VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 8/17/09

[OakRidgeStars]

VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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VCDL Update 8/17/09 - Defending your right to defend yourself

1. VCDL President to speak at Liberty's 2009 Gun Rights Symposium.
NRA instructors needed!
2. CHP Holders are the target of a nationwide hate campaign
3. RTD's Williams: "Bullet box" has no place in U.S. Democracy
4. Alexandria Mayor a member of "Mayors Against Guns"
5. LTE: Gun Control Advocates Wield Dishonest Numbers
6. Gun Owner Draws Scrutiny Outside Obama Town Hall
7. MSNBC Interviews Open Carrier at New Hampshire Town Hall
8. Video of NH police and open carry man at Obama rally
9. Second Amendment March at Virginia State Capitol has been Approved!
10. MARYLAND Transit Authority Police Harass Open Carrier in VIRGINIA
Park!
11. Yet another STUPID move by Virginia Tech officials
12. States With Weak Gun Laws Fuel Illegal Gun Market?
13. Packing for school: Guns on campus one year later
14. Will gun rights be curtailed in the wake of the gym shooting?
15. Additional info concerning Mark Baker
16. Women, Handguns and Civilization
17. ATF: Officials see rise in militia groups across US
18. Send a Message to AARP on Gun Rights
19. Mona Charen: No Individual Initiative Please! We're Americans
20. Prospects Dim for Mexican Firearms Treaty
21. Who says people won't rob you for your groceries!
22. Lexington City Council repeals unlawful gun ban ordinance
23. Extra security at the Eric Cantor town hall meeting because of VCDL?

**************************************************
1. VCDL President to speak at Liberty's 2009 Gun Rights Symposium.
NRA instructors needed!
**************************************************

I have been invited to speak at the Liberty University School of Law's
2009 Gun Rights Symposium on October 16. This event is open to the
public. Details as well as directions are listed below.

2009 Gun Rights Symposium
Hosted by Liberty University School of Law
Sponsored by the Federalist Society

Day 1: Gun Rights Lecture (open to everyone)
Date: Friday, Oct.16th
Time: 2:30 - 4:00 p.m.
Location: Liberty University School of Law / Supreme Court Room
Address: 1971 University Blvd.
Lynchburg, VA 24502

Directions:
Take U.S. 460 to Candlers Mountain Rd. exit. Cross over Candlers
Mountain Rd. Parking lot is near LaHaye Ice Center on right.

ALSO, on Saturday, October 17th, they are having a shoot for the law
students and need some NRA instructors to teach firearms safety and
keep an eye on the students as they shoot at a range.

If you can volunteer to help, contact Jeremy Morris at: jrmorris2
*at* liberty.edu

From the event flyer:

--

On Friday, Oct. 16th, a panel of three gun rights experts will discuss
the current state of 2nd Amendment Rights & the right to Concealed
Carry in the state of Virginia. The event is open to law students,
undergraduate students, and the community. Food will be provided.

Stephen Halbrook is one of the top Constitutional Scholars and
litigators for gun rights. He regularly litigates on behalf of the NRA
and has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Robert Dowlut is Chief Counsel for the NRA and a member of the D.C.
Bar. Mr. Dowlut is currently involved with numerous cases involving
fallout from the Supreme Court's recent decision in D.C. v. Heller,
544 U.S. (2008) including a suit against the City of Chicago.

Philip Van Cleave is the President of the Virginia Citizens Defense
League (VCDL). He is a leading advocate for the right to carry
concealed firearms in the state of Virginia.

Day 2: Barbeque and Gun Shoot (law students only)
Date: Saturday, Oct. 17th
Time: 1:00 ñ 3:00 p.m.
Location: Izaak Walton League / Pistol & Rifle Range

Directions:
From Downtown Lynchburg
Take U.S. 29 (Amherst Hwy) North to S. Coolwell Rd. Turn right at S.
Coolwell Rd. Turn right at Izaak Walton Rd.

From Liberty University
Take U.S. 460 East to U.S. 29 North. Continue past 130 (Glade/Amelon
Rd) to Izaak Walton Rd. Turn left on Izaak Walton Rd. The park is on
the left.

On Saturday, Oct. 17th, law students are invited to an outdoor
barbeque and gun shoot at the Izaak Walton League Pistol & Rifle
Range. Come enjoy some good ol' barbeque and celebrate 2nd Amendment
rights!

**************************************************
2. CHP Holders are the target of a nationwide hate campaign
**************************************************

There is a troubling trend right now for the anti-gunners to go after
gun owners, and particularly CHP holders, with hatred.

Some of this hatred is driven by frustration, since gun owners have
been triumphant in restoring gun rights at a time in American history
when they were supposed to be on the political ropes.

Some of the hatred has always been there, just more subdued in the
past. The antis tend to be a very unhappy, angry, and disrespectful
bunch, but now they are getting desperate.

What they are doing is trying to villainize CHP holders in
particular. While never pointing out the day-to-day drumbeat across
the nation of gun owners saving lives, the antis are putting an
electron microscope over those rare events when CHP holders break the
law. With somewhere between 5 and 6 MILLION CHP holders in America,
such events are as rare as hen's teeth AND there are laws to deal with
transgressors. Of course, the antis aren't interested in such things.

One group that particularly hates gun owners is the Freedom States
Alliance (FSA). Their name is the direct opposite of their goals and
their web site is dedicated to hatred of gun owners. Fortunately the
FSA is ineffective and few are buying into FSA's baloney.
http://www.freedomstatesalliance.com/

One tactic is for the antis to attempt to push gun owners into an
angry outburst so the antis can point and say, "See, these people are
dangerous!" Chris Matthews of Hardball did his best to do that to
William Kostric, of New Hampshire, over Kostric's open carrying
outside of a town hall where President Obama was
speaking(http://tinyurl.com/kq2pos
). An MSNBC news-anchor practically begged the police on the air to
find some excuse, any excuse, to arrest Kostric. That really turned
my stomach.

If you find yourself in a position of being "baited" into anger by an
anti-gunner or a reporter who is being rude or vicious to you, just
take a deep breath and relax. The more they attack you, the more calm
you become.

The bottom line: don't give in to their tactics, but instead, as
Kostric did, show the antis for who THEY really are: the ones who are
out of control and out of touch.

**************************************************
3. RTD's Williams: "Bullet box" has no place in U.S. Democracy
**************************************************

Last month, when Catherine Crabill (R), 99th District, dared to
suggest that our Second Amendment right was to guard against a
tyrannical government, the anti-gun blogs lit up with shock and
outrage. The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Michael Williams chimes in with
yet another example of how the anti-gun crowd completely misses the
point of a well-regulated citizen militia.

This was my comment that I submitted to the Richmond Times-Dispatch on
the article below:

--

“Bullets over the ballot box” is exactly what the 2nd Amendment was
put in place for. However, as long as the government is not
"mutinous" over the people it is supposed to be serving and is not
tyrannical, then the 2nd Amendment just sits there quietly protecting
the right of the people to keep America free in case the unthinkable
does happen. If bullets do start flying, it will be because we have
no liberty left to forsake.

