Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

Metro columnist Dan Casey: State missed repercussions in passing air gun law
By Dan Casey

Perhaps you've never heard of the Benjamin Rogue .357-caliber hunting rifle.

With an adjustable stock, a shrouded barrel and a pistol grip, it's an
intimidating weapon. Fearsome, even. It looks kind of like something
commandos might carry.

If your aim is good, that $1,299 rifle will drop a 200-pound wild boar
at 50 yards. It fires a big-bore lead pellet at 900 feet per second.

Now, thanks to a new law by the Virginia General Assembly, it's fully
legal to target practice with that sucker in your own back yard. Even
if you live on a postage-stamp-size plot of land in a city, like me.

You see, the Rogue is an air rifle, rather than a firearm. And this
year, the General Assembly passed a law that basically says local
governments must allow the firing of all air guns on private property.
It took effect Friday.

As you can imagine, certain people in the city are unhappy about it.
One is Roanoke Police Chief Chris Perkins, whose department is still
trying to solve an air gun shooting spree that shattered 59 car
windows earlier this year.

Except for target ranges, the city has banned the firing of air guns
since 1909, City Attorney Bill Hackworth told me.

The Roanoke City Council pitched a fit about this new state law a
couple of weeks ago. At today's meeting, its members will be in the
uncomfortable position of voting to rewrite the sensible old ban so it
will conform to the ridiculous new law. (The council will also take up
a resolution urging the General Assembly to repeal it.)

Read more...

allingeneral wrote:Metro columnist Dan Casey: State missed repercussions in passing air gun law
By Dan Casey

Perhaps you've never heard of the Benjamin Rogue .357-caliber hunting rifle.

Perhaps you've never heard of reading the law. Here's how the law works:

Summary of change to Va Code 15.2-915.4 as passed by the Virginia Senate wrote:Prohibits a locality from adopting an ordinance that prohibits the shooting of pneumatic guns on private property, with permission of the owner of the property, if reasonable care is taken to prevent a projectile from crossing the bounds of the property.

So, the words "if reasonable care is taken to prevent a projectile from crossing the bounds of the property." are very specific within the law.

Now, any reasonable person would realize that shooting a .357 caliber pneumatic rifle on a half-acre parcel isn't going to fly.

So stop your crying and move on to something else.

Bye now.

So are you saying someone actually shot out 59 windows in Roanoke even though it was ILLEGAL?

NOW what will they do!

Andy

seeknulfind wrote:So are you saying someone actually shot out 59 windows in Roanoke even though it was ILLEGAL?

NOW what will they do!

Go shoot out 60

I've lived in Roanoke for 7 months and am already convinced this guy went to the Leonard Pitts School of Journalism. Most of his columns boil down to "kill whitey" in the end.

Oh no you ditn't, Kreutz!

Kreutz wrote:I've lived in Roanoke for 7 months and am already convinced this guy went to the Leonard Pitts School of Journalism. Most of his columns boil down to "kill whitey" in the end.

Not sure about the Leonard Pitts "kill whitey" reference, having read some of Mr. Pitts's columns, but I certainly disagree with Mr. Casey's stance on pneumatic guns. It always amazes me that the anti-gunners continue to cry how "our streets will become rivers of blood" any time the Second Amendment is actually respected.

CowboyT wrote:Not sure about the Leonard Pitts "kill whitey" reference, having read some of Mr. Pitts's columns ...

Having read many of Mr. Pitts's columns, I wouldn't say it's "kill whitey", more "everyone and everything is racist and keeping the black man down".

Diomed wrote:

CowboyT wrote:Not sure about the Leonard Pitts "kill whitey" reference, having read some of Mr. Pitts's columns ...

Having read many of Mr. Pitts's columns, I wouldn't say it's "kill whitey", more "everyone and everything is racist and keeping the black man down".

In my experience its the same thing. The Pitts of the world say if we just kill whitey-the racism will end!

