VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 04/14/10

[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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1. Reminder: VCDL meeting in Fairfax on April 21
2. Editorial: Not-so-instant background checks
3. Tamara Dietrich: Gun rights versus fear mongering
4. LTE: Gun rights
5. Who needs a gun on the Blue Ridge Parkway?
6. Another VCDL member responds to article in Martinsville Bulletin
7. Newport News: 12 guns = red flag
8. Who needs a gun while driving in Fairfax County?
9. VA-ALERT reader expands on the role of a militia
10. Students protest with empty holsters
11. Federal courts strike again on concealed carry
12. Updated: Effort In Maine to restrict guns from National Park units falls short of goal
13. Students in custody after weapon found on campus
14. 911 law: Dan Sayers open carry arrest video
15. Engaged couple killed in NJ carjacking
16. Nevadans are free to don their arms in the open
17. R.I.P. Danny Lee Holmes
18. Gun quote


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1. Reminder: VCDL meeting in Fairfax on April 21
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Bruce LaPorte, candidate for Fairfax County Supervisor, emailed me about speaking at the next VCDL meeting at the Mason District Government Center.

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Mr Van Cleave,

I am planning upon running for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2011 and would like to attend and address your members at this month's event.

I will be running from the Hunter Mill District, Reston/Vienna.

My resume includes being an Honorably Discharged Veteran US Navy, owner of a .45 Mauser (Sig Made) M3, former owner of a Llama .45 and a Ruger .357. Also, I shoot a M1 Girand when I visit Virginia Beach.

Would like to discuss protecting our rights even in the liberal areas like Fairfax County and my candidacy.

Thank you.

Bruce A LaPorte
Candidate Fairfax County Supervisor


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2. Editorial: Not-so-instant background checks
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Shannon Honaker emailed me this:

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BTW, the RTEB is taking cheap shots at you:

I found it funny that they have almost a direct quote from the Richmond Times-Dispatch article, but instead of attributing the quote to you they refer to you as "one gun advocate". I guess it wouldn't have flowed well with slamming you in the next paragraph, as the editorial sort of implies you must be at odds with this "one gun advocate".

"Long waits have caused dealers lost sales, one gun advocate complains -- as much as half of their business at gun shows, which can close down before the process is complete."


http://tinyurl.com/ybyd7vn

http://www.roanoke.com
April 7, 2010

Less government means longer waits, but a solution is in easy reach of gun buyers.

Attention, prospective gun buyers: One thing smaller government looks like is a longer wait for background checks.

Even before this year, when lawmakers passed an ultra-austere state budget for the next biennium, state and federal cuts pared 11 of 28 workers at the state police Virginia Firearms Transaction Center. Two were paid by the federal government to go to gun shows to do on-site computerized checks.

The staff cuts can mean delays measured in hours or even days, rather than minutes, for people seeking to buy firearms from licensed dealers. Long waits have caused dealers lost sales, one gun advocate complains -- as much as half of their business at gun shows, which can close down before the process is complete.

We think that qualifies as an onerous burden on dealers and customers alike -- one that should change.

Luckily, relief can be as easy for buyers as reaching for their checkbooks and adding $3 to the $2 fee they already fork over to help pay for the process. In 2009, the Virginia Senate passed a bill to increase the fee.

Unfortunately, the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Philip Van Cleave, and other pro-gun lobbyists helped kill it in the House of Delegates. Van Cleave still thinks a higher fee is unnecessary, despite the Firearms Transaction Center's thinned-out staff.

State police say the added charge would cut wait times and allow them to do more background checks, perhaps even staff gun shows again.
The center is handling more requests than ever -- a record 287,462 in 2009 -- and each one takes longer because the number of databases to check has increased. Which is a good thing.

The better to keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them: the mentally ill, felons, domestic abusers -- some of the same people many gun buyers seek to protect themselves from. The very gun buyers Van Cleave worries are made helpless by overnight record-check delays.

In those cases, a $5 fee seems a small price for quick transactions.