--

http://tinyurl.com/kvp3gu

MICHAEL PAUL WILLIAMS
timesdispatch.com
Published: August 8, 2009

Sounding more like Malcolm X than Patrick Henry, Virginia political
candidate Catherine Crabill warned of armed insurrection during a
Northern Neck "tea party" last month.

"We have a chance to fight this battle at the ballot box, before we
have to resort to the bullet box," said Crabill, the Republican
nominee for the 99th District seat in the House of Delegates.

"But that's the beauty of our Second Amendment right. . . . Our Second
Amendment right was to guard against tyranny."

But can the tyranny of a distant monarch be legitimately likened to
discontent with the policies of a democratically elected president?

And does the inscrutable Second Amendment -- A well regulated Militia,
being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the
people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed -- give
individual citizens the right to take up arms against their government?

Crabill clearly thinks so, as does the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 5-4 vote last year, the court struck down a handgun ban in
Washington, D.C., and concluded that fear of tyranny is a basis for
individuals to possess firearms.

Abraham Lincoln no doubt would have frowned upon that case, District
of Columbia v. Heller. "Among free men, there can be no successful
appeal from the ballot to the bullet," he wrote before being slain by
a man who considered him a tyrant.

When folks such as John Wilkes Booth and Catherine Crabill get to
decide what constitutes tyranny, we should all be very afraid.

"This debate has taken a radical turn," Joshua Horwitz, executive
director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said during a panel
discussion Wednesday at the YWCA of Richmond.

When asked in an e-mail by Richmond Times-Dispatch political reporter
Tyler Whitley to explain her "bullet" remark, Crabill hardly
retreated. "Rather than scrutinize my comments, why doesn't the media
examine how this administration's policies and trajectory into
socialism/Marxism has incited the people to buy arms at an
unprecedented rate?" she asked.

Indeed, gun sales have soared since President Barack Obama took
office. So has the mutinous mood of citizens who oppose his policies,
real or imagined, or simply can't stomach him in the White House. A
man who shot to death three Pittsburgh police officers in April
reportedly had expressed fear of an Obama gun ban.

But Horwitz, co-author of "Guns, Democracy, and the Insurrectionist
Idea," argues that the right of individuals to take up arms against
the government was not the Founders' intent.

Horwitz said the notion that guns should tilt the balance in a
democracy "violates the most fundamental idea we have in America" --
that citizens are political equals.

He was joined Wednesday by a panel of area clergy and the parents of
two Virginia Tech massacre survivors. Crabill's "bullet box" remarks,
which are making the rounds on YouTube, left an indelible impression.

In his blog the next day, the Rev. D. Wallace Adams-Riley, rector of
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, said Crabill's language is
"seditious, reckless, inflammatory, and is an incitement to violence.
In a word, it is a threat to the democratic process and thus a threat
to Americans."

Indeed, a democracy that resorts to the bullet over the ballot is
forsaking liberty for death.


**************************************************
4. Alexandria Mayor a member of "Mayors Against Guns"
**************************************************

Thanks to VCDL member Bob McMahan for alerting us that Alexandria's
Mayor, William D Euille, has joined NY Mayor Bloomberg's "Mayors
Against Guns". Bob also took a few minutes of his time to write the
Mayor and express his concerns. If you would like to contact him as
well, you can follow the link below to the city's official web page.

http://tinyurl.com/6aumoq

Here is Bob's email to the Mayor:

--

Bill,
I see that you are a member of Mayor Bloomberg's anti-gun group of
mayors. Are you not a little embarrassed that you are now a party to
his goofy position on guns for citizens? Our Commonwealth, as you
well know, has had a concealed carry law since 1995. Has that law
resulted in even one untoward incident anywhere in the state? It has
not. You may well remember that a few years ago, the wife of
Alexandria's sheriff was murdered. If memory serves, that awful event
took place in October and the press reported that it was the first
murder in the city of Alexandria that year. Now Washington, D.C. has
just the kind of gun laws Mayor Bloomberg seeks to impose on
Virginia. In that city, whose ethnic and class profile is not too far
from Alexandria's, a murder takes place just about each and every day,
and sometimes there is more than one. Is that what you want for
Alexandria? If you have even a little bit of the good sense God gave a
jack-rabbit, you will repudiate Mayor Bloomberg's position on this
issue. At a minimum, you will state for the record the obvious point
that law-abiding gun owners are not a problem.

Respectfully, Bob McMahan

**************************************************
5. LTE: Gun Control Advocates Wield Dishonest Numbers
**************************************************

EM Hal Macklin writes:

Great LTE published in the RTD.

How many Richmond area members remember the Beverly Hills Jeweler's
shootout? That incident refutes everything Williams [PVC: Update item
#3, above] has said and bears repeating.

'Lead and diamonds: the Richmond jewelry store shootout' - The Ayoob
Files
American Handgunner, May-June, 2003 by Massad Ayoob

http://tinyurl.com/qnyb6w

http://tinyurl.com/ljl32r (fourth letter down the page)

Editor, Times-Dispatch:
timesdispatch.com

Gun-Control Advocates Wield Dishonest Numbers

Rather than recognizing that the recent shootout at the Golden Food
Market illustrates precisely why so many states have enacted "shall-
issue" laws allowing law-abiding citizens to carry handguns for their
own defense, Michael Paul Williams begrudgingly admits that it "worked
that time" -- but then trots out a few worn-out arguments as to why it
can't or won't work ["Patron With Gun Won -- This Time"].

Williams quotes a former Virginia Tech student, wounded by Seung-Hui
Cho, and now an activist with the Brady Campaign, who also
begrudgingly admits that the armed citizen at the Golden Food Market
prevented several deaths that day. The activist is quick to follow up
with: "There are other situations where that doesn't work out. And
that situation could have worked out in a million different ways."
Could have, might have -- but didn't. The young man offers no actual
accounts of such situations gone so terribly wrong that citizens
should not be allowed to protect themselves.

Williams cites a self-serving Brady Campaign statistic that "there are
fewer than 200 justifiable gun homicides each year out of a total of
more than 10,000 gun homicides." This fails utterly to acknowledge the
tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of incidents each
year in which a firearm is used defensively to prevent any killing or
violent crime. Often the mere display of a firearm is enough to drive
off a would-be attacker. Even when the victim must fire his or her
weapon in defense, the result more often is only a wounded attacker,
not a dead one.

If we're going to trot out statistics, then let us also recognize that
a study performed under the Clinton administration concluded that
firearms are used defensively each year in this country at least nine
times more often than they are used to commit a crime.

Williams bemoans that we have "lost the battle" if "citizens see
themselves as the last line of defense." If I am not the last line of
my own self-defense, then who or what is? Abdication to the state, one
supposes.

