VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 11/9/09

[OakRidgeStars]

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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 11/9/09

1. Fort Hood: more needless deaths in a gun-free zone
2. But for heroes, bloodbath could have been worse
3. Army to review gun policies for all bases
4. VCDL President on Armed American Radio rescheduled for Nov 15
5. Who needs a gun at a Culpeper grocery store?
6. Lynchburg's gun surrender event yields no guns
7. Who needs a gun at a Halloween party?
8. Anti-gun Brady Campaign wants 100 cosponsors by January
9. Time will only prove folly of new gun law for U.S. National Parks
10. A visit to the AAF Tank Museum
11. No charges in accidental death at Rampart Range firing range
12. VA-ALERT reader responds to safety of .357 Sig ammunition
13. Reminder: VCDL to address Portsmouth Mayor on Tuesday, November 10 at 7 PM
14. Richmond meeting - full house!


**************************************************
1. Fort Hood: more needless deaths in a gun-free zone
**************************************************

Dennis O'Connor wrote this about the massacre at Fort Hood. If you
have not served in the military, this will come as a real shock:

--

When many people think of an army fort, it conjures up images of a
tightly defended military base secure from outside threats, maybe with
platoons of stern-faced, disciplined, and experienced troopers on the
parapets or at the gates with rifles at the ready.

Last week a lone terrorist with two handguns moved too easily among
the soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood, Texas, wreaking death and
destruction. By the time he was done, thirteen were dead and forty-two
injured. How could that happen on an army post full of trained combat
veterans and marksmen?

The sad fact is that most military installations are soft targets,
much as we think of nursing homes, hospitals, and schools. As a
federal installation, most military forts generally prohibit guns to
be carried around the post. Sure there are lots of military weapons,
but they are all locked up tightly in company arms rooms. And while
rifles and pistols are routinely issued and carried by soldiers during
all sorts of training exercises and events, they are unloaded. The
only time ammunition is usually issued is during scheduled firing
range qualification, which for most soldiers in non-combat jobs or
units has historically been one or two days a year.

Soldiers who want to purchase their own firearms with which to train
or carry for self-defense are severely restricted. Those who live on
post must register their firearms, and those who live in barracks must
turn their guns over to be locked up in the unit arms room with the
military arms.

What about drawing the firearm to take target shooting or go hunting?
Fine, except it cannot be carried loaded or conveniently across the
installation. Here is an excerpt from Fort Hood's policy, which is
generally reflective of the policies of most military installations:

Transport of Weapons

a. Individuals must transport firearms unloaded and in a compartment
separate from the ammunition. Only privately owned vehicles are
authorized for the transport of privately owned weapons and ammunition.

b. Weapons in automobiles must be transported in the trunk or other
area, such as the bed of a pickup truck covered by a cap, inaccessible
to persons in the passenger compartment. Weapons and ammmunition will
be transported separately.

So you can't use a taxi to buy ammo? Guess if you own a gun, you'd
better own a car too! And forget about carrying for self-defense.
Seems the army either isn't confident of the training it provides, or
just doesn't trust the soldiers.

These restrictions are of the sort you routinely see in the most anti-
gun cities.

Army forts are unarmed victim zones, just like schools and other
venues where disarmed people have been made easy prey. As an army
retiree, I think of this every time I have to disarm myself to use the
facilities at nearby Fort Lee.

So it was sadly predictable and inevitable that our "armed" forces,
their families and the people that support them would become mass
murder victims, just like those at Columbine or Virginia Tech, where
perfect models of gun control also failed.

[PVC: I also note that on a military base with tons of rifles (all
locked up), this battle was fought and settled using only handguns.
None of the good guys had a rifle handy.]

