks like we did have some great cooperation from somebody who witness= ed it. They did follow to a location up the road,' said Chesterfield Police= Major Karl Leonard. Police have not released a motive for the double shooting at the popular pi= zza place where crime especially something like this is out of the ordinary= .. 'This restaurant has been here for 30 years. I don't recall anything like t= his in 30 years,' Leonard said. ************************************************** 5. Who needs a gun in Va. Beach? ************************************************** EM Dave Hicks emailed me this: -- Frpm hamptonroads.com: http://tinyurl.com/2bf28as After dark, Beach bike path becomes crime corridor By Kathy Adams The Virginian-Pilot (c) June 26, 2010 VIRGINIA BEACH On paper, the Norfolk Avenue bike path looks safe. Police reports for the tree-lined stretch of pavement - which links North B= irdneck Road to the Oceanfront along Norfolk Avenue - show just one robbery= and four assaults occurring there since the beginning of the year. But residents who regularly bike, run and walk their dogs along the path sa= y it isn't as safe as it looks, especially once the sun sets. Over the past= few years, it's become increasingly common to hear of muggings and robberi= es on the trail, sometimes as often as five times in a week, residents said= .. But many of the incidents go unreported. 'The police reports don't support all these claims,' said Officer Jimmy Bar= nes, a spokesman for the Police Department. 'If they don't report it, we do= n't know about it.' Myra Spano, 33, who lives near the path, said she uses it to bike to the Oc= eanfront several times a week during warm weather. In the daytime, the path= is friendly and appears well-maintained, she said. But at night, there are= dark stretches bordered by overgrown brush where assailants can take passe= rs-by by surprise. 'It's pretty during the day,' she said. 'But at night it's kind of scary. ' Spano said she's thankful that no one's ever bothered her. But another resi= dent, a man in his 40s, was mugged early this month as he walked on the pat= h. It was a little after 10 p.m. when a group of five or six people stopped hi= m and asked for the time, said Officer Margie Hobbs, a police spokeswoman. = That's when one of the men began hitting him in the face and demanded his p= roperty. He handed over his cell phone, and the group fled toward the Atlan= tis Apartments, on the other side of the brush. The man called the police, but they've been unable to find his attacker. A similar incident happened to 26-year-old Jon Edwards as he biked from din= ner one night last summer. A group of men on bicycles came up behind him an= d struck him in the back of the head, sending him face-first into the pavem= ent, he said. Then they kicked and beat him before fleeing without taking a= nything. 'It was almost like I was just jumped out of no reason,' he said. 'It was j= ust obviously wrong place, wrong time for me.' In other incidents, people have been pulled off their bikes or struck with = flying objects as they've ridden by. Residents have started circulating petitions calling on the city to add mor= e lighting and increase police presence along the trail. They've gathered a= bout 3,500 signatures and nearly 1,000 Facebook fans. Their hope is to restore the trail to the safe thoroughfare envisioned by c= ity officials when it was constructed in 2003. The project cost nearly $525= ,000 then. At the time, residents living near the path, like Kelly Bullock,= said they enjoyed the trail but thought it needed more lighting. 'I think they did a really good job,' she said at the time. Residents' efforts have caught the city's attention. Councilman John Uhrin,= who represents the Oceanfront, has requested that Dominion Virginia Power = fix any broken lights and install new ones along the route. The city's Land= scape Management Division has been working with the sheriff's Community Wor= k Force to clear overgrown brush. And police have stepped up their patrols = along Norfolk Avenue. The city plans to eventually extend the path all the way to Town Center, Uh= rin said. 'I think that we're providing the resources to make sure that it is the fam= ily-friendly bike path that it was meant to be,' he said. 'I think it's imp= ortant that we maintain it as a safe, nice area for people.' Edwards said he no longer takes the bike path alone at night. 'What I've always been told is that there's not enough money in the police = budget to be able to patrol it at night,' he said. But 'you've got four or five cops on each corner of the Oceanfront at night= .. I don't understand why one or two of those cops can't be placed on the bi= ke path.' He and other residents said they hope the efforts continue, especially as t= he tourist season pulls resources to the Oceanfront and away from other com= munities. 