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3. Tamara Dietrich: Gun rights versus fear mongering
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William Goodman emailed me this:

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Philip: The daily Press is again beating the anti-gun drum. Bill

http://tinyurl.com/yfwq5go

http://www.dailypress.com
By Tamara Dietrich
April 5, 2010

What? You can't wait a day to buy a handgun?

A few hours?

Can't give understaffed, overworked state workers a chance to find out if the guy trying to purchase a firearm and ammo is a felon, a fugitive or mentally unbalanced?

Apparently not.

"It is a safety issue," pouts Philip Van Cleave, president of the gun group Virginia Citizens Defense League, in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

"A person experiencing a death threat and who is denied a lawful gun purchase overnight would be left helpless at the hands of an assailant."

Riiight. Hear that noise? That's the one note gun activists sound on any gun issue whatsoever.

It always, always means this: AGH! YOU'RE GONNA DIE!

And it's usually followed by a desperate appeal for your money so they can fight the Big Bad Thing that's about to break down your front door, burn your flag and carry off your gun cabinet.

The newest AGH! that Van Cleave and his ilk find "unacceptable" are budget cuts that slashed 11 people from the 28-person staff at the Virginia Firearms Transaction Center. So now background checks on gun buyers during peak hours could sometimes take anywhere from four hours to if they require checking records out of state overnight.

(Of course, if delays are bad now, imagine how bad they'd be if activists had won a repeal of the one-a-month handgun purchase law last month.)

To gun activists, anything short of drive-thru handgun purchases violates the Second Amendment. If they were merely ideologues, that's one thing. But they bypassed ideology long ago in favor of something far more meaningful: Profit.

And they can monger fear with the best of them, knowing that keeping you scared keeps you writing checks.

Or, as gun advocate and former NRA official Richard Feldman put it in The Washington Post a couple years ago, "Nothing keeps the fund-raising machine whirring more effectively than convincing the faithful that they're a pro-gun David facing down an invincible anti-gun Goliath."

In fact, it's in their interest to engineer threat-downs.

Last year, state lawmakers tried to raise the background check fee from $2 to $5 the first increase in 20 years. That money could have gone a long way to keep background checkers employed.

Instead, gun groups helped kill it.

And so they came off looking like heroes for saving gun buyers $3 but cleverly helped ensure that backgrounders lost their jobs, delays would increase and they'd have yet another reason to rifle through their donors pockets.

Besides, a "safety issue"? Listen, if you're "experiencing a death threat," call the cops. And if a background check will take overnight, well, if you can afford a handgun, you can afford to stay overnight at a Super 8 till it clears.

Finally, want a faster turnaround? Try this: Take some of that cash mountain you raise by stoking fear in gullible hearts and use it to hire more backgrounders


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4. LTE: Gun rights
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http://tinyurl.com/ydcu7db

http://www.dailypress.com
April 8, 2010

I attempted to purchase a gun at a recent gun show in Hampton. The background check was still pending after several hours, and it came back denied the next day. When I called the State Police to see why it was denied, I was told it was because they did not have my concealed license permit on file. (This allows me to purchase multiple guns without waiting 30 days between purchases.)

I was told it may have been because my permit was "new." The show was in March, yet I applied for my permit in December. To their credit, they promptly reversed the decision.

I wonder what would have happened had this not been discovered, and I had been stopped by a police officer? My letters to the Hampton Circuit Court judge and clerk about government efficacy remain unanswered. Surely they move very swiftly when meting out "justice" to their denizens; why can't they be just as expeditious when serving those exercising their right to bear arms? Virginia must work harder to achieve a more efficient system of doing background checks and making sure its law-abiding, concealed-weapon-carrying citizens are documented in a timely manner. Thank God there are those such as the Virginia Citizens Defense League who are working hard to protect and preserve my Second Amendment rights.

Laurence Braddell Hampton


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5. Who needs a gun on the Blue Ridge Parkway?
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Franz Bailey emailed me this:

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Who needs a gun for self defense on the Parkway?

http://tinyurl.com/ydfrvn9

http://www.nbc29.com
April 5, 2010

A manhunt is underway after an attack Monday night left at least three people injured, including a state trooper. It happened around 7:30 p.m. Monday along milepost 10 on the Blue Ridge Parkway, near the Rock Point Overlook in Augusta County.