---

Stephen P Wenger emailed me article:

--

The top commander at Fort Hood is crediting a civilian police officer
for stopping the shooting rampage that killed 13 people at the Texas
post. Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said Friday that Fort Hood police Sgt.
Kimberly Munley and her partner responded within three minutes of
reported gunfire Thursday afternoon. Cone said Munley shot the gunman
four times despite being shot herself. Officials said Munley was in
stable condition. Cone said, "It was an amazing and an aggressive
performance by this police officer." Cone also said he was inspired by
a woman who helped carry a wounded victim and used her blouse as a
tourniquet, then later realized she'd been shot in the hip. The
suspected gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is hospitalized on a
ventilator. (Military personnel are generally disarmed on their own
bases unless they are participating in live-fire training. As in
civilian life, such prohibitions do not affect committed criminals).

http://tinyurl.com/yco3gyr

http://www.washingtonpost.com
By JEFF CARLTON
The Associated Press
Friday, November 6, 2009 6:13 PM

Officer praised for taking down suspected gunman

KILLEEN, Texas -- A civilian police officer is being praised for
taking down a man suspected of opening fire on fellow soldiers at Fort
Hood when she shot him in the torso.

Police officials say after arriving at the scene of Thursday's
gunfire, Sgt. Kimberly Munley saw the suspect and started firing at him.

Munley's boss, Chuck Medley, told The Associated Press on Friday that
Hasan then spun around and charged at her with a gun in each hand.

Medley says Munley shot the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, in
the upper torso, allowing officers to take him into custody. Medley
says in the exchange of gunfire, Munley was shot in the thighs and
wrist.

The 34-year-old Munley is from Pennsylvania, used to be in the Army
and is married to a Fort Bragg, N.C. soldier.


**************************************************
2. But for heroes, bloodbath could have been worse
**************************************************

Many brave soldiers and civilians at Fort Hood risked their lives to
save others from the cowardly acts of a deranged madman.

http://tinyurl.com/ydqeamu

http://www.google.com
Allen G Breed and Jeff Carlton
November 6, 2009

(SNIP)

FORT HOOD, Texas Pfc. Marquest Smith, on his way to Afghanistan in
January, was completing routine paperwork about a bee-sting allergy
when the sounds erupted.

A loud, popping noise. Moans. The sudden, urgent shout of "Gun!"

Smith poked his head over the cubicle's partition and saw an
extraordinary sight: An Army officer with two guns, firing into the
crowded room.

The 21-year-old Fort Worth native quickly grabbed the civilian worker
who'd been helping with his paperwork and forced her under the desk.
He lay low for several minutes, waiting for the shooter to run out of
ammunition and wishing he, too, had a gun.

After the shooter stopped to reload, Smith made a run for it. Pushing
two other soldiers in front of him, he made it out of the Soldier
Readiness Processing center only to plunge into the building twice
more to help the wounded.

Smith had survived the worst mass shooting on an American military
base, a rampage that left 13 dead and 30 wounded, including the
alleged shooter, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.

It could have been much worse, but for the heroics of Smith and
others like the 19-year-old private who ignored her own wounds, and
the diminutive civilian police officer who single-handedly took down
Hasan.

"Unfortunately over the past eight years, our Army has been no
stranger to tragedy," said a somber Gen. George Casey, Army chief of
staff. "But we are an Army that draws strength from adversity. And
hearing the stories of courage and heroism that I heard today makes me
proud to be the leader of this great Army."


**************************************************
3. Army to review gun policies for all bases
**************************************************

The tragic events at Fort Hood have forced the Army to examine their
"Gun Free" policies at all bases worldwide.

http://tinyurl.com/yadnhrp

http://www.bnd.com
Anna M. Tinsley and Aman Batheja
November 7, 2009

One day after a shooter opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, Army Chief of
Staff George W. Casey Jr. ordered a review of all force protection
policies at Army bases worldwide.

Thursday's shooting, he said during a briefing at Fort Hood, was a
"kick in the gut."

Casey's announcement comes after questions were raised about base
security and why soldiers couldn't protect themselves where they live
and work.

"There will be an investigation, a look at the whole policy, but
Congress should not step in and try to change the policy," said U.S.
Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas.

Each branch of the military sets a policy on whether guns may be
carried on bases. Private guns are not allowed on Army bases or at
facilities such as the Naval Air Station Fort Worth.

Soldiers generally carry weapons on base only when there is a reason,
such as a training exercise or a trip to the firing range. Personal
weapons are registered with authorities on the base and stored until
they are signed out.