Bill Taggart.
Henrico.

**************************************************
6. Gun Owner Draws Scrutiny Outside Obama Town Hall
**************************************************

Interesting. If you exercise your rights, you'll likely end up on
someone's "radar screen?"

http://tinyurl.com/nhm4qy

Declan McCullagh - cbsnews.com

New Hampshire state law is pretty clear about protecting its citizens'
rights to carry firearms in public. Carrying a pistol or revolver
openly is permitted without a license; carrying a concealed weapon
requires a license from the state or local police.

William Kostric took advantage of that law on Tuesday to show up
outside President Obama's Portsmouth, N.H. town hall meeting and hold
a sign saying "It Is Time To Water The Tree Of Liberty." That invokes
a phrase from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson: "The tree of
liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots
and tyrants."

Kostric did not immediately respond to an interview request from
CBSNews.com.

Portsmouth police spokesman Lt. Frank Warchol told the Boston Globe
that because Kostric was on private property -- it belongs to a church
near the school with the town hall meeting -- he would not be
arrested. "We can't do anything about it," Warchol said. "Obviously
he's on our radar screen at this time."

Kostric was there around 11 a.m. ET, before Mr. Obama even left the
White House en route for the Granite State, and there's no indication
he ever laid eyes on the president. Nevertheless, around that time
(11:35 a.m., to be precise) MSNBC's Carlos Watson called for Kostric
to be forcibly disarmed: "I cannot imagine that there aren't enough
lawyers in New Hampshire who can't file some sort of emergency
injunction." One of his guests added: "Why can't we get rid of him now?"

MSNBC's Chris Matthews invited Kostric on his show and wondered why
"you're carrying a [PVC: I deleted an expletive here, no kidding] gun
at a presidential event?" (Kostric's reply: He was there peacefully,
guns aren't unusual in New Hampshire, and Americans lose rights unless
they exercise them.)

One MSNBC.com report indicates that Kostric was approached by a
detective, possibly a Secret Service agent, who told him he could be
arrested within 1,000 feet of a school with a weapon under a federal
law.

Some background: the 1990 Gun-Free School Zones Act said that it
"shall be unlawful" to possess a firearm within 1,000 feet of an
elementary or secondary school.

That law is no longer on the books. In the case of U.S. v. Lopez,
decided in 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court said violated Congress' powers
to regulate interstate commerce and was therefore unconstitutional.

Congress re-enacted a version in 1996 with a narrower definition of
interstate commerce; it says the statute does not apply "on private
property not part of school grounds" or to anyone with a carry permit,
with Kostric may or may not have.

It's reasonable to not understand the intricacies of gun laws; many
vary from state to state, and few are written especially clearly.

But you'd hope that television commentators would take the time to
learn at least a little before calling for measures such as court
injunctions and disarming by police. One thing that MSNBC's hosts
could have added is that a lawsuit filed last week in Washington, D.C.
seeks to establish a broad Second Amendment right to carry firearms in
public -- which, if successful, could mean that William Kostric's
exercise in public handgun ownership will become much more commonplace.


**************************************************
7. MSNBC Interviews Open Carrier at New Hampshire Town Hall
**************************************************

An open carrier in New Hampshire has Chris Matthews of Hardball
foaming at the mouth because the gun owner had the audacity to openly
carry a gun a short distance from a town hall meeting where Obama was
speaking.

The gun owner does a very good job, especially considering the
pressure from Matthews.

Matthews can't imagine that someone would actually carry a gun for
self-defense. Matthews is fixated on the his mistaken concept that
guns are only to threaten and impose force on others.

http://tinyurl.com/kq2pos (Chris Matthews Interview)
http://tinyurl.com/klhats (Response from open carrier)


**************************************************
8. Video of NH police and open carry man at Obama rally
**************************************************

This link was sent to us by Matt Gottshalk. It shows how the NH police
went out of their way to be courteous and professional to William
Kostric, the man who was open carrying near the Obama town hall
meeting. Hats off to the Portsmouth, NH police!

http://tinyurl.com/oybdwz (Youtube)

Here is a video of a thug trying to intimidate protesters. They
assaulted some people and picked on the open carrier before noticing
his gun and then they moved on - so I guess they aren't as stupid as
they look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUxjahek0f8

**************************************************
9. Second Amendment March at Virginia State Capitol has been Approved!
**************************************************

Received the following message from one of the organizers of a Second
Amendment March in Richmond:

--

Mark your calendars for the Second Amendment March at the Virginia
State Capitol -- our application was approved. The March is "good to
go" on April 12, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.-3:00 p.m.

Please contact me and let me know if you plan to be there; and if you
need help with transportation, parking information (I will post a
diagram of nearby public parking lots at a later point).

Please see the rules that we have to follow on the grounds and plan to
adhere to them as stated http://tinyurl.com/kjvv5p (PDF format).

Thank you, and I will post more later.

Leyla Myers
leyla.myers@secondamendmentmarch.com

http://tinyurl.com/ms3bkf

For more information on upcoming Second Amendment Marches across the
country, as well as to the U.S. Capital, go the Official site of the
Second Amendment March.

http://secondamendmentmarch.com/


**************************************************
10. MARYLAND Transit Authority Police Harass Open Carrier in VIRGINIA
Park!
**************************************************

Rick Sandlin, administrator of the Virginia Gun Owners Forum,
describes an unusual and disturbing encounter with a Maryland Transit
Authority (MTA) police officer while he was open carrying. What makes
this so unusual is that it happened in Virginia.

If that Maryland officer had held a law-abiding gun owner in Virginia
at gun point for doing nothing illegal, there would have been hell to
pay (criminal charges and a civil suit). Luckily for the officer, he
didn't do it.

http://tinyurl.com/krd2u7

Rick Sandlin - vagunforum.net

So, I had some time to kill and went to the beach at the Potomac River
where the Route 301 Nice Bridge crosses the river. Two kids in tow and
my .38 special on my belt. We passed by a Maryland Transit Authority
(MTA) car on the way to park at the beach and I thought nothing of it.
Parked the truck and we got out. The kids were looking for shells on
the beach and I was wandering around with them. About 5 minutes later,
I hear "Excuse me, Sir". I turned and there was the MTA deputy (or
whatever they're called).

MTA: "May I see your handgun permit?"
Me: "I don't need a permit."
MTA: "And why don't you need a permit?"
Me: "I can open carry in Virginia without a permit - anyone who is
legally allowed to own a firearm (no felonies, no domestic assault,
etc), may carry a firearm openly in Virginia."

He let me know that he had called the local Sheriff's Office and that
someone was on their way and I let him know that if he was going to
sit on the Virginia side of the bridge that he should know the law. He
asked me why I need to carry a gun, and I asked him why he needed to
carry one. Well of course he needed one because he's a police officer
and I need one because I never know what kind of freaky idiot I'm
going to encounter at the scummy waters of the Potomac River.