Heres a recent Casey gem:

http://blogs.roanoke.com/dancasey/2011/ ... -paradise/

few years back I invited a well-heeled friend and his children to join me and my kids at the Salem Fair. His face twisted into a scowl.

“Have you seen the people there?” he asked hesitantly.

Such elitist attitudes toward the 24-year-old Roanoke Valley institution are unfortunate but not uncommon, and have been spreading in recent years.

The basic complaint goes like this: It seems as if every strange-looking bumpkin within 150 miles shows up at the Salem Fair.

Mostly they come out at night, like vampires, except many are missing incisors (or other teeth).

They sport beastly tattoos, bizarre piercings and brightly dyed mohawks. Some men wear camouflage garb, even though hunting season is long past. Some women are clothed in tube tops or halters about eight sizes too small.

They are so unusual looking they might even kicked out of the world-famous Texas Tavern, which serves everybody.

Mind you, this is what snobs like my friend say. Not me.

I believe the elitists are missing out on the best people-watching experience the Roanoke Valley has to offer.

Because — let’s face it — the fair is a wonderful and wacky menagerie of humanity, more eye-popping than the paintings in the Taubman Museum of Art, and far more interesting than the slumbering animals at the Mill Mountain Zoo.

So basically people should go to the Salem fair to gawk at the bumpkins, white trash, and hillbillies. This is OK to write.

Would Casey be so quick to mock ghetto blacks under any circumstance? Like the hilariously dressed ones I saw as I drove past the Juneteeth party in the park?

Of course not. Pure Pitts School of Journalism double-standard journalism.

Kreutz wrote:

Diomed wrote:

CowboyT wrote:Not sure about the Leonard Pitts "kill whitey" reference, having read some of Mr. Pitts's columns ...

Having read many of Mr. Pitts's columns, I wouldn't say it's "kill whitey", more "everyone and everything is racist and keeping the black man down".

In my experience its the same thing. The Pitts of the world say if we just kill whitey-the racism will end!

Heres a recent Casey gem:

http://blogs.roanoke.com/dancasey/2011/ ... -paradise/

few years back I invited a well-heeled friend and his children to join me and my kids at the Salem Fair. His face twisted into a scowl.

“Have you seen the people there?” he asked hesitantly.

Such elitist attitudes toward the 24-year-old Roanoke Valley institution are unfortunate but not uncommon, and have been spreading in recent years.

The basic complaint goes like this: It seems as if every strange-looking bumpkin within 150 miles shows up at the Salem Fair.

Mostly they come out at night, like vampires, except many are missing incisors (or other teeth).

They sport beastly tattoos, bizarre piercings and brightly dyed mohawks. Some men wear camouflage garb, even though hunting season is long past. Some women are clothed in tube tops or halters about eight sizes too small.

They are so unusual looking they might even kicked out of the world-famous Texas Tavern, which serves everybody.

Mind you, this is what snobs like my friend say. Not me.

I believe the elitists are missing out on the best people-watching experience the Roanoke Valley has to offer.

Because — let’s face it — the fair is a wonderful and wacky menagerie of humanity, more eye-popping than the paintings in the Taubman Museum of Art, and far more interesting than the slumbering animals at the Mill Mountain Zoo.

So basically people should go to the Salem fair to gawk at the bumpkins, white trash, and hillbillies. This is OK to write.

Would Casey be so quick to mock ghetto blacks under any circumstance? Like the hilariously dressed ones I saw as I drove past the Juneteeth party in the park?

Of course not. Pure Pitts School of Journalism double-standard journalism.

Is that what he is really saying? I am not convinced. Tell me the differance in describing the folks at the fair and describing the folks in an airport lobby.
Dude, I have sat in many of airport lobby and seen some strange individuals and a lot of them dressed just as he has described attending the fair.

I agree based of his article on the Air Guns he is Fear Mongering by taking such an extream example in his article, but that is what he does for a living right or wrong. Most Air rifles will be the Daisy Red Rider BB, pellet, or Paitball guns.
Just Sayin

After reading some of Dan Casey's previous ramblings, I used to just think he was a tool.