"This base, and other bases, these are people's homes," Granger said.
"So there are people who are armed on base - military police, security
guards - but not in their homes, their schools or, in this case, the
deployment area."

U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, is among those wondering whether
that is the right policy. "The investigation at Fort Hood is still
ongoing, and Congressman Burgess believes that answers are needed
before conclusions can be drawn and action can be taken on related
issues," said Lauren Bean, a Burgess spokeswoman.

Thursday's shooting revived the debate about gun rules for military
bases. Currently, concealed-handgun laws such as the one in Texas do
not apply on military bases.

Suzanna Hupp, a former state representative whose parents were among
the Killeen, Texas, Luby's massacre victims in 1991, said allowing
soldiers on base to carry arms would not prevent attacks like
Thursday's but would likely reduce the damage.

"Of course the element of surprise was a probably valuable tool for a
creep like this," Hupp said. "You're not going to prevent somebody
from killing those first couple of people ... but after that ... it
could have ended much, much, much sooner."

Hupp said the issue wouldn't be addressed while the Obama
administration is in power.

Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a gun rights advocate, said
that the policies at military bases should be up to military officials
but that a review makes sense.

"I'm not saying the policy should change ... but again we have an
example of a shooter going to a target-rich environment where he knew
that no one was there who could resist," he said.

Gun control groups quickly pointed to the Fort Hood shooting as a
reason to stiffen gun control laws.

"This latest tragedy, at a heavily fortified Army base, ought to
convince more Americans to reject the argument that the solution to
gun violence is to arm more people with more guns in more places,"
said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence.


**************************************************
4. VCDL President on Armed American Radio rescheduled for Nov 15
**************************************************

Due to illness, the show scheduled for November 2 will now be aired on
November 15 from 8 PM to 9 PM.

http://tinyurl.com/yzq6hjt

armedamericanradio.com
Wednesday, November 4, 2009

(SNIP)

Phil Van Cleave of the Virgina Citizens Defense League (VCDL) will be
back on Armed American Radio with me since not being able to join me
on the 11-01-2009 broadcast. Phil will have a lot to discuss,
especially on the heels of the Republican victories of Tuesday
11-3-2009.


**************************************************
5. Who needs a gun at a Culpeper grocery store?
**************************************************

Just give the bad guys what they want and you will be OK? That advice
certainly didn't work in this case.

Carla and Dave Hicks emailed me this:

--

So much for "Comply and be safe."

http://tinyurl.com/yk64x5g

http://www.wusa9.com
Peggy Fox and Bill Starks
November 4, 2009

A clerk was robbed and shot, some quick thinking by others on the
scene may have saved his life, and the suspect was later apprehended.

CULPEPER, Va. (WUSA) - A suspect is in custody after a robbery and
shooting at a Culpeper grocery store at 10:30 am on Wednesday. A
witness who was buying a newspaper at the West Side Store says he
heard, "This is a f___ hold up. I'm not joking. Give me you f_____
money!" Ricky Mullins told the clerk to just give him the money!"
Police say the clerk did as he was told, but was shot anyway.

Wally Bunker, spokesman for the town of Culpeper tells 9NEWS NOW that
the gunman used a sawed-off shot gun and severely wounded the clerk, a
49-year-old father of three. Mullins, trained in first aid, helped
save the man by stopping the bleeding.

Bunker says the shooting victim was airlifted to the University of
Virginia medical center in Charlottesville.

The suspect fled the store, a neighbor chased him but lost him. Police
from the town of Culpeper, Culpeper county Sheriffs Department and
Virginia State police tracked down the suspect a few blocks away.

The West Side Grocery is a "mom & pop" type store on Route 522 in the
town of Culpeper located close to the main downtown area.

The clerk is expected to survive.


**************************************************
6. Lynchburg's gun surrender event yields no guns
**************************************************

Barney Laverty emailed me about Lynchburg's gun surrender event (Video).

How may guns got taken "off the street?" ZERO, nothing, goose eggs,
nada, rien.