The local deputy showed up and let the MTA guy know that I was within
the law. Then they both let me know that I shouldn't be Open Carrying
in the park unless I wanted to draw negative attention and that I
should get a Concealed Handgun Permit. I told the county guy that I
had one. When MTA guy heard that, he accused me of lying to him and
telling him that I didn't have one when he asked me. I said "No, you
asked to see my handgun permit, and I told you that I didn't need one
to Open Carry my firearm". He pressed on that point again about me
lying to him and I pressed back and he said he didn't want to argue
about it.

Long story short, the local county deputy was really good about it and
he let the Maryland guy know the law (which is exactly what I told him
as well). The Maryland guy was pretty much a jerk about it all,
essentially telling me that I shouldn't be carrying a gun in a park
with my kids.

So, it was an exciting 15 minutes and my first discussion with police
about my carrying of a firearm. I may have pressed the guy a little
hard, but I knew he was outside his jurisdiction and that he clearly
didn't know the law. I'm glad the county deputy came and straightened
it all out. Again, the deputy was really nice about everything.

Oh yeah, then after the deputy left, the MTA guy told me, "You know,
when I came down here to check on you, instead of just asking to speak
with you, I could have put pulled my gun and ordered you prone on the
ground and put you in cuffs until the Sheriff's deputy got
here." [PVC: That officer needs to be fired. His job is not to
push his weight around from behind a badge and intimidate law-abiding
citizens.]

I was good and kept my mouth shut about that one and just nodded my
head.


**************************************************
11. Yet another STUPID move by Virginia Tech officials
**************************************************

Another way to message students during an emergency to tell them there
is a good chance they are going to die, helpless and disarmed, as they
wait for help that will probably get there too late:

http://tinyurl.com/qqek3a

wjla.com
August 12, 2009

BLACKSBURG, Va. - Virginia Tech has expanded its emergency
notification system with a software application that connects it to
supported computers on the Internet.

The university said in a news release Wednesday the VT Desktop Alerts
software will monitor the school's emergency notification system. When
an important message is posted, the application will notify the user
with audio and a message with details.

The software can be downloaded to any desktop or notebook computer
running a supported version of Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS X.

Virginia Tech expanded its emergency notification system following the
mass shootings in April 2007 in which 33 people died.

Messages already are sent by e-mail, text messages, calls to
designated phone numbers, online instant messages, outdoor sirens and
electronic message boards in classrooms.


**************************************************
12. States With Weak Gun Laws Fuel Illegal Gun Market?
**************************************************

Surprise: more lies by the Brady Campaign. They are using "trace" data
from the federal government to show that states with few gun
restrictions export crime guns in higher numbers. What they Brady
Campaign doesn't want you to know is that the vast, vast majority of
the guns in the trace database are not used in crime, but are simply a
check to see if they are stolen! Also, these guns don't even show up
in the database until after 3 YEARS!

Nice try, Brady Campaign, but no cigar:

http://tinyurl.com/kjfqev

News Release
bradycampaign.org

Newly Released Crime Gun Data Shows States With Weak Gun Laws Fuel
Illegal Gun Market Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama Have Highest
Crime Gun Export Rates

For Immediate Release:
08-05-2009

Contact Communications:
(202) 289-7319

Washington, DC ñ Gun dealers in states with weak gun laws supply guns
to criminals in other states at a rate more than five times higher
than dealers in states with stronger gun laws, according to a Brady
Center to Prevent Gun Violence analysis of newly released ATF crime
gun trace data. The data was released Monday by the federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF) for crime guns recovered
and traced in 2008.

The data shows that in states with strong gun laws, criminals find it
more difficult to obtain guns from local sources and frequently must
obtain guns from traffickers supplied by out-of-state gun dealers.
This fuels the ìiron pipelineî described in past federal law
enforcement reports.

ìStates with strong gun laws protect their communities by making it
more difficult for criminals to get firearms,î said Brady Center to
Prevent Gun Violence President Paul Helmke. ìStates with weak gun
laws are the top suppliers of the illegal gun market nationwide,
making it too easy for dangerous people to get deadly weapons.î

Interstate Gun Trafficking ñ Crime Gun Exports
The Brady Center analysis also ranked the states based on their
contribution to interstate gun trafficking. The Center measured each
stateís per capita rate of crime gun exports ñ guns moving across
state lines before being recovered in crime. Mississippi was number
one with the highest rate of crime gun exports, followed by West
Virginia, Alabama, Virginia, and South Carolina.

These states have weak gun laws making it easy for criminals to get
firearms, scoring fewer than 20 out of 100 on the Brady Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard. Hawaii and New Jersey had
the lowest rates of crime gun exports, with rates of less than one
crime gun export per 100,000 people. Hawaii and New Jersey rank among
the top ten states with the strongest gun laws on the Brady Campaign
to Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard, making it harder for
criminals in those states to get illegal guns.

Georgia led the states with the highest total number of crime gun
exports, not adjusted for population. Florida had the second highest
total number of crime gun exports, followed by Virginia, Texas and
Indiana. All five states have weak gun laws making it easy for
criminals to get firearms, scoring fewer than 20 out of 100 on the
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard.

Supplying the Criminal Market ñ Crime Guns Supplied to Criminals In-
State and Nationwide

The Brady Center also ranked the states based on their per capita rate
of all crime gun sales ñ crime guns traced to gun dealers in a state
and recovered in crime both in-state and out of state. Louisiana was
number one with the highest rate of crime guns recovered both in and
out of state, followed by Arizona, Alabama, Indiana, and Georgia.

All five states have weak gun laws making it easy for criminals to get
firearms, scoring fewer than 20 out of 100 on the Brady Campaign to
Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state scorecard. Hawaii and Massachusetts
had the lowest rates of total crime gun sales. Hawaii and
Massachusetts rank among the top ten states with the strongest gun
laws on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence 2008 state
scorecard, making it harder for criminals in those states to get
illegal guns.

Methodology
The Brady Center determined state rankings based on ATF crime gun
trace data released on August 3, 2009. The Brady Center analysis
determined that gun dealers in states with weak gun laws supply
criminals in other states with guns at a rate more than five times
higher than in states with stronger gun laws by comparing 2008 per
capita crime gun trace rates among the states having the strongest gun
laws and weakest gun laws on the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violenceís 2008 annual state scorecard. States with a score of fewer
than 5 out of 100 had a per capita crime gun trace export rate
morethan five times higher than states that scored more than 40 out of
100.

The scorecard rates each state on the strength of its gun laws, and is
available at http://www.stategunlaws.org/xshare/pdf/ ... 8_scorecar
d_rankings.pdf

ATF officials released a broad general set of crime gun trace data on
the agency's website on August 3, 2009. The data is at

http://www.atf.gov/firearms/trace_data/index2008.htm


**************************************************
13. Packing for school: Guns on campus one year later
**************************************************

A thoughtful, common sense approach to carrying guns on campus.
Whether it's a small rural school district in Texas or a large
university in Virginia, having guns on campus means everyone is safer.

http://tinyurl.com/nenzpm

Ann Work - Times Record News
reporternews.com
Thursday, August 6, 2009

WICHITA FALLS - One year ago, David Thweatt made a decision so
controversial and groundbreaking the story about it sped around the
world.