Officers are looking for a white male, approximate age 50 - 60, with long gray/ white thinning hair. Officers believe he was driving a red vehicle, possibly a Ford Taurus. He is believed to be still armed and considered dangerous.

Investigators say two people were shot while enjoying the sunset at the Rockpoint Overlook Monday evening. The two victims, an 18-year-old woman from Fluvanna County and a 27-year-old man from Charlottesville were sitting in a green car with their backs to the gunman. Authorities say the suspect shot the duo with a shotgun from his car at about 7:30 p.m.

"At this point right now, we think it's random," said Augusta County Sheriff Randy Fisher.

All three got out of their cars, the man fell off the overlook, 150 feet to the ground. The woman began to fight off the suspect, before she jumped into a good samaritan's car and went to the entrance to the parkway for help.

"She is evidently a feisty young lady," said Fisher. "She didn't give up the ghost, she took fight to him."

Park Rangers shut down the parkway between mile post four and 13 on Tuesday. Detectives used the sunlight to comb the crime scene a second time.

"We went back over it inch by inch to make sure we didn't miss anything," Fisher explained.

The female victim is listed in "stable" condition. The second, male victim is reported in "serious" condition; both are at UVA Medical Center with shotgun wounds to the upper area of their bodies.
The third victim is said to be a state trooper who was not shot, but injured in a rescue attempt. The trooper's injuries are said to be not very serious.

The National Park Service issued a statement at approximately 5:15 Tuesday morning - 9 hours after all this began - in which they say they are calling this a 'double shooting.' The Augusta County Sheriff's Office released a statement (listed below) at 12:00 p.m. Tuesday.
Karen Beck-Herzog of the National Park Service stated "I can confirm that an incident occurred on the Blue Ridge Parkway at the Rock Point Overlook in the evening last night. And, that there were two victims, a male and a female, both adult, I don't have any information about their condition. There's currently an investigation ongoing between Augusta County, the National Park Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation."

Beck-Herzog says the National Park Service has closed the parkway from mileposts 4 to 13 as the investigation and the search for the suspect continues.

The investigation is being conducted by the Augusta County Sheriff's Office, National Park Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Virginia State Police and the FBI.

NBC affiliate WSLS in Roanoke is reporting that the FBI plans to look for any similarities between this shooting and the Childs-Metzler murders from last fall in Montgomery County. FBI special agent-in-charge Kevin Foust warned not to jump to any conclusions, because it is very early in the investigation, but did confirm the plans. A gunman shot and killed Heidi Childs and David Metzler last summer at the Caldwell Fields campground in Montgomery County.


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6. Another VCDL member responds to article in Martinsville Bulletin
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Clark Welsh emailed me with his response to an article in the Martinsville Bulletin. This article was originally included in VCDL Update 3/31/10

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http://tinyurl.com/yj5753f

http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com
March 31, 2010

Letter: Clark Welsh

Self-defense is a right
Wednesday, March 31, 2010

From a recent article in the Martinsville Bulletin (March 21):

"An armed law-abiding citizen might be able to stop a gunman from taking innocent lives, (Martinsville Police Chief Mike) Rogers said. For that reason, he said he disagrees with the recommendation that McDonnell veto the ('guns in bars') bill.

"(Henry County Sheriff Lane) Perry wasn't swayed by that line of thinking.

"'If a person thinks they need protection when they go in a bar, they've got a choice not to go there,' he said."

Sheriff Perry, by that line of reasoning, if I feel I need the ability to effectively defend my life anywhere, say, at the grocery store, the mall, the barber shop, on the street, in my front yard, etc., does that mean I have the 'option' not to go such places, that I should just stay locked in my home like a hermit, and hire people to do my errands for me?

Tell me, sheriff, where is there a place on this entire planet where I am absolutely, 100 percent guaranteed to be safe? Violent attacks occur sometimes in stores, in schools, in churches, in hospitals, at work, in parks and in people's very homes; tell me where I can go in this world where I am truly safe. You can't, can you, because there is no such place, a fact that you should be keenly aware of as a law enforcement officer.