'It's great to make public officials aware,' Edwards said, 'because it's al= most as if they turned a blind eye to this for the past couple years, and t= his is becoming a major issue.' ************************************************** 6. Who needs a gun on the VCU Campus? ************************************************** Ted Woods emailed me this: -- --------- Forwarded Message ---------- From: VCUALERT/GA/VCU vcualert*vcu.edu To: Undisclosed-recipients:; Subject: Safety Alert - Robberies Near the Monroe Park Campus Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:31:40 -0400 Between late Friday night and early Monday morning, four robberies occurred= within several blocks of the Monroe Park campus. Richmond Police responded= to these incidents: 6/20/10 2:40 a.m. Park Ave and N. Morris St. 6/20/10 11:40 p.m. 1700 Park Ave. 6/21/10 4:17 a.m. Monument Ave and N. Lombardy St. 6/21/10 4:43 a.m. 000 block of N. Davis St. In three of the four cases, an individual walking alone late at night was a= pproached by a single person who displayed a semi-automatic handgun and dem= anded valuables. In two instances, the assailant left the area in a vehicle= .. No injuries were reported. Police have taken steps to increase their presence in the area. In the mean= time, VCU Police strongly caution everyone against walking late at night in= poorly lit areas - whether by themselves or with others. VCU Police also a= dvise everyone to be aware of their surroundings, and to report all suspici= ous behavior. Anyone with information which might be helpful to the police are asked to c= all Sgt. Ervin Taylor at 828-6409 or 640-1952. John M. Bennett Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration Virginia Commonwealth University ************************************************** 7. Suffolk widow, 66, describes violent home invasion ************************************************** EM Dave Hicks emailed me this: -- =46rom hamptonroads.com: http://tinyurl.com/2fsbxmu Suffolk widow, 66, describes violent home invasion By Linda McNatt The Virginian-Pilot (c) June 25, 2010 SUFFOLK Sally Perry was sitting in her rural home on Freeman Mill Road on the night= of March 4, 2009, when her little dog, Max, growled. Perry, 66, a widow who lives alone, peered out of her front window, saw not= hing and sat back down at about 11:30 p.m. to continue watching the news. Then, three men burst through her front door. One was holding the bolt cutt= ers they'd used to get inside. Perry was calm as she described the incident in court Thursday. The men ran= sacked her house, tipped over her couch, broke glass and furniture. They ti= ed her up with duct tape and locked her in a bathroom. 'I had felt very safe in my house,' Perry said from the witness stand. 'I a= lways lock my doors. A lot of people wonder how I do it, but we woman are s= trong.' Perry was left with two black eyes, a broken wrist, split lip. She was blee= ding from her face and head injuries. But she cut through the duct tape wit= h nail clippers she'd had the presence of mind to take into the bathroom wi= th her. Later that month, two men and a juvenile, all of Portsmouth, were arrested = in the robbery, abduction, theft of credit cards, unauthorized use of a veh= icle, wearing masks in public, use of a firearm and other crimes. The firearm, a .22-caliber rifle, had belonged to Perry's deceased husband.= Jabree Newman-Mumford, 16, poked Perry in the face with the rifle and thre= atened her life as she was sitting tied to the bathroom commode. Newman-Mumford, now 17, was sentenced to 31 years in prison by Circuit Cour= t Judge Carl E. Eason Jr. He also must help to pay $41, 878.97 in restituti= on. Eason gave Clinton Ivy, a co-conspirator, 44 years in prison and responsibi= lity for the restitution. Ivy, 31, will be on supervised probation for life= and must have no contact with Perry. Ivy also is facing 18 years, three mo= nths for crimes in Isle of Wight County and Chesapeake, according to Assist= ant Commonwealth's Attorney Bob Sandwich, who prosecuted the case with Mari= e Walls, senior assistant commonwealth's attorney. Both Newman-Mumford and Ivy pleaded guilty in plea agreements. The third defendant, Aaron James Brennan, 23, had a jury trial in March. The jury recommended at that time that Brennan be sentenced to 212 years in= prison. Circuit Court Judge Westbrook J. Parker followed the jury's recomm= endation and gave Brennan an additional three years in prison for a separat= e arson on Suffolk's Hosier Road. Perry still lives alone. She's had her security system upgraded, she said. = She's had surgery on her wrist. 'This rises to the level of one of the most heinous crimes we've seen in Su= ffolk,' Sandwich said in court. 'There were no drugs involved. Just meannes= s. It was the worst night of Sally Perry's life.' ************************************************** 8. Girls with guns (including in Va.) ************************************************** Some of the women in this in-depth article are VCDL members: =46rom netnemesis.org: http://tinyurl.com/2ck8nwb [SNIP] It's 2pm on a Wednesday afternoon at a downtown branch of Starbucks in Virg= inia. A queue of women snakes around the counter. They order skinny lattes = and cakes, chat idly about their plans for the weekend and swap stories abo= ut how their kids are getting on at school. It's the sort of scene you'd ex= pect to see at any Starbucks in the UK. Except for one glaring difference. = Every one of these women is carrying a firearm. ************************************************** 9. Wash. Times editorial on CHP ************************************************** Criminals, NOT