Yet, hold on to your hats:

"Even though they didn't get any guns Thursday night, police say this
was great for strengthening the neighborhood."

Huh?

I think that is anti-gunner double-speak for "this was a really dumb
idea that we are stuck having to repeat over and over again to try and
save face."

http://tinyurl.com/ycwak45

cfc.wset.com
ABC 13
November 6, 2009

Gun Surrender Event Yields No Guns

Lynchburg, VA - A gun surrender event didn't pull any weapons off the
street, but police say it brought the community together.

Dozens of young people gathered at the Diamond Hill Center for the
event sponsored by Churches United For Service, the Lynchburg Police
(web) Foundation, and the LPD.

It's the sixth gun surrender event the groups have held. So far,
they've collected 11 guns.

Each person who has turned one in has been entered for a chance to win
this Chevy Impala, an old police vehicle.

Even though they didn't get any guns Thursday night, police say this
was great for strengthening the neighborhood.

Maj. Wayne Duff with the Lynchburg Police Department said, "By working
with our community, our faith based community, our business community,
all of us are the reasons I think that we're experiencing low crime
right now. And that's good for us."

Major Duff says they plan to hold a couple more surrender events
before drawing for the car on December 19th.

**************************************************
7. Who needs a gun at a Halloween party?
**************************************************

A concealed handgun permit holder in Virginia Beach apprehends an
armed robber and holds him at gun point.

Ken Richards and Omar Elhoss emailed me this:

http://tinyurl.com/ya3dd66

http://www.wavy.com
Jason Marks
Wednesday, November 4 2009

Scarecrow with a heart saves the day

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - They were having a Halloween party in the right
place at the right time. Virginia Beach police told WAVY.com several
costumed revelers saved a robbery victim.

A stuffed scarecrow leans against a wall at the Willow Lake apartment
complex in Virginia Beach, with a smirk stretched across its face. The
smile could be joy for a fellow scarecrow; one people are calling a
hero.

"I think I was doing the right thing," Samuel Ramos said.

The scarecrow costume Ramos was wearing Saturday night has long been
removed, but the lasting memory from the holiday has not.

"We were doing a barbeque," Ramos added. "Me and my friends saw this
guy running."

Ramos was standing outside on the porch. As the man darted by, a woman
ran behind him.

"He just robbed this lady at gunpoint," Ramos said. "So right there I
started running too."

Ramos' sprint took him past a giant lake and unsuspecting ducks. He
was chasing the suspect and gaining ground.

"I kept chasing him and so he jumped the fence," Ramos added. "I
didn't jump the fence because of my Halloween costume."

Police say the scarecrow soon cornered the suspect on the next block.
What the suspect didn't know was this scarecrow was also carrying a
gun. Ramos, a sailor stationed on the USS Kearsarge, has a concealed
weapons permit.

"I went with my gun and I said 'hey man drop it,'" Ramos yelled at the
suspect. "I told him give me your gun and I'll let you go."

Police say Edward Morris handed over his gun to Ramos. The trick was a
treat for police. Ramos held Morris until police arrived.

"I was thinking if I let him go right now maybe he can do the same
thing later to somebody else," Ramos added.

Police recovered the victim's purse and returned it to her.

22-year-old Edward Morris of Chesapeake is charged with Robbery and
Use of a Firearm in the Commission of a Felony. He is being held in
the Virginia Beach Correctional Facility without bond.


**************************************************
8. Anti-gun Brady Campaign wants 100 cosponsors by January
**************************************************

The Brady's want to register the private sales of guns and desperately
need some kind of victory to show they have any clout at all.

It's our job to make sure they don't get one.

Sonny Sundaramurthy emailed me this:

--

Philip,

There are already two congressmen from Virginia that have cosponsored
the federal gun-show "loophole" bill.

Rep Connolly, Gerald E. "Gerry" [VA-11] - 5/7/2009
Rep Moran, James P. [VA-8] - 6/19/2009

The Brady bunch is pushing for 100 cosponsors by January 18th (see
attached e-mail). The number currently stands at 43.

