Anti's protest VCDL booth and assault a VCDL member

[allingeneral]

VCDL has a booth this year at a large event in Blacksburg called "Steppin' out."

At the event we've been handing out "Guns Save Lives" (GSL) stickers, membership applications, carry cards, and selling some raffle tickets for a Glock handgun. We paid for our booth and have carefully followed all the rules of the event.

Not so for the antis, of course. Upon seeing that VCDL had a booth and was raffling off a handgun, then antis showed up with a sign and a handout and tried to stand in front of our booth to block access - all of that without paying for a booth as we did.

I contacted management and got the antis moved away from our booth (although they were still in front of the booth holding up there sign protesting the raffle).

One of the antis, an older woman, came over and started yelling at one of our woman volunteers and then went over to one of the men, grabbed him, ripped off the GSL sticker he had on his shirt and threw it in his face!

Our member remained calm, but the woman really screwed up - the Blacksburg police had a booth across from us and a couple of officers witnessed the assault and battery. They immediately came over took the woman to their booth and detained her there while they checked to see if our member wanted to press charges against her.

In the end, our member opted not to press charges and the woman was released after being detained for about 15 minutes.

Actually the antis being there was a good thing - I hope they come back on Saturday. The fuss they made over our raffle got the event in the local news - free advertising we couldn't have bought at any price! We were swamped with people wanting to buy tickets. We had figured that we'd sell about 200 tickets over the entire two day event. We had sold that many before by 5 PM the first day! And with all the good press, I expect that today (Saturday) will be an incredible day, with thousands of stickers being handed out and hundreds of raffle tickets sold.

By far most people were supportive and it was a fun day, except for the occasional ranting antis who are willing to yell profanities in front of other people's children. A sad group of angry people.

DELEGATE YOST GOING SOFT ON GUNS?

In the Roanoke Times stories below, Delegate Yost, whose district is in the general area, seems to be distancing himself from gun rights and putting down VCDL. You may want to contact him and let him know his comments are not appreciated and that you expect him to fully support your right to keep and bear arms.

Delegate Yost's phone number is: (540) 577-4984 and his email is: DelJYost@House.virginia.gov

SOME GOOD PRESS COVERAGE (and some angry, anti-liberty coverage in a blog)!

Here is some of the press coverage of the event's first day on Friday, with VCDL front-and-center:

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From WDBJ7: http://tinyurl.com/l2baerj [VIDEO]

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From the Roanoke Times: http://tinyurl.com/kdlrrk8

Gun raffle upsets some in Blacksburg

A statewide guns rights group manned a booth at the Steppin' Out festival to sell tickets for a Glock handgun.
MICHAEL SHROYER | Special to The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG - Virginia Citizens Defense League, a statewide gun rights group, sold raffle tickets at the Steppin' Out festival in Blacksburg on Friday to give away a Glock handgun - the same kind used during the Virginia Tech shootings in 2007.

Raffle organizers say they have nothing to apologize for as the gun is a popular model, but a handful of protesters held signs and distributed fliers calling it insensitive to give away that gun so near Tech's campus.

"It's the most popular handgun out there," VCDL President Philip Van Cleave said. "So that's like saying somebody was killed with a Ford and you have a Ford here that you're raffling. ... The two aren't connected. They're both popular items. So they're trying to find any reason to be upset. Whatever they can find."

VCDL often travels the state to set up booths and hold promotions like it did on Friday. The group paid for a booth where they handed out fliers and educated people about their cause.

It will continue selling raffle tickets at similar events until October or whenever 1,000 have been sold. Then it will draw a winner of the handgun.

Van Cleave said the group doesn't usually run into as much opposition as it saw Friday, adding, "it's a Blacksburg thing."

He said he doesn't know why this community would be more sensitive to the pro-gun message - "I'm a little surprised." But Van Cleave doesn't think it's because of the April 16 shootings.

Instead, he said college campuses tend to have more people against gun rights.

"It's just a different environment," he said.

Catherine Koebel, a 34-year-old Blacksburg local, stood near the VCDL booth holding a sign with a photo of injured Tech students being carried from Norris Hall on the day of the shootings. "4/16/2007: Brought to you by a Glock," the sign read.

"I'm offended. Our suffering is not over. We've been through so much that that is just offensive," she said. "I'm not surprised, but that they would not pause to step outside themselves for a moment to be sensitive and think how their actions look to others. To me, what they're doing, it's on purpose."

The opposing groups were generally peaceful, standing close to one another but rarely exchanging words.

One more passionate passer-by approached VCDL members and asked, "Do you understand what that does to people?" before pulling a "Guns Save Lives" sticker from a man's shirt and throwing it at him.

Police pulled the woman aside, but let her go when the man chose not to press charges.

"I find that the other side tends to be angry. They tend to have anger issues," Van Cleave said. "And they don't trust themselves to own a gun and therefore they project that: that none of us can be trusted.

"It's America, they're free to be offended or angry. They're not free to come up and assault somebody. If they want to come up and talk, fine. If they want to throw out ideas, we're happy to have a pingpong game of ideas going back and forth. That's not a problem. We encourage dialogue, we don't encourage attacking somebody."

Some protesters distributed materials at the festival that linked Del. Joseph Yost, R-Blacksburg, to the VCDL - a claim Yost adamantly denied.

Instead, he said he respected their right to hold a raffle, but thought the venue was "somewhat in poor taste."

"I have never and am not currently endorsed by the VCDL," Yost said. "Me and the VCDL actually do not get along at all. While I support Second Amendment rights, I don't support a lot of what they believe in, particularly guns on college campuses ... things that I can not get behind."