I have the right to defend my life, if need be, wherever I am, wherever I go. And so do you. Period. Self-defense is a basic human and civil right, even in a restaurant that serves alcohol.

I'm sorry, but taken to its logical conclusion, your position just doesn't hold water, and you need to rethink it.

Clark Welsh, member of Virginia Citizens Defense League
Falls Church


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7. Newport News: 12 guns = red flag
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VCDL EM Dale Welch emailed me this:

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According to Newport News Police if you buy twelve - fifteen guns a year in Virginia, your name will be red-flagged in the system.

http://tinyurl.com/ybrxev3

http://www.newportnewspolitics.com
April 6, 2010

[SNIP]

Did you know:

If you buy twelve - fifteen guns a year in Virginia, your name will be red-flagged in the system?


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8. Who needs a gun while driving in Fairfax County?
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Bill Hine emailed me this:

--

http://tinyurl.com/yegvh9v

http://www.wtop.com
April 7, 2010

Police: Man slashed driver in road rage incident

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. - An Alexandria man has been charged with malicious wounding after he allegedly cut another driver with a knife during a road rage incident.

Fairfax County Police say the incident began on South Van Dorn Street near the Beltway around 4 p.m. Tuesday after one of the drivers believed the other one cut him off.

The two men pulled over to the side of the road on the Beltway ramp and got out of their cars.

Police say the driver of a silver Cadillac CTS, 54-year-old Keith Lewis of Alexandria, pulled out a knife and cut the driver of a gold Ford Expedition twice on his arm.

The victim was able to leave the scene and drive himself to a hospital.

Police arrested Lewis at the scene, but are now looking for witnesses.

Anyone who may have seen the incident is asked to call Detective Douglas Middlebrooks at 703-922-0894 ext. 2233, or Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS/8477.


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9. VA-ALERT reader expands on the role of a militia
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VA-ALERT reader Deric in Williamsburg emailed me this:

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I am tired of people saying that the second amendment only applies to militias. I read the poorly written op-ed in your 4/6/10 VCDL Alert (Item #7), and figured I would put that argument into the dirt.

The Militia Act of 1903 defines two categories when it comes to the defense of the country- the organized militia, which consists of groups such as the National Guard, and the disorganized (sic) militia, which consists of every able-bodied male aged 17 to 45.

So according to people who say that the second amendment only applies to the militia- it is a violation of the US Constitution that the government requires the age of 18 for rifles and shotguns and the age of 21 to buy handguns from a dealer. In fact, any able bodied male between the ages of 17 to 45 should be fully able to own guns, so even the Youth Handgun Safety Act is unconstitutional.

Those who are uninformed enough to assume the second amendment only applies to the militia are overlooking the consequences of their opinions- they are lucky we as gun owners are willing to say it doesn't apply to just the militias.

Deric of Williamsburg, VA


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10. Students protest with empty holsters
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http://tinyurl.com/ydkrf65

breezejmu.org
By Aaron Koepper
April 8, 2010

HARRISONBURG, Va - For the second year in a row, empty holsters could be seen around the waists of those who support the right to legally carry a concealed weapon on JMU's campus.

While JMU policy 1105 prohibits the possession of weapons on-campus, JMU's chapter of the national organization Students for Concealed Carry on Campus is looking to repeal this policy.

"It's only for people who can already carry elsewhere," SCCC president and senior Kevin Garris said. "You don't become a different person when you set foot on campus. If you can carry elsewhere, you should be able to carry on campus as well."

SCCC's JMU chapter is part of larger national organization, which cites the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre as a reason for existence.
"It's clearly been shown that a college is not secure," said junior Kory Verdonck, SCCC's service coordinator. "Courthouses, airports [where weapons are prohibited] have very heavy security, and campus security has holes."

University spokesman Don Egle disagreed with SCCC's opinion that JMU was not a secure campus.

"The university is responsible for ensuring a safe environment for students and staff," Egle said. "We have a great law enforcement division and a responsible faculty and staff. Individuals carrying concealed weapons does not make campus safer."

This is the second year SCCC has done an empty holster protest. This year they expect roughly 15 of their 25 members to wear them. They said the goal of the protest is to foster debate about the from issue and educate the student body.