I am going to use this opportunity to remind my congressman NOT to
cosponsor HR 2324. We should all probably do the same.

- Sonny

http://tinyurl.com/ycxw26v

http://www.bradynetwork.org

(SNIP)

Good news! Just in the past few days - since Brian Malte's email to
you last week - you've added eight new cosponsors to H.R 2324, Rep.
Mike Castle and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy's bill to close the gun show
loophole.

Thanks to you and others, we are getting closer to our ambitious goal
of 100 cosponsors by Martin Luther King Day, January 18.

We can do this. When we keep the pressure on, we will close the gun
show loophole.

But it will take every voice ... and every dollar ... to help pass
this common sense bill to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of
dangerous people.

Please make a contribution to the Brady Campaign now to help save lives.

The gun lobby will fight us every step of the way with its ridiculous
mantra of "any gun, anywhere, for anybody." But you and I have been in
this fight for a long time. And common sense is on our side.

We want 100 cosponsors by January 18, but we are also pressing for a
congressional hearing on the issue, and we are working with our media
contacts to get editorials and interviews on all major news programs.

Brady and Million Mom March Chapters - we have more than 70 - are also
organizing in key districts to help get more cosponsors.

This kind of all-out effort is how we passed the Brady Law.

But our victories do not come cheap - especially against the mammoth
gun lobby machine.


**************************************************
9. Time will only prove folly of new gun law for U.S. National Parks
**************************************************

The anti-gunners, when they are losing, can really get nutty and bring
paranoia and bedwetting to new heights. I truly think that most of
the antis have some form of a mental disease and the article below
confirms that in spades.

EM Dale Welch emailed me this:

--

Circle the wagons, the responsible citizens are coming.

I imagine that "viewing" wild animals through a rifle mounted scope
will be responded to much like someone playing with a lazer sight
across someone else's chest. At the very least brandishing.

This should have had a duct tape warning!
----Dale

http://tinyurl.com/ya5one7

http://www.huffingtonpost.com
Todd Wilkinson
November 5, 2009

Always, the first question responsible legislators should ask when
writing a law is this: What significant problem is being solved by
putting another code on the books?

This is the nut of a conundrum now before the U.S. National Park
Service as it prepares to deal with a new gun law buried as a rider
(amendment) in a hastily-passed credit card reform bill on Capitol Hill.

It caught many by surprise. Public Law 111-24 will allow tourists,
beginning in 2010 if not sooner, to openly tote the legal gun of their
choice through national parks such as Yellowstone, Grand Teton and
other bustling crown jewel preserves.

In contrast to how the legislation was originally proposed,it is not a
provision that only empowers licensed individuals with concealed
weapons permits.

In some states, it allows any citizen, of legal age, to holster a
loaded sidearm or walk with a rifle or shotgun slung over their backs
through campgrounds, along hiking trails and while standing off
roadways at popular scenic overlooks.

Tourists will even be able to use their riflescopes, while still on
the barrel, as optical devices for viewing wildlife. As one seasoned
professional with a state game agency told me: "It really opens up
some mind-bending dilemmas, doesn't it?"

Park officials nationwide say they are committed to enforcing all laws
handed down by Congress and the president.

But privately, rangers are deeply concerned about how the potential,
expanded presence of firearms in crowded parks will affect human
behavior in places where guns, for the most part, have not existed
before, and where public and wildlife safety have not heretofore been
problems in need of fixing.

Environmental groups such as the National Parks Conservation
Association, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Greater
Yellowstone Coalition have all warned of dire consequences. They are
not anti-gun; they just believe the tradition of not having armed
national park tourists, which has worked well for nearly a century,
should be upheld.

Although the law was packaged in the flowery rhetoric of "expanding
liberty" and protecting Second Amendment rights when first drafted
during the Bush Administration, it is, when one looks deeper, little
more than a calculated wedge issue that only inflames our fear of each
other.

Authored by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) and endorsed by the
National Rifle Association,it is a thinly veiled attempt to create a
false "pro-gun versus anti-gun"litmus test aimed at further polarizing
the country.

