VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 11/17/14

[OakRidgeStars]

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not yet a VCDL member? Join VCDL at: http://www.vcdl.org/join
----------------------------------------------------------------------
VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------


1. VCDL member/Rutherford Institute sues Hopewell 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment rights violations
2. Reminder: VCDL meeting in Salem THIS Tuesday
3. Terrorist list in Virginia - are you on it?
4. You can lead a horse to water…
5. More on modern ammunition primers
6. California is now on the road to “Shall Issue”

******************************************************
1. VCDL member/Rutherford Institute sues Hopewell 1st, 2nd, and 4th Amendment rights violations
******************************************************

You might remember from August of last year that a VCDL member, Brandon Howard, was unlawfully detained and his guns damaged by the Hopewell police when Brandon was doing a political protest on a bridge. Brandon was lawfully carrying a pistol and an unloaded AR-15 slung over his shoulder.

The way the Hopewell police treated Brandon from beginning to end was unlawful and shameful. To show how bad it was, at one point once the badge-heavy arresting officer realized he had no legal reason for his actions against Brandon, the officer tried cover over the situation by having a Temporary Detention Order issued against Brandon. Luckily for Brandon the Commonwealth Attorney refused to go along.

Well, the chickens have just come home to roost. In addition to the City of Hopewell being sued, the now-retired arresting officer is bring sued as well.

From timesdispatch.com: http://tinyurl.com/lzbb3qx

Hopewell man files federal lawsuit against ex-Hopewell police sergeant in gun case
By MARK BOWES Richmond Times-Dispatch

A Hopewell man is arguing in federal court that his basic constitutional guarantees were violated when a Hopewell police sergeant had him arrested and detained last year as he peacefully carried an “Impeach Obama” sign on an Interstate 295 overpass while armed with a rifle and pistol.

Brandon Howard argues in a nine-page complaint filed Wednesday by a lawyer working with the Charlottesville-based Rutherford Institute that his “baseless incarceration” violated his rights to free speech, to due process, to freedom from illegal search and seizure, and to possess and openly carry a firearm.

Howard drew the attention of Hopewell police on Aug. 26, 2013, when he was seen displaying a 6-by-4-foot sign that read “Impeach Obama.” He had an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder on a strap and a .380-caliber Bersa pistol holstered on his waist.

The only defendant named in the complaint is former Hopewell Sgt. John Hunter. He has since retired from the police force, said Hopewell Deputy Police Chief Robert Skowron.

“The U.S. government has unfortunately adopted a ‘do what I say, not what I do’ mindset when it comes to Americans’ rights overall,” John W. Whitehead, president of the civil liberties group representing Howard, said in a statement. “Nowhere is this double standard more evident than in the government’s attempts to arm itself to the teeth, all the while viewing as suspect anyone who dares to legally own a gun, let alone use one.”

“As this case shows, while it still technically remains legal to own a firearm in America, possessing one can now get you pulled over, searched, arrested, subjected to all manner of surveillance, treated as a suspect without ever having committed a crime, shot at and killed,” Whitehead added.

According to the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond, Howard — who is chairman of the Hopewell Republican Committee and at the time was a member of a local tea party group — had been protesting lawfully for about 30 minutes when a police officer pulled up to the area on the overpass where Howard was standing and parked his vehicle. Three to five police cruisers arrived a short time later with their emergency lights flashing, the suit says.

Six to eight officers then got out of their cars with their guns drawn and commanded Howard to drop his sign and get on the ground with his hands spread above his head, the complaint says.

The suit says that after Howard immediately complied, Hunter, described as the scene commander, stated to Howard, “What do you think you are doing threatening people on my interstate?”Howard replied that he had not threatened anyone and was simply exercising his First Amendment and Second Amendment rights. To that, Hunter said, “Not on my overpass you’re not,” according to the suit.

The complaint says Hunter then handcuffed Howard, with Hunter advising Howard that he was being detained but not arrested when Howard asked if he was under arrest. Howard was placed in a police cruiser and taken to the Hopewell police station without anyone informing him of his legal rights or providing him “with any basis or authorization for his arrest and detention,” the suit says.

Howard was then placed in an interrogation room, with handcuffs still binding his hands behind his back, for more than 90 minutes but was never questioned during his detention, the suit says. He was then told he was free to go, his weapons were returned, and he was driven back to the interstate overpass.