The superintendent of the isolated Harrold Independent School
District, about 30 miles northwest of here, made history last August
when he and his school board decided to allow select teachers and
staff members at the 110-student school to carry guns on campus - a
first for Texas and the nation.

For Thweatt and his board, the decision was pure mathematics.

The school, which sits in the middle of a prairie, was too far from
law enforcement for police to come in time to fend off would-be
attackers. The students and staff would be safer if on-site, trained
staff members were equipped to handle a crisis at a moment's notice,
they decided.

Thweatt had already installed a $100,000 state-of-the-art security
system in the school. Now, arming certain unnamed school staff members
by allowing them to strap a firearm under their clothing was the final
flourish.

In the year since that historic decision, a gun was never brandished
or fired at the school. There were no problems, Thweatt said.

However, one week after school began, police busted a methamphetamine
lab set up in an abandoned house that sat 50 feet from the school
property.

A deputy had peered inside and "saw something in the walls and windows
and called for backup," Thweatt said. "They made it to the abandoned
house in 15 minutes. We had figured it would take 18 to 20 minutes in
a typical situation."

Had that been an armed intruder at his school, response time would
have been too slow.

"We're the first responders. We have to be," Thweatt said. "We don't
have 5 minutes. We don't have 10 minutes. We would have had 20 minutes
of hell" if attackers had targeted the school.

Harrold students, who grew up on ranches and in the middle of the
North Texas gun culture, were unperturbed by the school district's new
gun policy.

"The kids just laughed about it," Thweatt said.

Thweatt himself is the son of a retired minister/missionary/teacher in
Abilene and a 1978 graduate of Abilene High School and Hardin-Simmons
University.

Too small for athletics, Thweatt spent his time at Abilene High
focused on his studies, particularly interested in journalism.

He wrote music and played guitar in a Christian band on weekends and
was active in his father's nondenominational Abilene Fellowship
ministry.

Thweatt drove a school bus for the Abilene ISD and occasionally worked
as a substitute teacher to help fund his education, graduating in 1983.

In Harrold, media attention was fierce all year. He talked to
reporters from as far away as Ireland and New Zealand; he participated
on more than a dozen talk shows. The story continues to spread;
recently he saw a write-up in a Jerusalem newspaper. Only Finland and
Switzerland reporters ignored the story; they already have high gun
ownership rates, he said.

"I had a lot of interviews from kids and college kids," he said. "They
needed to learn. I'm an educator," said Thweatt, who is opinionated
but patient in interviews.

"Would you stick a sign at a school that says, 'No guns on this
property'? Why wouldn't you? It invites nasty people to come," he
said. "That's what you've done to every public school in the nation.
That's why there were no shootings until Columbine. It's turned into a
dad-gum shoot fest."

Thweatt took calls from "just a handful" of Texas districts
considering the same policy, but he wouldn't say if any other
districts had modeled Harrold's M.O.

According to Barbara Williams with the Texas Association of School
Boards, Harrold remains the only Texas school district with a guns-on-
campus policy.

"We're not aware of any others," she said.

However, when Harrold made its groundbreaking decision one year ago,
she watched the story go as far as Malaysia. She was even called by
the Dr. Phil show, who asked her to help plan a show on the topic
because they were so fascinated by it. She refused.

To her, it was so obvious as to be a non-issue. Dr. Phil, who claims
to be a Texan, should know that, she said.

"This is Texas. I have a magnet on my refrigerator of the state with a
plastic gun glued to it that says, 'We don't call 9-1-1.' We find that
funny in Texas," she said.

When a London reporter asked Thweatt to explain why so many kooks go
into schools looking for a body count, Thweatt said he couldn't
explain such a devolution of society, but he did know a simple way to
stop it - the same solution he chose for Harrold ISD.

"Good guys with guns - good," he said. "Bad guys with guns - bad."


**************************************************
14. Will gun rights be curtailed in the wake of the gym shooting?
**************************************************

As the saying goes, "Never let a tragedy go to waste". That seems to
be the motto of Kristen Rand, legislative director of the Violence
Policy Center (VPC), as she uses a broad brush to paint all CHP
holders as potential mass murders. Their assumptions are as flawed as
the data they so proudly spout as fact.

http://tinyurl.com/lvdfjx

Personal Liberty News Desk
personalliberty.com
August 7, 2009

After this week's deadly shooting at a fitness center in Pittsburgh,
anti-gun activists are seizing the opportunity to call for
restrictions on carrying hidden or loaded guns in public.

Freedom States Alliance, an organization working to reduce gun
violence in America, points that the 48-year-old perpetrator had no
criminal record and had a concealed weapons permit.

It adds that so far in 2009 there have been three confirmed mass
shootings committed by concealed carry permit holders, and these
incidents disprove the gun lobby's claims that legal gun owners do not
commit violent crimes.

"Concealed handgun permits were promoted by the gun lobby as a
mechanism to arm 'law-abiding' citizens who, in theory, would prevent
mass shootings," says Kristen Rand, legislative director of the
Violence Policy Center (VPC).

"Instead, the hard facts demonstrate that concealed handgun permit
holders don't prevent mass shootings, they perpetrate them," she adds.

VPC research suggests the Pittsburgh gunman was at least the sixth
person licensed to carry a concealed weapon to commit a mass shooting
since May 2007. Those incidents claimed 26 lives and injured 16 people.

Police have confirmed three women were killed and nine others wounded
when the gunman opened fire at the gym on Tuesday night. He later
killed himself.

Meanwhile, supporters of gun rights have been pushing for legislation
to allow concealed and loaded weapons to be carried on college
campuses and in government buildings.


**************************************************
15. Additional info concerning Mark Baker
**************************************************

This is a follow-up email, and correction, to the information in last
week's VA-ALERT Update 08/12/09, item #9 forwarded by a member (Mark
Baker was paralyzed after grappling with an armed robber last year):

--

Good morning John!. Mark has not been denied medical coverage. It is
a very convoluted process, but he is currently covered by COBRA.
Medicare will not kick in until he has been disabled for two years.
COBRA only covers 18 months and we are trying to figure out how to
navigate through that time. Even this many months after the shooting,
we are still trying to assimilate all the insurance information.

The biggest problem for him is that he had no long term disability
insurance, which would have provided some income for life. We are
hoping to have an insurance agent at Knuckleheads with whom people can
discuss these issues.

Thank you very much for your interest in Mark's story. We hope to see
you at Knuckleheads.