"When you walk into your class with it [holster] it tends to start a conversation," Garris said. "We had some professors who were outspoken, and corrected some misconceptions."

SCCC will also be holding an open forum-style debate in ISAT 159 on Thursday at 6 p.m. for any students who are interested in the issue. The subject can be controversial among students, some of whom said that concealed carry would make campus less safe.
"I went to one of their lectures last year and they made a few good points," said senior political science major Brian Ward. "But JMU has the reputation of being a party school, and alcohol and firearms don't mix."

Other students echoed Ward's opinion, that the "drinking culture" at JMU and college campuses nationwide made gun owners less responsible for their actions, and more dangerous when intoxicated.
"It might make others feel more secure, but it'll definitely make others feel less secure," said freshman studio art major Ana Morales. "Even with a background check, you can never be positive someone won't do something crazy."

Sophomore communication studies major Lamar Walker disagreed saying he thought JMU faculty and students would be responsible with guns on campus.

"It doesn't seem like it's [guns are] a big threat here," Walker said. "The people would be licensed to carry a gun would be more aware of what it means to have them."

If JMU's policy were to change, the legal age to apply for a concealed carry permit is 21, which would limit carriers. The SCCC has 44,000 members nationwide.


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11. Federal courts strike again on concealed carry
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Bob Johnson emailed me this:

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Have you read this one?. About a guy in Maine in January getting hassled for his CCP.

http://tinyurl.com/ylj9lns

http://www.weeklystandard.com
By C.J. Ciaramella
January 4, 2010

The First Circuit Court of Appeals in New England just handed down another horrible Second Amendment ruling, very similar to the ruling that recently came out of Georgia. In the case in question, the court ruled that a police officer acted appropriately when he not only detained a man for lawfully carrying a concealed firearm but confiscated his gun. From the Atlanta Gun Rights Examiner:

According to the case opinion, the lawyer, Greg Schubert, had a pistol concealed under his suit coat, and Mr. Schubert was walking in what the court described as a "high crime area." At some point a police officer, J.B. Stern, who lived up to his last name, caught a glimpse of the attorney's pistol, and he leaped out of his patrol car "in a dynamic and explosive manner" with his gun drawn, pointing it at the attorney's face.

Officer Stern "executed a pat-frisk," and Mr. Schubert produced his license to carry a concealed weapon. He was disarmed and ordered to stand in front of the patrol car in the hot sun. At some point, the officer locked him in the back seat of the police car and delivered a lecture. Officer Stern "partially Mirandized Schubert, mentioned the possibility of a criminal charge, and told Schubert that he (Stern) was the only person allowed to carry a weapon on his beat."

The officer eventually released Schubert but confiscated both his concealed carry license and his firearm. The court, of course, ruled that all of Stern's actions were appropriate to "ensure his own safety" and because he could not confirm the "facial validity" of the license.

A similar case is underway in Virginia, where a man is suing the city of Roanoke and two police officers after he was detained for refusing to answer questions regarding his concealed carry license. Officers pulled over Aaron A. Stevenson for an expired registration. When they learned about his license, they asked if he was carrying a firearm. Stevenson declined to answer, invoking his right to remain silent (which is admittedly not the best way to endear oneself to a police officer). I'll let the Roanoke Times take it from here:

The officers pulled Stevenson from his vehicle, the lawsuit said, took the .45-caliber handgun he wore in a belt holster, and put him in handcuffs in the back of a police car. Stevenson said he was threatened with loss of his permit, confiscation of his gun and indefinite detention while police investigated whether he was involved in anything criminal.

Officers never read Stevenson his Miranda rights, the lawsuit said, and Ayers told Stevenson the questioning would stop if he would admit to some criminal action.

As the incident continued, some of Stevenson's co-workers drove past and his employer stopped to see what was happening. The officers asked the employer if Stevenson had mental problems.

Because you have to be a little bit crazy to try and invoke your constitutional rights these days.