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And from an anti-gun blog. Lots of lies and distortions, but what else would you expect from them? They did get one thing right - VCDL is an ultra-extreme group. But as Goldwater said in the 1960s, extremism in the pursuit of liberty is not a vice. Oh, and they were supposed to have a "vigil" near our booth, but no one showed up. No big deal - the antis are used to failure:

From bluevirginia.com: http://tinyurl.com/ks3cvmk


Extreme Gun Group To Raffle Off Weapon In Blacksburg Identical One Used In Va Tech Shooting
by: lowkell

From ProgressVA, this is utterly appalling...but not surprising coming from this ultra-extreme group, the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL).

Gun Violence Prevention Advocates Condemn Giveaway At Blacksburg “Stepping Out” Festival

Silent Vigil to be held 1-4pm today in protest

Blacksburg, VA - The Virginia Citizens Defense League, an extreme gun group self-described as “a gun-rights organization that makes the NRA look moderate” will raffle off a Glock handgun this weekend at the Stepping Out festival in downtown Blacksburg. The move is especially traumatizing and insensitive considering a Glock handgun was one of two weapons used by Seung-Hui Cho to shoot and kill 32 students and faculty at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007.

Members of the Virginia Tech community and advocates for gun violence prevention criticized the giveaway. Lori Haas, whose daughter was shot at Virginia Tech, said, “The senseless act of violence at Virginia Tech, committed by a mentally ill gunman armed with a Glock handgun, produced a deep wound on the citizens of Blacksburg and the entire Virginia Tech community that has yet to heal. The VCDL’s thoughtless and offensive raffle of an identical weapon simply throws acid on that wound rather than show empathy for this community.”

“Raffling off this particular weapon at a simple celebration of the Blacksburg community is entirely disrespectful of the people who were injured and killed at Virginia Tech and the trauma this community has experienced,” said Andy Goddard, president of the Virginia Center for Public Safety. Goddard’s son, Colin, was also shot at Virginia Tech. “The VCDL should cancel this giveaway out of respect for the families that were destroyed by a weapon identical to the one they plan to give away.”

In silent protest of the VCDL's raffle, members of the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg communities will hold silent vigil from 1pm - 4pm Friday, August 2nd next to VCDL booth in the Community Connections section of Steppin' Out, Farmer's Market at corner of Draper and Roanoke St to remember those whose lives have been destroyed by senseless gun violence.

This is not the first time the VCDL has engendered controversy and accusations insensitivity to the effects of gun violence. In 2007, the organization held a gun raffle in Fairfax County amid criticism for ties to the Virginia Tech controversy.

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If we have any other interesting interactions on Saturday, I'll let you know. If you are in the area, drop by the VCDL booth to say, "hi!"




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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/]

[UnderwaterMike]

Here's what I posted on the VCDL FB page:

I would have had her charged. I appreciate the generosity shown by turning the other cheek, but not holding the anti's accountable for their behavior just perpetuates the problem.

IMO, it's like a kid who's behaving badly. Keep ignoring the bad behavior, and it becomes SOP. Perhaps if this woman received a misdemeanor assault conviction, she'd think twice next time before acting like a brat.

[TBob]

Here's what I posted on the VCDL FB page:

I would have had her charged. I appreciate the generosity shown by turning the other cheek, but not holding the anti's accountable for their behavior just perpetuates the problem.

IMO, it's like a kid who's behaving badly. Keep ignoring the bad behavior, and it becomes SOP. Perhaps if this woman received a misdemeanor assault conviction, she'd think twice next time before acting like a brat.

Absolutely agree. There must be consequences to bad behavior for change to occur. Regardless of her age or sex, she has a thug mentality that won't change without being held accountable.

[WRW]

I dunno, simple assault? Who is now the bigger person, the 2A advocate or the anti-2A protestor? What can be inferred from this?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[UnderwaterMike]

I dunno, simple assault? Who is now the bigger person, the 2A advocate or the anti-2A protestor? What can be inferred from this?

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

"Who is now the bigger person?" assumes that both parties are operating on the same set of values. Clearly, that is not the case. If not pressing charges is what the VCDL member's values tell him is right, then kudos to the guy for living his beliefs. All I'm saying is that bad behavior gone unpunished is more likely to recur than is bad behavior met with appropriate consequences.

[HotD]

An armed society, is a polite society.

Not so much for the unarmed, as the woman who committed the battery demonstrates.

[Reverenddel]

This is the kind of thing I face every time I go as a peaceful representative of my opinion.

I'll tell you my experience:

We were at "Lobby Day" where a group of VCDL members were in the General Assembly to meet our representatives, and hand out papers to the politicians showing our positions.

At lunch, the GA gets CROWDED! There were 4 of us at a 6 person table. Two of the Anti Gun folk were wondering with their lunch trays. I looked at them, and said "You're welcome to join us. We know it's crowded."

This shrill nasty women looked me in the face, and said "I WOULD NEVER EAT WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!" Loudly, as if I should be embarrassed. In fact, I shook my head, and repeated, "The offer stands."

She walked the entire cafeteria for 30 minutes waiting for a seat, instead of sitting down.

That kind of hostile, rudeness is not uncommon when you take an EMOTIONAL point to a LOGICAL point.

They have the right to their opinion, no matter how wrong it may be.

HOWEVER, there is NO excuse for BAD manners! NO MATTER WHAT!

And I kinda wonder if that was the same shrill f'cktard I dealt with years ago? Hhhhmmmmm...