The fundraiser for Mark Baker is being held Sunday, August 30 at
Knuckleheads Roadhouse
401 N. Witchduck Road in VA Beach, next to Southside Harley-Davidson


**************************************************
16. Women, Handguns and Civilization
**************************************************

A citizen blogger shares her perspective on what it means to be armed
and female.

http://tinyurl.com/mok2cd

Erin Solaro - Seattle PI
seattlepi.com
Friday, August 7, 2009

<snip>
For a law-abiding citizen to bear personal arms is an act of
civilization.

Not just an act of self-defense or an act in defense of civilization,
but an act of civilization.

This is true for men and it is even more true for women. For a woman
to bear personal arms means that she will not be deprived of her legal
rights: to go any lawful place she pleases at any time; to be free in
her body, meaning that she need not be defenseless against assailants;
to live. And it means that the uncivilized, those who would deprive
her of life and the liberties of a free citizen, including freedom
from unwanted sexual contact, do so at absolute risk to their lives.

That is the fundamental moral principle. These are the facts.

A handgun is not magic. You need to learn to use it and you need to be
willing to use it, i.e., to employ deadly force. If you are unwilling
or unable to do this, then guns are not for you.

However, a reliable handgun of man-stopping caliber (most commonly,
9mm and .45) is a terrific equalizer. And equality is the basis of
citizenship.

This is the foundation of civilization: that we live and posses our
property and are free in our bodies by no man's leave, but by right
under law. This is as true for women as it is for men. And unless
civilization includes women, it does not exist.

The "argument from prudence," otherwise known as "yes, but . . ." has
no place here. Our rights as women citizens are unalienable, and the
argument from prudence inevitably segues into "blame the victim" and
the attempt to limit or abrogate those rights ? to argue that there
are things we may not do, places we may not go, ways we may not dress
or behave, because we are women.

For women to bear arms routinely and commonly, in order to defend
their lives, their property and their liberty ? the simple freedom of
a realtor to show a client a property, to use the gym and shower
during unstaffed hours, to drive cross country alone, to go for a walk
or a hike or a run or a ride alone, to be at home alone, all without
fear of being overpowered ? to not need a chaperone or a protector ?
is our right. It is also an act in defense of civilization, if only
because those who commit violent crimes against women are often
sadists for whom pleasure provides much of the motivation, and thus
serial predators. And it is an act of civilization because it insists
that we are part of civilization, a full and equal part. These things
may not be done to us with impunity.

Now, try saying this to other women. Especially feminists, like
myself. They'll look at you as though you've suddenly grown horns.
Then they'll respond with a litany of objections that I know by heart.
Yes, there are women, as there are men, who refuse to defend
themselves with potentially lethal force for religious or
philosophical reasons, or because they know themselves to be genuinely
incapable of it for other reasons. But for the vast majority of women,
the refusal to consider firearms or to grant the legitimacy of that
choice to others, is based on little more than cowardice. What matters
now is to review the standard objections, then determine why they
amount to not just physical, but also intellectual and moral cowardice.

http://tinyurl.com/mok2cd to read the entire article.


**************************************************
17. ATF: Officials see rise in militia groups across US
**************************************************

http://tinyurl.com/l9xxlg

Eileen Sullivan - Associated Press
wtopnews.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) - Militia groups with gripes against the government
are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to
an organization that tracks such trends.

The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a
black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report
from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a
secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the
public debate about illegal immigration.

Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most
growth he's seen in more than a decade.

"All it's lacking is a spark," McEntire said in the report.

It's reminiscent of what was seen in the 1990s - right-wing militias,
people ideologically against paying taxes and so-called "sovereign
citizens" are popping up in large numbers, according to the report to
be released Wednesday. The SPLC is a nonprofit civil rights group
that, among other activities, investigates hate groups.

Last October, someone from the Ohio Militia posted a recruiting video
on YouTube, billed as a "wake-up call" for America. It's been viewed
more than 60,000 times.

"Things are bad, things are real bad, and it's going to be a lot
worse," said the man on the video, who did not give his name. "Our
country is in peril."

The man is holding an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and he encourages
viewers to buy one.

While anti-government sentiment has been on the rise over the last two
years, there aren't as many threats and violent acts at this point as
there were in the 1990s, according to the report. That movement bore
the likes of Timothy McVeigh, who in 1995 blew up a federal building
in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people.

But McEntire fears it's only a matter of time.

These militias are concentrated in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and
the Deep South, according to Mark Potok, an SPLC staff director who co-
wrote the report. Recruiting videos and other outreach on the Internet
are on the rise, he said, and researchers from his center found at
least 50 new groups in the last few months.

The militia movement of the 1990s gained traction with growing
concerns about gun control, environmental laws and anything perceived
as liberal government meddling.

The spark for that movement came in 1992 with an FBI standoff with
white separatist Randall Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Weaver's wife
and son were killed by an FBI sniper. And in 1993, a 52-day standoff
between federal agents and the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas,
resulted in nearly 80 deaths. These events rallied more people who
became convinced that the government would murder its own citizens to
promote its liberal agenda.

Now officials are seeing a new generation of activists, according to
the report. The law center spotlights Edward Koernke, a Michigan man
who hosts an Internet radio show about militias. His father, Mark, was
a major figure in the 1990s militia movement and served six years in
prison for charges including assaulting police.

Last year, officials warned about an increase in activity from
militias in a five-year threat projection by the Homeland Security
Department.

"White supremacists and militias are more violent and thus more likely
to conduct mass-casualty attacks on the scale of the 1995 Oklahoma
City bombing," the threat projection said.

A series of domestic terrorism incidents over the past year have not
been directly tied to organized militias, but the rhetoric behind some
of the crimes are similar with that of the militia movement. For
instance, the man charged with the April killings of three Pittsburgh
police officers posted some of his views online. Richard Andrew
Poplawski wrote that U.S. troops could be used against American
citizens, and he thinks a gun ban could be coming.

The FBI's assistant director for counterterrorism, Michael Heimbach,
said that law enforcement officials need to identify people who go
beyond hateful rhetoric and decide to commit violent acts and crimes.
Heimbach said one of the bigger challenges is identifying the lone-
wolf offenders.

One alleged example of a lone-wolf offender is the 88-year-old man
charged in the June shooting death of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust
Memorial Museum in Washington.

**************************************************
18. Send a Message to AARP on Gun Rights
**************************************************

First a note: VCDL has had AARP on our "Gun Owner Unfriendly" list
for years now. There anti-gun baloney is not new, but for those of
you who don't know about it, you might want to cancel your membership
with them.

VCDL member Rick Povich sent us his suggestion on how to tell AARP how
you feel about their anti-gun policy.

"I have a suggestion for everyone. When AARP begin to send folks
membership applications have them return a copy of the anti-gun letter
in the AARP envelope. Include a short note and politely decline the
invitation to spend money to join the organization and ask AARP to
contact the folks when they've changed their anti-gun policy.

This may not change AARP's policy right away but they'll get the
message."

