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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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NOTE: This had to go out unproofed due to time-sensitive material. Please bear with me on any type-os or misspellings. Thanks!
1. Reminder: VCDL membership meeting in Christiansburg tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17th
2. U.S. Supreme Court rules on a straw purchase case
3. ACTION ITEM: Sussex Country to consider noise ordinance again this Thursday, June 19th
4. Berryville meeting wrap-up
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1. Reminder: VCDL membership meeting in Christiansburg tomorrow, Tuesday, June 17th
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There is a VCDL Supper meeting at:
Amelia’s
1130 Cambrea St NE
Christiansburg VA 24073
The meeting is this Tuesday, June 17. Fellowship starts at 6:30 PM--food will be served at 7 PM. COST $12.00 per meal, including tax, tip and drinks.
Requesting a RSVP so proper wait staff and food may be prepared.
RSVP to al@vcdl.org.
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2. U.S. Supreme Court rules on a straw purchase case
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The Supreme Court has ruled on a case dealing with the straw purchase of a firearm. Bottom line: you can’t legally buy a gun for someone else with the INTENT to SELL OR GET REIMBURSED by that person, EVEN IF they could have legally bought that gun on their own. The Supreme Court said that by getting reimbursed you have lied on the Form 4473 when you said you were the actual buyer of the gun.
The case was about a police officer who purchased a gun for his uncle in another state. The gun was purchased in Virginia at a discount and then shipped to an FFL in the other state, where the uncle picked it up. The uncle reimbursed his nephew and therein lies the problem.
For example, if my nephew finds a handgun I’ve been looking for in Texas and can get it at a discount because he’s such a good customer of the gun store, I can’t legally reimburse him for buying that gun for me. He could give it to me as a gift and that would be fine. But the expense must be his and his alone. (And, in this case, he’d have to ship it to a Virginia FFL, where I’d have to go through a background check and pay a transfer fee to pick it up.)
Summarizing: it is legal to give a gun as a gift as long as you pay for the gift and don’t get reimbursed. If you purchase a gun for yourself, end up not liking it, and later sell it to someone else, that is legal. That’s because when you purchased the gun, your INTENT was to keep the gun and not to resell it.
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From foxnews.com: http://tinyurl.com/n5n7on9
Supreme Court affirms restrictions on buying guns for third party
Published June 16, 2014
The Supreme Court ruled Monday that federal law does not allow someone to buy a gun for someone else even if both are legally eligible to own firearms.
The 5-4 ruling on so-called straw purchasing came down in the case of Bruce James Abramski, Jr., who bought a Glock 19 handgun in Collinsville, Va., in 2009 and later transferred it to his uncle in Easton, Pa.
Federal officials brought charges against Abramski because he assured the Virginia dealer he was the actual buyer of the weapon, even though he had already agreed to buy the gun for his uncle.
The high court ruled that the federal background check law does apply to Abramski, rejecting Abramski's argument that since both he and his uncle were legally allowed to own guns, the law shouldn't have applied to him.
"We hold that such a misrepresentation is punishable under the statute, whether or not the true buyer could have purchased the gun without the straw," the court ruled.
Writing for the majority, Justice Elena Kagan said the federal government's elaborate system of background checks and record-keeping requirements help law enforcement investigate crimes by tracing guns to their buyers. Those provisions would mean little, she said, if a would-be gun buyer could evade them by simply getting another person to buy the gun and fill out the paperwork.
Kagan's opinion was joined by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is often considered the court's swing vote, as well as liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor.
In dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia said the language of the law does not support making it a crime for one lawful gun owner to buy a gun for another lawful gun owner. He was joined by the court's other conservatives -- Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
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3. ACTION ITEM: Sussex Country to consider noise ordinance again this Thursday, June 19th
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Under pressure from you, Sussex County had an emergency repeal of part of its noise ordinance at their last meeting that dealt with hunting and shooting. At this Thursday’s meeting they will consider making that change permanent. If you live in the area and can attend to show support for making the protections for hunting and shooting permanent, please do so, as this is going to be a public hearing.
The Board of Supervisors meeting will be in a courthouse, so you’ll have to leave any firearms or other prohibited items in your vehicle for the convenience of criminals.
The meeting starts at 7 PM and is located at:
15098 Courthouse Road
Sussex, VA 23884
Map is found here:
http://www.sussexcountyva.gov/events/index/view/id/111
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4. Berryville meeting wrap-up
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There was a nice turnout last week at the Clarke County Republican Committee meeting, where I was an invited speaker. Some of the attendees were VCDL members who were nice enough to come to the meeting to show support, and I thank all of them! Lots of gun owners in the crowd and, as usual, the room was full of the nicest people you could every hope to meet.
David Condon, whose local business sells antique arms and armor, handed me a generous $250 donation after the meeting. Check out his web site at: davidcondon.com
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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/]