CHP holders, are a danger to society. Roy Scherer emailed me this: -- =46rom washingtontimes.com: http://tinyurl.com/23y4j69 EDITORIAL: Gun grabbers treat criminals as victims Groups appalled at use of concealed firearms in self-defense By THE WASHINGTON TIMES Friday, June 25, 2010 The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Violence Policy Center (= VPC) are peddling the notion that concealed-handgun permit holders are a da= nger to society. Last month, the center released a report claiming that in = the past three years, 166 people were killed by holders of concealed-weapon= permits. A closer look at the evidence suggests that many of the so-called= victims of gun violence were criminals. Because more than 6 million Americ= ans hold permits, it is important to set the record straight. As one of the most populous states with a right-to-carry law, Florida has t= he most concealed-handgun permits. Between Oct. 1, 1987, and May 31, the st= ate issued them to 1.8 million individuals. So far, just 167 permits have b= een revoked over any type of firearms-related violation. Most of those invo= lved trivial, nonviolent infractions. To put that figure into perspective, = the annual revocation rate is a minuscule 0.00017 percent, with just three = revocations since January 2008. More people are killed every year by fallin= g vending machines than by holders of a concealed-weapon permit. You wouldn't know that from the rhetoric of the gun-control groups, which p= ortray Florida as a dangerous place to live because of its laws. According = to the VPC report, the Sunshine State accounted for 17 of the 96 'killer' p= ermit holders nationwide, far more than any other state. A recent Fox News investigation shot holes in the study. No charges were ev= er brought in seven of the Florida cases. One case clearly did not involve = a permit holder - the person was, in fact, charged with illegally carrying = a concealed handgun. Two cases that are still pending apparently involved s= elf-defense, with one local newspaper account suggesting that the permit ho= lder had a 'strong case' to show that he had acted properly. Another case i= nvolved the accidental discharge of a firearm. The gun grabbers score all o= f these incidents as kills, but at least nine of them are examples of right= -to-carry laws being used by permit holders to protect themselves and their= families. Three cases did result in 'convictions,' but they hardly represent clear-cu= t examples. One involved an accidental discharge and a conviction for invol= untary manslaughter. In another case, a convicted felon sparked the inciden= t by confronting the permit holder. According to the prosecutor, the permit= holder 'was in some way defending himself during an escalating altercation= between the men caught on the security video' and that, 'People can look a= t that tape and interpret it two or three different ways.' His conviction r= ested on the question of whether he had done enough to avoid the confrontat= ion. The Brady Campaign and the Violence Policy Center show their desperation by= twisting legitimate examples of self-defense into crimes. The simple fact = is that most gun owners are law-abiding citizens. Suggesting that burglars,= rapists and other hardened criminals are 'victims' of permit holders is a = stretch, even for these groups. The real statistics show that America is a = safer place thanks to more of its citizens having a right to protect themse= lves and their families. ************************************************** 10. Lungren: 'Ladies and gentlemen, this is an affront to the Constitution = .. . . ' (Disclose Act) ************************************************** Ben Piper emailed me this: -- Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.) gave a good series of speeches against the 'Dis= close Act' on the floor today. http://tinyurl.com/2a4422k www.youtube.com ************************************************** 11. John Stossel: Guns save lives ************************************************** Jay Britt emailed me this: -- =46rom townhall.com: http://tinyurl.com/29sxx58 John Stossel Guns Save Lives It's all too predictable. A day after a gunman killed six people and wounde= d 18 others at Northern Illinois University, The New York Times criticized = the U.S. Interior Department for preparing to rethink its ban on guns in na= tional parks. The editorial board wants 'the 51 senators who like the thought of guns in = the parks -- and everywhere else, it seems -- to realize that the innocence= of Americans is better protected by carefully controlling guns than it is = by arming everyone to the teeth.' As usual, the Times editors seem unaware of how silly their argument is. To= them, the choice is between 'carefully controlling guns' and 'arming every= one to the teeth.' But no one favors 'arming everyone to the teeth' (whatev= er that means). Instead, gun advocates favor freedom, choice and self-respo= nsibility. If someone wishes to be prepared to defend himself, he should be= free to do so. No one has the right to deprive others of the means of effe= ctive self-defense, like a handgun. As for the first option, 'carefully controlling guns,' how many shootings a= Continued ...