I too own guns, and support and defend the right to bear arms that is
a boilerplate component of the U.S. Constitution. I even firmly agree
with the NRA on certain issues. But I have never, after hiking
thousands of miles and visiting dozens of national parks, ever felt
the need to carry a loaded firearm inside one.

Proponents say it will "protect Americans against violent crime", the
kind that exists in urban parks and remote preserves along the
U.S.border with Mexico. That may be.

But tell us, Senator Coburn, how many homicides, drug killings, and
acts of gang violence have occurred in Yellowstone and Grand Teton in
the last decade?

Name one.

Fact: Nearly all of the violent offenses ever involving people and
guns in these parks were carried out by poachers killing animals and
not as acts of self-defense. One wonders: Has Coburn not been to
Yellowstone?

Another thing he won't find in the Yellowstone and Grand Teton
statistics are deaths or serious injuries caused by accidental gun
discharges during the busy summer months. This law will actually
increase the likelihood of that happening.

One can also imagine these scenarios: A family approaches a bison. A
lone bull, say 40 yards away, raises his head and apart from roiling
of tail, shows no indication of an imminent charge.

Is papa with a gun cleared of wrongdoing when he tells investigating
rangers he shot and killed the bison because he was afraid the animal
was about to trample a family member?

Or what about the autumn chaos that ensues when tourists and
photographers swarm around bugling elk? In recent years, a few bulls
have charged people who got too close. Will it now be acceptable to
provoke an animal and then gun it down?

Or picture rangers pulling up alongside suspicious looking individuals
standing near a steamy elk or bison or wolf carcass, fitting the
profile of poachers, only to claim their lives were endangered?

Even more importantly, how will the presence of guns compromise the
welcoming ambiance that three million visitors seek during their
visits to Yellowstone and Grand Teton?

How will parents feel about paranoid individuals sitting around
adjacent campfires with guns, leaning them up against their RVs or
bringing weapons with them to outdoor ranger interpretive programs?

Apparently, handguns, rifles and shotguns will not be allowed in
visitor centers, but there is a question about whether the prohibition
applies to park hotels and restaurants where alcohol is served.

Public Law 111-24 does not enhance public appreciation for the Second
Amendment; it is a liability to it.

If, and when it results in just one headline grabbing human tragedy or
leads to an increase in wildlife poaching, will politicians who voted
for it hold themselves accountable?


**************************************************
10. A visit to the AAF Tank Museum
**************************************************

John Wilburn emailed me this story about his experience at the anti-
gun AAF Tank Museum in Danville. VCDL members have already contacted
the museum owner in large numbers asking the museum to change its anti-
gun policies, but to no avail. That museum is a disgrace to the
memory of the soldiers who fought to protect the Constitution and the
Bill of Rights.

--

Hello Mr. Van Cleave,

I just thought I would share my experience of going to the AAF Tank
Museum in Danville, VA. I did not even think to check the Gun Owner-
Unfriendly list as this is a memorial to those who fought FOR our
second amendment rights. If he is paying tribute to that.... Anyway,
I got there and saw a sea of signs posted, no firearms among them.
Upon entering the building I saw a bag-check table to the right, but
that was not being used. I entered the lobby to the left and was
greeted with "how many (in your party)" and then asked immediately if
I was carrying a firearm!. I defaulted to the truth and said "Yes, I
am legally carrying." The Employee asked me to disarm before entering
and I did so, leaving my piece in my truck.

I did ask the employee for the owners name, William Gasser, and I then
firmly but politely expressed my displeasure with the policy both to
her and in the guest registry comments. She voluntarily offered that
he is from New York (what a shocker). Upon browsing the museum, there
were more signs, directions, and prohibitions than anywhere I have
ever been, government buildings included. Also, prior to closing time,
the owner shut out the lights early before we had even left the
exhibit hall. The mild-mannered, polite, 16 year old boy accompanying
me (whom I mentor) said, "This guy must be really insecure."

That museum is a treasure chest of military history, a SUPER gun
collection, and a great place to learn, but his freedom-hating policy
is quite troubling. I don't write to you in hopes that you can change
Mr. Gasser's attitude of distrust for gun owners other than himself
(who apparently owns more guns than anyone I know), but rather to
share my experience with this Gun-Owner Unfriendly establishment for
anyone who may be thinking of going.