“Both weapons were legally owned by Howard at that time, and at no point during his time on the overpass did Howard draw or brandish either weapon,” the complaint says.

After arriving back home, Howard says in the complaint, he noticed the muzzle of his AR-15 rifle had been damaged as a result of Hunter throwing it into the trunk of a police car. He filed a complaint with the department about his arrest and damage to his gun.

Howard says in his suit that upon completion of an internal police investigation, he received a letter from Deputy Chief Skowron dated Sept. 20, 2013, that Hunter was “in violation of department policy and would be disciplined.”

Contacted Thursday, Hopewell Police Chief John Keohane declined to comment on the lawsuit, aside from reiterating that an internal investigation was conducted and “we found there was a department policy violation and discipline did occur.”

The suit seeks “nominal compensatory and punitive damages in an amount to be determined at trial.”

—

Press release from the Rutherford Institute:

From rutherford.us4.list-manage1.com: http://tinyurl.com/otz77od


******************************************************
2. Reminder: VCDL meeting in Salem THIS Tuesday
******************************************************

SALEM: VCDL SUPPER MEETING, Tuesday, November 18.

Time: 6:30 PM

Location:

DYNASTY CHINESE RESTAURANT
1941 W. MAIN ST
SALEM, VA 24153

BUFFET $9.95 plus drink and tax. VCDL President to speak at this meeting on the 2015 legislative agenda, the election, and other active issues in Virginia.

PLEASE RSVP TO al@vcdl.org


******************************************************
3. Terrorist list in Virginia - are you on it?
******************************************************

A trusted source told me about a customer that was stopped by a local deputy sheriff recently for expired tags. In the course of the traffic stop, the deputy informed the customer that the customer is on the terrorist watch list.

The customer was surprised by this as he has a CHP and has purchased multiple firearms.

The deputy commented that the customer would likely be delayed when he goes through the NICS background check and, indeed, the customer is delayed every single time.

This is a major issue. Anyone can be put on this list for any reason. The trusted source tells me that the customer is about as far from a terrorist as you can get. The customer is active in his community and owns and runs a successful business, owns a home, has a wife and kids, and is basically a responsible citizen. The customer is not on Facebook nor does he use social media and he is not terribly politically active. He has no security clearances that my source is aware of. He doesn't travel a lot, is a natural US citizen.

So why is the customer on the terrorist watch list? Good luck getting an answer to that question from Big Brother.

The Patriot Act "watch lists" are not published and you have no way of knowing you are on it until you try to fly or purchase a firearm. How you get off such a list is also a mystery.


******************************************************
4. You can lead a horse to water…
******************************************************

It is totally predictable that with every election cycle I get angry emails from some of the more partisan gun owners who are passionate members of one political party or another.

Some of the Libertarians say that VCDL is tacitly supporting a two-party system because we don’t support every Libertarian candidate who answers the VCDL survey. They often feel that their candidate is not given the same level of coverage as the Republicans and Democrats.

The Republicans are angry because either VCDL isn’t blindly supporting their candidate who has not turned in a VCDL survey, or they are angry because VCDL includes information on Libertarian candidates, who they view as unelectable and will just draw votes away from the Republican candidate, handing the election to the Democrats.

For federal elections, VCDL cannot and does not make any endorsements. Since VCDL-PAC is a *state* Political Action Committee, it can *not* and does *not* participate in *federal* elections.

All that VCDL can do in *federal* elections" is to educate our members on public positions by the candidates, tell our members if the candidates have filled out the VCDL survey or not, and release candidates’ survey answers shortly before the election.

Yet, many of the angry emails accuse VCDL of endorsing either the Democrat, the Libertarian, or the Republican. Amazing.

For state and local elections, VCDL cannot and does not make any endorsements. The VCDL-PAC, however, can make endorsements and often does. For VCDL, it’s the same as for federal elections: all that we can do is to educate our members on public positions by the candidates, tell our members if the candidates have filled out the VCDL survey or not, and release candidates’ survey answers shortly before the election.

Also, VCDL sends a survey to ALL candidates on the ballot for races of interest to gun owners. Period.

Well, here is an LTE that is a case in point on the recent federal elections. A gun owner is angry that VCDL didn’t blindly push a Republican candidate, Ed Gillespie, who has NO voting record and ACTIVELY refused to fill out our survey. The only conclusion we could draw was that the candidate either didn’t want gun owners to know his exact positions on a host of important federal gun issues, or didn’t want to be pinned down to any pro-gun positions that might become unpopular. (Gillespie did answer the NRA survey, but that survey is always kept secret and is therefore useless to grassroots gun owners.) But, somehow, gun owners were supposed to be EXCITED about GIllespie's candidacy nonetheless.

