Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

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Last alert for tonight - sorry for the volume, but things are breaking
in all directions!

In this WVEC (Hampton Roads area) story is the actual letter from
Virginia Beach Chief of Police, Jake Jacocks, Jr., to Governor
McDonnell, asking the Governor to veto SB 334. In the article
Portsmouth Police Chief, Ed Hargis also kicks in with some more Chief
of Police "wisdom."

Oh, did I mention that THREE Virginia Beach police officers under
Chief Jacocks' command were arrested for driving while intoxicated
last year - INCLUDING the head of the Virginia Beach DUI task force?

http://hamptonroads.com/2009/12/va-beac ... chesapeake

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/mobile/Local_Vi ... e_20090620

Let me be clear, as I have stated many times before: VCDL has no
problem with police officers, Commonwealth Attorneys, or CHP holders
being able to drink responsibly while carrying. We trust all of them
to be responsible. If some teeny-tiny minority of them isn't
responsible, then THEY should pay the price by being arrested and
charged. The actions of those who misbehave should not be used as an
excuse to limit everyone else's freedom. That is how laws are
SUPPOSED to work.

Anyway, here comes the gasoline being poured on a fire as Chief
Jacocks patronizingly looks down his nose at the citizens of the
Commonwealth. What a hypocrite:

http://tinyurl.com/ykdlhy2

...LETTER FROM CHIEF JACOCKS:
Dear Governor McDonnell:

I am writing to you in my capacity as co-chairman of the Legislative
Committee of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, as a Chief
of Police. The "guns in bars" bills have passed both Chambers of the
General Assembly and await your decision to sign or veto. I know you
to be a supporter of the Constitutional right to bear arms, as am I. I
also know that as a prosecutor you witnessed - albeit well after the
fact - lives forever changed because of poor decisions/choices made
when alcohol, firearms, or both were in the mix, just as when alcohol,
motor vehicles or both were in the mix. My police officers, like
first responders across this great Commonwealth have occasion to
witness such tragedies first hand, while blood and tears are still
flowing, all too often.

Just as drinking and driving do not mix, the possessing and/or
handling of firearms and alcohol do not mix. The notion that carry
concealed weapon (CCW) permit holders who carry in a licensed ABC
establishment are prohibited from consuming alcohol by these bills
borders on the absurd. There is no practical way to police this
provision, as no law enforcement agency will have officers asking
alcohol consumers in an establishment if they are carrying. You are
well aware that alcohol consumption lowers inhibitions in most
people. Often referred to as "liquid courage," alcohol consumption
also fuels aggression in many.

Allowing guns in bars is a recipe for disaster. We can fully expect
that at some point in the future a disagreement that today would
likely end up in a verbal confrontation, or a bar fight, will
inevitably end with gunfire if you sign this legislation into law.
Whether it is the armed citizen who drinks in a bar and gets into such
a confrontation, or the armed citizen doesn't drink and is pulled into
a confrontation by someone who has been drinking - the potential for
display and/or discharge of the firearm is unquestionably high.　
Serious injuries resulting from patrons fleeing in panic once someone
yells "He's got a gun!" or a death resulting from either discharge of
the weapon or the reaction to the weapon by the establishment’s
security personnel will be the rule, rather the exception.

The average CCW permit holder is a well intended and law-abiding
citizen. Yet the majority of them have had no training in conflict
resolution, conflict management, verbal judo, de-escalation of
emotionally charged situations. The mere possession of the weapon
likely makes some less apt to just walk away. Worse yet, most have
nothing more than rudimentary firearms safety and qualification
training, and no firearms retention skills. The vast majority have no
preparation for, and likely have given no thought to, how to handle a
disorderly drunk who tries to start an argument with them or who
insults their female companion. Their focus as a CCW permit holder is
appropriately the defense of themselves and their family if confronted
with a threat of deadly force or with someone who is breaking into
their occupied home. Absent the appropriate training and preparation,
anyone possessing a weapon, whether or not they are a CCW permit
holder (whether they having been drinking or not) has a high degree of
probability or over-reacting in the types of situations they are most
likely to encounter in a licensed ABC establishment, and someone is
going to die as a result. Law enforcement officers have all of this
training, and extensive use of force and deadly force legal training,
and we each have to qualify at least annually even after we retire if
we want to maintain our national CCW permit. No other CCW permit hold has to adhere to even this simple requirement.

Senator Hanger was recently quoted by WTOP as saying "Most people will
have the obligation not to consume alcohol (while carrying concealed),
and they will take that seriously and that will be honored." He is
later quoted as saying "There is a substantial penalty, because they
can lose the right to carry - most people jealously guard that right
that they've acquired."

Is the Senator not aware that thousands of people are arrested in VA
each year for driving under the influence even though ALL people who
are licensed drivers have an obligation not to consume alcohol (if
they are then going to drive), and that while most people take that
seriously, we have hundreds of people killed or injured on the
highways of the Commonwealth because others chose to ignore that
obligation? Has the Senator considered the fact that there is a very
substantial penalty (far greater than the proposed Class 2 misdemeanor
penalty for drinking in a bar while carrying concealed) for driving
under the influence - people can lose the their operator's license and
their insurance and their job -all things most people jealously guard
- and yet thousands of people get behind the wheel of a vehicle while
under the influence of alcohol or drugs every year in the Commonwealth.

As the Senator's assertions about people honoring their obligations is
clearly not true for all licensed drivers, how can we possibly believe
that those same assertions will be true of all CCW permit holders?

There are a wide range of interpretations on what The Founders meant
as they wrote the Second Amendment. I'm not so presumptuous as to
suggest I know just what they meant. However, I firmly believe that
they never intended for any governing body to knowingly enable human
beings - most of whom are all too prone to making bad decisions when
tempers flare, even more so when their judgment is clouded by the
consumption of alcohol - to better position themselves to wrongly take
another's life when for the government to do otherwise would result
only in a minor inconvenience. With our rights comes responsibility.
It is irresponsible for anyone other than a law enforcement officer to
carry a firearm into a bar.

In keeping with your long standing advocacy of public safety, please
veto "guns in bars" legislation.

Respectfully,

Jake


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VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org [http://www.vcdl.org/]

from jacocks letter wrote:Allowing guns in bars is a recipe for disaster.

Another example of an LEO displaying ignorance of the law. In this case I am certain he is well aware of current VA law but probably realizes his letter will get wide publicity across VA. Thus, spreading more ignorance to those already ignorant of the current law that does indeed allow open carry of firearms in VA restaurants and does not forbid drinking while doing so as long as one does not become intoxicated.

Thaat chief sounds like and elitist with a big mouth IMHO, just by the way he talks as if all people other than him and other LEO are just plain stupid ,don;t know how to act , and are not to be trusted. HMMMM>>> that sounds familiar for some reason,, Dimocraps in office comes to mind