Kind regards,
John


**************************************************
11. No charges in accidental death at Rampart Range firing range
**************************************************

Ben Piper emailed me this story. Anything mechanical can fail. Bottom
line: never point a gun at anything you are not willing to destroy .

--

http://tinyurl.com/ylgle29

http://www.gazette.com
Maria St.Louis-Sanchez
November 2, 2009

Investigators have decided not to file charges in the shooting death
of an Aurora man last summer at the South Rampart Range Shooting Range
in Pikes Peak National Forest west of Colorado Springs, saying it was
an accident caused by a defective gun.
Prosecutors for the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office said the
evidence was insufficient to file criminal charges against Timothy
Curtis for shooting Otis Freison Jr. on July 18. The shooting prompted
the U.S. Forest Service to shut down the unsupervised shooting range.

Curtis told investigators he had finished shooting his Smith & Wesson
SW9VE semiautomatic pistol that day and was walking toward Freison
when he dropped the slide on the pistol and it discharged without him
pulling the trigger. The bullet hit Freison in the chest and Curtis
and other friends immediately called 911 and tried to save Freison's
life. He was pronounced dead by paramedics when they arrived.

Investigators said Curtis and Freison were close friends who were not
fighting that day and Curtis was very distraught.
A forensic firearms examiner investigated Curtis' pistol and
discovered there was a defect which could cause it to discharge when
the slide was dropped even if the trigger wasn't pulled. Because of
the gun examination, the El Paso County Coroner had left the cause of
Freison's death to be undetermined.


**************************************************
12. VA-ALERT reader responds to safety of .357 Sig ammunition
**************************************************

VA-ALERT reader Bob Bray emailed me this response to item #14 "Is .357
Sig ammunition safe?" in VCDL Update 11/6/09.

--

Philip

I've been concerned about bullet setback in the 357 Sig conversion
barrel in my Keltec P11. This pistol has a steep ramp angle when the
short barrel tilts down during loading and unloading. A consequence of
this is greater rearward force on bullets being pushed against the
ramp while the magazine
feed lips are holding the cartridge a few degrees above horizontal.

I've had a mind to complain to the ammomakers about the need for a
canelure to resist bullet setback.
Iron curtain countries long ago unanimously indented the 7.62x25
Tokarev's short neck with pointed punch marks to resist bullet setback.

I would suggest an angled canelure, providing a wall for the case
mouth to be rolled into and not the standard coined style which
doesn't have the wall.

Bob Bray

**************************************************
13. Reminder: VCDL to address Portsmouth Mayor on Tuesday, November
10 at 7 PM
**************************************************

I will be asking Mayor Holley to drop out of Bloomberg's disgraceful
Mayors Against Illegal Guns (real name: Mayors Against Guns, Period).

If you are in the area, come to show support!

Portsmouth
Mayor James Holley
801 Crawford St.
November 10, 7 PM

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14. Richmond meeting - full house!
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We now have 70 people RSVPd for the VCDL membership meeting at Unos in
Midlothian this Thursday, November 12th!

We have blown past this size of the private room we were going to use
and the manager is working on having us in the main dining area to
accommodate the crowd.

Uno Chicago Grill
13933 Hull Street Road
Midlothian, VA 23112

The restaurant is about 2.5 west of 288 on Hull Street Road (360).

The meeting will start at 7:30 PM and will end at 9 PM. Fellowship
begins at 7:00 PM. People can order appetizers during the meeting if
they wish.

Following the meeting, those who wish to have dinner and continue
their fellowship will simply stay at the restaurant.

NOTE: This is a very gun-owner friendly restaurant, which has
specifically welcomed us to have our meeting there - so let's have a
good turnout to thank them for their hospitality. They have excellent
food, too.

Those who wish to carry will have to do so openly as they do serve
alcohol on premise.

As with all of our membership meetings, it is open to the public, so
bring family, friends, and coworkers.


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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/]