I've included a link to the AARP letter on the Second Amendment
Sisters web site.

http://tinyurl.com/n9sgmr


**************************************************
19. Mona Charen: No Individual Initiative Please! We're Americans
**************************************************

VCDL, and similar state groups, have been on the forefront of
"Defending your right to ..." well, in our case specifically, "defend
yourself."

But the issue is bigger than that. VCDL is ultimately defending your
right as an adult Virginian to be a grownup and act for yourself.

Anti-gunners want to take that away from us so the government does
everything for us.

http://tinyurl.com/obdnxs

Mona Charen
creators.com

A plucky teller foiled a robbery attempt at Key Bank in Seattle. But
the story does not end happily. When a small man in a beanie cap, dark
clothing, and sunglasses pushed a backpack across the counter and
announced, "This is a ransom. Fill the bag with money," teller Jim
Nicholson ignored his training and "instinct took over." He lunged
across the counter and attempted to grab the thief by the throat or at
least to pull his glasses off. The nonplussed would-be robber bolted
for the door with Nicholson on his heels. A couple of blocks away,
with the help of others, Nicholson tackled the guy and held him until
police arrived.

Two days later, Key Bank got in touch with Nicholson. A bonus perhaps?
A commendation? Not quite. He was fired. It seems he had violated the
bank's strict policy that tellers should always comply with robber
demands. A Key Bank spokesman has not returned a call asking for
comment.

"We always recommend citizens, including employees of institutions, be
good witnesses," Seattle police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb told the Seattle
Times. "When confronted by a violent criminal, it is best to comply
unless they feel their personal safety is in jeopardy. It is possible
that taking action and confronting the criminal may lead to the injury
of the victim or other bystanders."

A nation of "good witnesses" - is that what we aspire to be? Tame
victims who hand over the money and file legible police reports?
Mentioned in passing in the AP's account is a factor that may be more
important than any other in explaining the passivity banks require of
their employees: "Police and the FBI discourage such heroics" for
money that is "federally insured." Now we get to the nub.

Federal insurance has doubtless spared the nation the agony of bank
runs. But by immediately replacing losses due to crime, it saps some
of the righteous anger from victims. Don't attempt to nab the guy,
just fill out the proper paperwork.

My husband and I had the experience of being robbed by a babysitter
who found my blank checks and wrote herself the most generous
compensation for a three-hour work shift in the history of baby-sitting.
I was shocked, when I reported this to bank employees, at their utter
lack of interest in details about the larcenist. I had her address,
phone number, and likely whereabouts. Yawn. Not interested (nor were
the police ó a story for another day). Bank employees assured me that
our $5,000 would be immediately credited to our account. As for the
thief ó no action. Compensation thus undermines justice.

Deposit insurance cannot explain all of it, though. Some of this is
the bureaucratization of America ó the deliberate attempt to drain
individual judgment and initiative from life. While Nicholson was
sprinting after a thief, a Fairfax County, Va., man was issued a
ticket for stopping traffic to permit a gaggle of geese to cross a
four-lane highway safely.

We see Canadian geese crossing roadways all the time here in Fairfax
County. Usually it's an adult goose followed by four to six fuzzy gray
goslings with another adult goose bringing up the rear. One assumes a
family unit. Jozsef Vamosi was driving to work around 9:30 a.m. when
he saw such a family assembling to cross a busy thoroughfare. "They
were walking like gentlemen," Vamosi told the Washington Post. "Like
the Beatles on 'Abbey Road.'" Vamosi got out of his car, held up a
hand to stop traffic and escorted the birds to the median. He then did
the same thing on the other side of the road. The geese went safely on
their way. "Everything came out fantastic," the Hungarian immigrant
explained. That is, until a Fairfax County police officer arrived on
the scene berating Vamosi and questioning his sanity. Vamosi was
issued a ticket for jaywalking. A police spokesman advised, "We can
appreciate the citizen's response and compassion for wildlife. But a
more prudent response would be to pull off the road and use their
cellphone. Call the police, and have them respond."

By the time even the most responsive police could have arrived for
such a call (and don't they have more important matters to attend to?)
the geese would have been pate. Nicholson and Vamosi acted on impulse
ó and I for one would not like to live in a country where such
instincts have been ironed out of us.

To find out more about Mona Charen and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web
page at http://www.creators.com.


**************************************************
20. Prospects Dim for Mexican Firearms Treaty
**************************************************

http://tinyurl.com/l7mgj8

Stephen Dinan - Washington Times
washingtontimes.com
August 9, 2009

President Obama's call for the Senate to ratify a hemispheric small-
firearms treaty dominated his last visit to Mexico, but in the four
months since, both the treaty pledge and the drug violence that
prompted it have dropped off the radar - a victim of Congress' full
schedule and gun politics.

That means on Sunday Mr. Obama will go with an empty hand to Mexico,
which blames the U.S. for many of the weapons used by drug cartels
that have violently thwarted a crackdown by Mexican authorities.

And even though Mr. Obama and his administration have accepted that
blame, prospects are dim for passage of the treaty, which calls on
countries to license gun manufacturers and try to control illicit
trafficking in firearms, ammunition and explosives.

The chief U.S. negotiator for the 1997 treaty, known by its Spanish
acronym of CIFTA, says it was written specifically to avoid forcing
the U.S. to change its laws, and says it does not give any other
country a say over what is legal or illegal in the U.S. - and that gun-
rights groups were even involved in writing parts of the treaty.

But the National Rifle Association now claims CIFTA could hurt hunters
and says U.S. Second Amendment interests should not be controlled by
an international treaty. Key senators such as Majority Leader Harry
Reid, a Nevada Democrat whose gun-rights credentials may be crucial to
his winning re-election next year, was cool to Mr. Obama's call for
ratification in April, and a spokesman said nothing has changed since.

"We must work with Mexico to curtail the violence and drug trafficking
on America's southern border, and must protect Americans' Second
Amendment rights," Mr. Reid said in April. "I look forward to working
with the president to ensure we do both in a responsible way."

Treaties require a two-thirds vote by the Senate to be ratified -
probably an impossible goal, given opposition from both sides of the
aisle.

Chris W. Cox, the National Rifle Association's chief lobbyist, would
not give a tally, but said that "there are a number of both
Republicans and Democrats who share our concerns about the potential
for abuse should this treaty be ratified."

On his two-day trip, Mr. Obama is expected to meet first with Mexican
President Felipe Calderon - both men will then meet with Canadian
Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The White House says that talking, even
without having any tangible "deliverables" to show for it, is important.

"We will see more of these dialogues in the future and at a relatively
frequent pace," National Security Adviser James L. Jones, a retired
Marine general, told reporters in previewing the trip. "From that, I
think good things will come."

Both Mexican and Canadian officials bring to the meeting concerns that
the U.S. is moving away from free trade.

Canada is worried about buy-American provisions in the economic
stimulus spending bill, and Mexico has imposed retaliatory measures in
response to Congress' halting a program to allow Mexican trucks on
U.S. highways. The program is part of U.S. trade obligations.