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12. Updated: Effort In Maine to restrict guns from National Park units falls short of goal
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http://tinyurl.com/y9obn2h

http://www.nationalparktraveler.com
By Kurt Repanshek
April 7, 2010

A concerted effort in Maine to draw the line on national park visitors arming themselves has fallen short of the original goal. But the measure Governor John Baldacci signed this week will at least outlaw open carry in Acadia National Park.

Among the groups seeking a complete ban on visitors carrying weapons in all national park units in Maine was the Friends of Acadia, a non-profit park advocacy group that never saw the wisdom in the weapons legislation that U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, deftly wielded through Congress by attaching the rule change to a popular credit card bill.

While the initial intent behind the senator's amendment was to allow the carrying of concealed weapons in national parks -- if the surrounding state's laws provided for concealed carry by permitted gun owners -- the measure wound up allowing open carry as well. For years the Park Service had allowed legally licensed weapons owners to bring their firearms through parks, as long as they were broken down and out of reach. Many Second Amendment supporters railed against that provision, and the National Rifle Association helped Sen. Coburn rewrite the rules.

At Friends of Acadia, officials never saw a need for a rules change.

"The previous rules were working perfectly fine here in Acadia, and I think that for, especially for the rangers, the new firearms laws present a challenge," Stephanie Clement, conservation director for the friends group, told the Traveler back in February. The old rule, she went on, made it easier for rangers to spot possible poachers; anyone carrying a firearm could be stopped. Under the rule change, it would no longer be that simple, she said.

"Really, it was a very effective anti-poaching tool. It was an opportunity for a point of contact, so that point of contact will be gone," said Ms. Clement.

The effort to stop the rule change from impacting the units of the National Park System in Maine resulted in legislation that, as initially drafted, would have banned visitors from carrying firearms in Acadia, along the Appalachian Trail, and at St. Croix Island International Historic Site. However, by the time the measure reached Gov. Baldacci's desk, it had been rewritten to apply only to Acadia, and in that park concealed carry, but not open carry, would be allowed if a firearm owner was properly licensed.

Still, Ms. Clement said Wednesday that the final version was better than opening the park to open carry of firearms.

"While it's not ideal that concealed weapons will be allowed in the park under the new legislation, we're pleased with the outcome for several reasons: One, the bill maintains the park rangers' ability to deter opportunistic poaching because they can contact visitors who are openly carrying firearms. The bill also still allows hunters to travel through the park as long as their firearms are unloaded, broken down and stored or not easily accessible," said Ms. Clement.

"Two, The bill is intended to protect public safety by preventing people who have not had firearms safety training from legally carrying weapons in the park. Those with concealed weapons permits in Maine have to demonstrate that they have received firearms safety training within five years, but other gun owners have not been required to go through such training," she continued. "Three, for those visitors to Acadia who may be concerned about their safety in the proximity of loaded firearms in the park, this bill regulates the possession of firearms in a way that should help reassure them.

"Ultimately, passage of this legislation is important because Acadia National Park is a safe, family-oriented destination without need for loaded firearms. The Maine Legislature confirmed this, using the provisions of the federal legislation to specify what firearms regulations they believed should apply to Acadia National Park."

At the National Parks Conservation Association, officials saw the finalized legislation as a step in the right direction and better than no change to the federal rule change.

"We applaud Maine state Senators Dennis Damon and Stan Gerzovsky for seeking stronger legislation that would have prohibited firearms in Acadia National Park," said Alexander Brash, NPCA's Northeast regional director. "Though Maine's proposed legislation falls short of providing the same level of safeguards that were in effect for wildlife and visitors at all national parks before February of this year when Congress made effective a new law that NPCA adamantly opposed, Maine's legislation is an important step back in the right direction.

"NPCA hopes that regulations similar to those created in the Reagan era, which simply required gun owners to keep their firearms unloaded and stored, will be re-enacted by Congress once again for the entire National Park System in the near future."

The measure will take effect three months after the Maine Legislature adjourns it's current session, so it should be effect in mid-July.


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13. Students in custody after weapon found on campus
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Bill Hine emailed me this:

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Got to watch out for BB guns!


http://tinyurl.com/y8g8l5s

http://www.wtop.com
April 7, 2010

WASHINGTON - Three schools on the grounds of the National Cathedral were briefly locked down Wednesday morning after reports of a man with a gun on campus.