Good luck with that.

Over and over again a variety of gun owners, including Republican chairpersons and volunteers from local Republican groups, asked Mr. Gillespie to turn in his VCDL survey so as to tout his pro-gun stance. The result was either dodging and weaving by talking mostly in vague generalities, saying he was better than Warner (wow), or simply pivoting on his heal and walking away (as he did to a VCDL member who was a Republican Party volunteer).

With 26,000+ gun owners on VA-ALERT waiting to see the candidate surveys, Gillespie, not VCDL, handed a tight election to Mark Warner by 17,000 votes. VCDL provided both Gillespie & Warner ample opportunities to answer the survey. However, the responsibility for refusing to answer the VCDL survey rests squarely on Gillespie's shoulders, and thus any consequences of his decision are his.

From the washingtontimes.com: http://tinyurl.com/ogy8g9g

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Using ‘suicide voting’ tactics in Va. election
By THE WASHINGTON TIMES - - Monday, November 10, 2014

On its website, the Virginia Citizens Defense League states that the “VCDL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, grass-roots organization dedicated to advancing the fundamental human right of all Virginians to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, Section 13 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia.” It seems the group abandoned this statement in the 2014 midterm elections.

In a postelection email to its members, VCDL President Philip Van Cleave wrote, “Ignore grass-roots gun owners at your own peril.” The email claimed that some VCDL members, in order to punish Ed Gillespie for not completing the VCDL election survey, voted for the Libertarian candidate Robert Sarvis or did not vote the Senate portion of the ballot at all. The VCDL claims to have influenced past elections in the same way.

It is doubtful the scheme worked, since historically the independent candidates pick up 2 percent of the vote in most elections anyway. Nonetheless, Mr. Van Cleave seems proud of the VCDL membership’s self-serving voting practice that in the group members’ minds sent a strong message to Mr. Gillespie (and future candidates). If the group really did have an impact, it was only to re-elect Sen. Mark R. Warner.

The fact that the VCDL is taking credit for defeating Mr. Gillespie should worry gun-loving Virginians. Clearly, the VCDL was concerned more about its own relevance and its survey than it was about electing a candidate who would actively defend the Second Amendment as a U.S. senator. By endorsing “suicide voting” tactics over a survey, the VCDL is content with re-electing Mr. Warner, who has wavered on gun-owner rights in the past.

So, here’s my message to the VCDL: You are endorsing voting practices that place gun owners’ rights in peril. Such tactics are not for me. I’m not wearing your orange stickers anymore or attending your events. I have unsubscribed from your email list, and I will not renew my membership.

BOB WATSON
Woodbridge, VA


******************************************************
5. More on modern ammunition primers
******************************************************

Referring to my mention of primers using fulminate of mercury in the previous Update ("22. [CA] Woman hurt in accidental shooting at shooting range”), EM Dave Knight sent me this:

Mercury fulminate has not been used in US ammunition primers since the 1960's, when it was generally replaced (in ammunition primers) by lead styphnate, which is superior in this application to mercury fulminate (longer shelf life, less reactive with metals, less sensitive to shock & friction)

Despite the infinitesimal amount of lead released by firing lead styphnate-primed ammo, some lead-free primers using DDNP (diazodinitrophenol) are being marketed. Testing by the U.S. Department of Defense suggests that ammo primed with these "heavy-metal free" primers are significantly inferior (reliability, accuracy) to ammo primed with lead styphnate primers.


******************************************************
6. California is now on the road to “Shall Issue”
******************************************************

The 9th Circuit Court has rejected an appeal to its previous ruling that California must go to a “shall issue” system for CHPs! First the Berlin Wall falls, then Illinois gets a “shall issue” CHP law, and now this.

Thanks to members Chris Sellers and Rick Evans for the links:

From foxnews.com: http://tinyurl.com/mkryk9n

From thetruthaboutguns.com: http://tinyurl.com/n7dv358




***************************************************************************
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/]

[ShotgunBlast]

Well I guess that explains why VCDL-PAC didn't do any endorsements this year. This is the first I've heard they couldn't participate in federal elections so I apologize for any heat I gave them this election cycle.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]