For its part, the U.S. is eager to discuss coordination on swine flu
precautions and combating global warming.

Still, the issue of drug-cartel violence along the U.S.-Mexico border,
which dominated the springtime meeting in Mexico City between Mr.
Obama and Mr. Calderon, will be a hot topic yet again.

Mr. Obama hopes to continue the flow of U.S. aid to combat drug
trafficking, known as the Merida Initiative, which began under
President George W. Bush, but that hit a snag last week.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont Democrat, said 15 percent of the drug-
fighting aid is contingent on the U.S. secretary of state reporting to
Congress that Mexico is meeting human rights requirements.

"Those requirements have not been met, so it is premature to send the
report to Congress," Mr. Leahy said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Mr. Obama might also have to explain to Mr. Calderon why so
little progress has been made on CIFTA, whose name in English is the
Inter-American Convention Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and
Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives and Other Related
Materials.

Mr. Obama vowed in April to push the long-languishing CIFTA and
shoulder some responsibility, calling small-arms trafficking "a source
of so many of the weapons used in this drug war."

But since then, other than including CIFTA as one of 17 priority
treaties on which the administration wants to see action in this
Congress, the administration has not appeared to have pressed the
issue on a reluctant Senate.

Jonathan Winer, who was the chief negotiator for the U.S. on CIFTA,
said it does not change U.S. laws governing firearms ownership.

"It would provide further tools for the government to track and arrest
criminals involved in smuggling and other serious crimes involving
firearms, like police killings and armed robbery. But it does not
change domestic U.S. law," said Mr. Winer, who was deputy assistant
secretary of state for international law enforcement. "It does not
criminalize anything that is currently legal in the U.S."

He said CIFTA would make other countries update their international
gun-trafficking laws by bringing them in line with current U.S.
standards.

"We consulted with the National Rifle Association and its
representatives throughout the negotiation of CIFTA. It is a fact that
there is language in CIFTA that was drafted by people working for the
NRA," he said.

For its part, the NRA says firearms manufactured in the U.S. are
already heavily regulated, and said the treaty could have "serious
impacts on recreation and hunting activities" and could affect those
who hand-load ammunition at home.

"The United States is already doing our part, and we shouldn't have
our freedoms dumbed down to [the level of] other countries that
haven't done theirs," Mr. Cox said.

Mr. Obama does have allies in the two top members of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, which has jurisdiction over the matter:
Chairman John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, and Sen. Richard G. Lugar
of Indiana, the committee's ranking Republican.

After Mr. Obama called for ratification, Mr. Kerry said he would "work
for its approval" in his committee.

A spokesman for Mr. Kerry said last week the senator remains
committed, but also pointed to a packed schedule and other major
treaties and said it's unclear when CIFTA could happen.

Mexico signed the treaty in 1997 and ratified it the next year. The
U.S. also signed the treaty in 1997 and President Clinton submitted it
to the Senate in 1998, but it has languished since.

Among the 33 signatories, all but four - Canada, Jamaica and the
Caribbean island nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as
the U.S. - have ratified it.


**************************************************
21. Who says people won't rob you for your groceries!
**************************************************

http://tinyurl.com/l5y7wr

Steve Hargreaves - CNNmoney.com
Thursday, August 13, 2009

<snip>
DETROIT On a side street in an old industrial neighborhood, a
delivery man stacks a dolly of goods outside a store. Ten feet away
stands another man clad in military fatigues, combat boots and what
appears to be a flak jacket. He looks straight out of Baghdad. But
this isn't Iraq. It's southeast Detroit, and he's there to guard the
groceries.

"No pictures, put the camera down," he yells. My companion and I, on a
tour of how people in this city are using urban farms to grow their
own food, speed off.

In this recession-racked town, the lack of food is a serious problem.
It's a theme that comes up again and again in conversations in
Detroit. There isn't a single major non-discount chain supermarket in
the city, forcing residents to buy food from corner stores or discount
chains. Often less healthy, less varied, or more expensive food.

As the area's economy worsens --unemployment was over 16% in July --
food stamp applications and pantry visits have surged.

Detroiters have responded to this crisis. Huge amounts of vacant land
has led to a resurgence in urban farming. Volunteers at local food
pantries have also increased.

But the food crunch is intensifying, and spreading to people not used
to dealing with hunger. As middle class workers lose their jobs, the
same folks that used to donate to soup kitchens and pantries have
become their fastest growing set of recipients.

"We've seen about a third more people than before," said Jean
Hagopian, a volunteer at the New Life food pantry, part of the New
Life Assembly of God church in Roseville, a suburb some 20 miles
northeast of Detroit. Hagopian said many of the new people seeking
assistance are men, former breadwinners now in desperate need of a
food basket.

**************************************************
22. Lexington City Council repeals unlawful gun ban ordinance
**************************************************

I have a copy of an article from the Lexington News-Gazette, dated
August 12, 2009. Page 2, section A has an article titled: "Lexington
Bows To State, Allows Loaded Firearms." I cannot find the article
online.

Lexington repealed an ordinance that had banned the carry of loaded
guns in the City unless they were carried by a person with a CHP.

However, unable to simply do the proper and legal thing, Councilman
Jack Page voted against the repeal saying, unbelievably, "it was the
city's duty to ensure the safety of it's citizens."

Well, yes, Councilman. So why didn't you vote to repeal an ordinance
that endangered the lives of innocent citizens?

**************************************************
23. Extra security at the Eric Cantor town hall meeting because of
VCDL presence?
**************************************************

At Congressman Eric Cantor's town hall meeting tonight, a police
officer was overheard telling another police officer that the extra
police presence was because VCDL was going to be there!

For crying out loud - only the government would waste money worrying
about a group whose members are well mannered, well spoken, and law
abiding.

I will point out that I open carried the whole time and the
Chesterfield police, while noticing me, did not say a word about my
gun. We've had very, very few incidents of Chesterfield PD harassing
gun owners over such things and tonight was no exception. (I chose to
open carry because I wasn't sure if the reception was going to be held
in the hotel's restaurant or not. As it turned out, it wasn't.)

The Guns Save Lives stickers that I brought with me were popular, as
usual.

I did have a chance to talk to a few of Eric Cantor's campaign workers
about the upcoming VCDL protest at the Republican Roundup (which is
being held at anti-gun Innsbrook on Saturday, October 17th).

EM Patricia Webb got to shake hands with Cantor and cornered him on
the whole Innsbrook matter, too. He said he had no input as to where
the Roundup was to be held, but Pat didn't let him off the hook with
that far-fetched answer. Finally, Cantor said he would look into it
and Pat politely let the issue drop.

Keep October 17th on your calendar. We need a big turnout at that
protest in the Richmond area (from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM).

***************************************************************************
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

[zephyp]

Thanks, Jay.

See item #10

RICK MADE THE VCDL NEWS!!!! WAY TO GO RICK