No one was injured.

Police received a 911 call reporting a man with a weapon on the cathedral's campus around 8 a.m. Wednesday, D.C. Assistant Police Chief Patrick Burke says.

"A canvass resulted in the discovery of what was believed to be a long gun in the back of a vehicle on the campus," Burke says.

Two St. Albans students found in the Jeep Wrangler were taken into custody, says Burke.

Arya Mortazavi, 18, and another 17-year-old student were charged with illegal possession and transportation of a BB gun by a juvenile.

St. Albans, National Cathedral and Beauvoir schools were locked down for about 40 minutes as a precaution.

Police do not believe there was any immediate threat directed towards the school or individual, nor was there any indication of harmful intent on the part of the two arrested.


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14. 911 law: Dan Sayers open carry arrest video
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Ben Piper emailed me this. Since carrying a gun is not illegal, a "man with a gun" call makes as much sense as a "man driving a car" call. There MUST be more information or the officers responding to such a call can end up needlessly endangering the lives of the very citizens they are supposed to be protecting.

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http://tinyurl.com/ykjk4vo

This is a YouTube video of a guy who was pumping gas while OCing at a Sonoco gas station in Ohio about 5 minutes before the police video starts. Someone at the gas station apparently called 911 to report a "man with a gun." The cops pulled him over and ordered him out of the car at gunpoint with an AR-15. The guy asks the cops once he's in the back of the cruiser, "Did the person who called say the man with a gun was waving it around? Did they say he was touching or holding his gun in his hand?" The cop response is typical of what you seen on countless YouTube open carry stop videos: "Well, we don't get that much information. All we hear over our radios is "man with a gun."

It seems like this problem of police overreacting or even reacting at all by stopping someone for OCing could be avoided if 911 operators were simply required to ask people calling in about a "man with a gun" whether the man was waving it around or threatening someone with it, or if it was just in a holster. If dispatchers were then required to convey this crucial information to police in the field, there would be no reason for police to even stop OCers at all, since the 911 call would confirm that nothing illegal was going on. Is it possible to get the General Assembly to pass a law *requiring* 911 operators to ask these questions on man with a gun calls and then for police dispatchers to relay it to officers in the field before a decision is made about whether to make a stop?

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Ben Piper also emailed me this:

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http://tinyurl.com/ydgsbzw

This is a great memo from a PD in California. This is exactly the point of open carrying and exercising one's rights during an OC stop. I like that they are requiring their dispatchers to specifically inform officers of what the person is alleged to be doing with the gun so they can differentiate between OC and "man with a gun" calls, and respond accordingly.

I would go a step further and require that 911 operators inform "man with a gun" callers that OC is legal if a person is not brandishing or threatening people with their gun. These calls shouldn't even be forwarded to the police dispatcher in the first place.

Source: http://californiaopencarry.org/


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15. Engaged couple killed in NJ carjacking
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Deborah Jane emailed me this:

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Who needs a gun?. A NJ couple sure could have used one, if they were allowed to have one where they lived -- but, sadly, NJ is an anti-gun state.

Blessings,

Deborah Jane


http://tinyurl.com/ycw67sy

http://www.aolnews.com
April 3, 2010

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (April 4) - An engaged couple returning to their northern New Jersey home early today were fatally shot in what authorities believe was a botched carjacking.

Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio said 27-year-old Michael Muchiaki and his 25-year-old girlfriend, Nia Haqq, were both shot twice in the head. They were found near their car, which was not taken.

The couple had attended a party in New Brunswick and returned to their Jersey City home around 3 a.m., DeFazio said.

As they parked their car, they were approached by a man and two women, who later fled the scene in another vehicle.

DeFazio said that based on the crime scene and witness statements, it appears the victims were shot during an unsuccessful carjacking. Authorities believe their car could not be taken because it had anti-theft device.


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16. Nevadans are free to don their arms in the open
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Pay close attention to the right hand side, which deals with the training for the Las Vegas PD:

http://tinyurl.com/yab9gpf

http://www.lasvegassun.com
By Steve Kanigher
April 7, 2010

Even though it's legal, not everyone comfortable with gun-wearing citizens, especially some police


Just about everybody on the Metro Police force has heard of Tim Farrell, and he sometimes gets mistaken for a law enforcement officer.

