VA-ALERT - Alexandria PD targeting gun owners - ACTION ITEM!

[allingeneral]

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The Alexandria police department has its officers going business to business, providing a flyer with **misinformation** on Virginia’s gun laws, targeting mostly open carry.

Unfortunately for the police, a VCDL member was present when they came into a restaurant this morning, handed a flyer to the owner, and chatted with the owner for a few minutes.

Afterward, the restaurant owner showed the VCDL member the flyer and said that the police told him that he didn’t have to allow open carry and if he saw somebody doing so, he could call the police!

While true - a business owner can call the police to enforce a trespass charge - it is certainly out of the ordinary for the police come into a business out of the blue and encourage a business owner to infringe on his customer's civil liberties.

The flyer particularly endangers 18 to 20 year olds as it incorrectly tells a store owner that if they see someone under 21-years-old with a handgun on their hip, that is illegal! That is NOT true and having the police show up on a bogus “man with a gun” call endangers everyone unnecessarily.

The flyer also makes these other FALSE claims about the law, which again could lead to unnecessary man-with-a-gun calls to the police:

* Open carry is not legal in churches

* Open carry is not legal in government buildings (we’ll show that’s not true when we flood their city hall on Saturday, December 13th - see below).

The flyer makes a point of saying that sometimes gun owners hold “demonstrations or events” to raise awareness of the constitutional right to keep and bear arms and those events “may cause alarm” and to call the police if the store owner sees “anything suspicious or of concern."

Aside from the blatant falsehoods, the flyer appears designed to demonize lawful open carry and to confuse and scare the business into calling the police to confront law-abiding gun owners. It does this by citing laws regarding reckless gun handling to paint a frightening image of gun owners brandishing and shooting up his establishment!

The police, of all people, should NOT mislead the public or actively seek to create a chilling effect on the exercise of civil liberties.

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You can see a copy of the offending flyer by clicking here:

https://vcdl.org/sites/default/files/Al ... _Flyer.jpg


ACTION ITEMS

1. So openly carried guns aren’t allowed in government buildings? Let’s flood City Hall with gun owners wearing “Guns Save Lives” stickers on Saturday, December 13th from 9:30 AM to 10 AM during the public comment period. I will certainly be open carrying to make the point that it is NOT illegal and hopefully educate the police at the same time. I will also address City Council about the egregiousness of the police targeting law-abiding gun owners exercising their right to openly carry handguns.

Address:

City Hall
Council Chamber
301 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

A big turnout would send a strong message that Virginia gun owners do not appreciate being discriminated against or having the police disseminating blatantly false, misleading, and inflammatory information to the public on gun laws.

2. Let’s also flood City Council with webmail. Click here:

http://request.alexandriava.gov/CCC/#ta ... =CNC_GROUP

or

http://tinyurl.com/lglaus8

Suggested comment:

The Alexandria police are providing false, misleading, and inflammatory flyers to businesses about gun owners openly carrying handguns. It is not the role of the police to foment public bias against gun owners. Direct the police department to stop handing out the offending flyers and spend their time looking for criminals instead of encouraging unnecessary confrontations with law-abiding citizens who are doing nothing more than exercising an important civil right.

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If you are planning on attending the City Council hearing, respond to this email and let me know. Thanks!


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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/]
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[allingeneral]

Thread title updated to correctly indicate - ALEXANDRIA PD (not Fairfax).

[allingeneral]

Here's the flyer that Alexandria PD is handing out.

[Viper21]

Glad I don't live in Alexandria, & rarely travel there.

I have a question concerning 18yr olds. While open carry is legal in VA for 18-20yr olds, I understand "unloaded" is a requirement. In a semi auto platform, is a full magazine considered loaded ? or must a round be chambered to be considered loaded ?

[Nevermore1]

I've always heard that loaded means any ammunition in the magazine whether the magazine is in the gun or not. Such as when transporting through MD one is required to not only remive the magazine but also remove all the ammo from the magazine and have it stored separate to be legal.

[MarcSpaz]

Actually, that law only applies to people under the age of 18. 18 and up you can legally open carry a loaded firearm for the purpose of self defense.

People between the ages of 12 and 17 cannot open carry a pistol or rifle without adult supervision unless they are home, on private property and have land owners permission or are engaged in or going to and from legal hunting providing its unloaded during transport. It also does not apply to any minors in the Armed Forces of the United States or the National Guard of VA or any other state, while on duty.

If they have adult supervision, a minor of any age can legally carry a loaded weapon.

Now... with that said... as said by many before me, just because you can (let your 12 year old son or daughter walk to hunting grounds unsupervised with a shotgun or pistol and ammunition to go hunting), doesn't mean you should. As a parent, I can tell you with certainty that it all depends on the individual and where you live. Out in farm country, I doubt anyone would say anything. Downtown Arlington or old town Fairfax... you may lose your child to an overzealous LEO due to 9,573 calls to 911 for a kid with a gun. And expect child endangerment and negligence charges during your unexpected visit from Child Protective Services and the local PD.

[0ne5hot]

Only one word comes to my mind when I hear cops promoting anti-open carry...



(I do not recommend punching armed people...unless you want a Mike Brown)

[allingeneral]

Looks like they actually updated their flyer after the glaring mistakes were pointed out to them.

[OakRidgeStars]

Why is it that cops are the worst when it comes to knowing what the laws are?

[kelu]

Why is it that cops are the worst when it comes to knowing what the laws are?

Because no one gets hired with an IQ > 80?
http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barr ... y?id=95836

[SHMIV]

I wonder if they brought the updated flyers to the places that received the inaccurate ones?

I suspect that the inaccuracies were intentional. The bureaucrats can't change the laws, but they can spread misinformation that reflects the laws that they want.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[MarcSpaz]

Misinformation is way more powerful than passing any laws. I have seen our schools and government agencies spend several decades repeating lies with such vigor, disdain, and consistency that the young and uninformed believe some falsehoods to be infallible veracity.