After reading this one, I am now certain of it.

Taggure wrote:Is that what he is really saying? I am not convinced. Tell me the differance in describing the folks at the fair and describing the folks in an airport lobby.
Dude, I have sat in many of airport lobby and seen some strange individuals and a lot of them dressed just as he has described attending the fair.

+1.

Not only that, but furthermore, he was describing not his own statement, but that of one of his "elitist", "well-heeled" friends. Seems to me that Casey is criticizing his well-heeled friend's "elitism". Attempting to infer that this article is somehow anti-white is really stretching it.

Taggure wrote:I agree based of his article on the Air Guns he is Fear Mongering by taking such an extream example in his article, but that is what he does for a living right or wrong. Most Air rifles will be the Daisy Red Rider BB, pellet, or Paitball guns.
Just Sayin

Now, that's where the criticism of Mr. Casey should be. I don't know a lot of people who are going to buy that $1,200 .357-caliber air gun. Instead, if they want something in .357" caliber, they're typically going to buy a $500 Marlin in .357 Magnum, which will give twice the velocity and thus considerably more stopping power on a whitetail or hog than that air rifle will. The ballistics look to be more like .38 Special.

Here's where the idea is really appealing, though. In places like Fairfax County where you might have, say, 5 acres (e. g. Clifton, Great Falls, or anywhere along Braddock road west of 123), that's prime whitetail habitat. Fairfax Co. doesn't allow firearms discharge, see. I think Loudoun County's the same. Prince William County only allows .22LR, which is not legal for whitetails (Fauquier Co. is much better about this). A more affordable version of this airgun would solve that problem very nicely in such localities.

The article is clearly an assault on conservatives and if you read his words carefully he points out that they are his merely someone elses....why then would he write them...no where does he disagree but the tone tells me he is making the argument that conservatives are toothless hillbillies and blaming it on one of his buddies...

OK, if you want to focus on something that isn't there instead of focusing the criticism where it really should be--Casey's anti-2A article about air guns--then, I guess, go for it.

I'd rather focus on the prize, though, which is getting us back to the original intent and respect of the 2A. Right now, in this thread, that means shooting down Casey's hysterical claims about airguns. Now that we have this statewide preemption, I may consider getting an airgun. It would allow me to do some basic marksmanship practice, with a proper backstop, in my own backyard. This will save fuel (trips to the range), time, and ammo, because BB's and pellets are even cheaper than .22LR ammo. Airsoft plastic pellets are even cheaper and are reusable. It's a win for everyone except for the anti-freedom advocates.

CowboyT wrote:Not only that, but furthermore, he was describing not his own statement, but that of one of his "elitist", "well-heeled" friends. Seems to me that Casey is criticizing his well-heeled friend's "elitism". Attempting to infer that this article is somehow anti-white is really stretching it.

Well, this is how I read it:

Dan Casey wrote:Because — let’s face it — the fair is a wonderful and wacky menagerie of humanity, more eye-popping than the paintings in the Taubman Museum of Art, and far more interesting than the slumbering animals at the Mill Mountain Zoo.

I personally would consider calling an entire class of people "more interesting than animals" derogatory and dehumanizing, but, what do I know? And somehow I still doubt Dan the (Half) Man would ever dare compare black folks to zoo animals.

Anyway, I digress.

You're right, Casey is a dickwad, and his anti-BB gun (Jesus Christ its sad I wrote "anti- BB gun") op-ed is good for us to use.

Whenever I think that my day is going too good, I just have to read Dan Casey to bring me back to reality.

Why is this guy still employed?

If I made those comments in any line of work dealing with the public, I would be summarily dismissed. How is the owners of this paper still letting him be?

Reverenddel wrote:Why is this guy still employed?

If I made those comments in any line of work dealing with the public, I would be summarily dismissed. How is the owners of this paper still letting him be?

Guess they have a large progressive audience or at least think they do...

You know what I would like Dan Casey to be crying about?

Being unemployed...

OR!

The paper going under!

Either way? I'd be happy.