Farrell is simply a 29-year-old wireless Internet engineer - and a gun rights crusader. He is one of what appears to be a growing number of people taking up the "open-carry" cause, advocating a constitutional right to openly carry firearms.

"The open-carry movement has gained momentum over the last four or five years because people are waking up to their rights," Farrell says. "I don't need a permit to exercise free speech. I don't need a permit to be tried by a jury if I'm accused of a crime, so why do I need a permit to carry a gun if I have a constitutional right to carry a gun?"

Nevada is a better place than most for Farrell because it is "an open--carry state." Nevada reiterates the right to bear arms in its constitution and does not have blanket restrictions on law-abiding citizens' open carrying of firearms.

That's why a dozen or so people who attended the March 27 Tea Party rally in Searchlight were able to openly carry firearms.

One was Dave Stilwell, a 44-year-old truck driver from Las Vegas who always carries a gun for self-defense.

He says he was jogging back from a garage sale near his house one morning last May with his .45-caliber pistol on his hip. Around Jones Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue, a Metro patrol car rolled up slowly behind him.

A shopkeeper had called police after seeing the gun, said the officer, who took the pistol from Stilwell, removed the magazine and the bullet in the chamber, checked the ID number on the gun and then returned the weapon and ammunition to Stilwell before driving away.

"I just told the officer I was exercising my body and my rights," he said. "In retrospect, I didn't think that was such a big deal.

"I knew I would have contact with police at some point. Even though it's my legal right to carry a gun, there's a lot of propaganda out there, a lot of inaccurate information. When I started to open carry a couple years ago, I would have guessed that 90 out of 100 people didn't think it was legal."

So have open-carry advocates latched onto the Tea Party movement? Stilwell said that although he attended with gun in holster, his reason for going was to join others who care about their rights.

"Rights are becoming more prevalent because people feel like their backs are against the wall because of the government," he says.

Farrell is not a Tea Partyer. He describes himself as libertarian and pro-choice on abortion. He and Stilwell are on the same page when it comes to guns, however.

Like Stilwell, Farrell says he carries his handgun wherever he goes, for self-defense. He says he has never been kicked out of a casino or other place of business but finds himself educating business owners who question why he is so brazenly armed.

Farrell says he has worn his gun many times into his neighborhood restaurant and bar near the U.S. 95-Summerlin Parkway interchange. But as he walks in one recent afternoon, a bartender who spots the gun is taken aback. She says the only pistol-packing customers she has served are undercover cops.

"So what I should have done is asked to see your concealed weapons permit because that is something that's mandatory," she tells Farrell.

"I don't have a concealed gun on me," he replies. "I do have a concealed-weapons permit but you do not need a concealed-weapons permit for a nonconcealed gun."

"I mean, a regular permit just to carry the gun around," she says.

"There is no permit in this state for that," he tells her.

"It used to be years ago you would have to give your weapons to the bartender," she says.

"This bar is private property, obviously," Farrell says. "You can set whatever rules you want."

"You can pull that out on me and shoot," she tells him. "You see what I'm saying?"

"Well, of course. And that's one of the reasons to carry openly, is for self-defense but it's also to educate others as well that, one, it's not against the law and, two, that not everyone with a gun is a bad guy. Certainly if there was a bad guy coming to rob you, he wouldn't let you see the gun until it was too late."

With that, the bartender goes about her business.

It undoubtedly helps that Farrell is not one of those guys who wears head-to-toe camouflage gear. He wears polo shirts and bluejeans.

He doesn't have a gun collection. "I have a handgun and a shotgun, that's all, just to keep me and my wife safe."

When Farrell read Stilwell's blog post about how he had been stopped by police, Farrell researched state and local laws, as well as police regulations and then conducted an experiment.

On the night of June 24, he holstered up his loaded 40-caliber Glock 23 pistol and proceeded to a sidewalk on Las Vegas Boulevard, just south of Charleston Boulevard, where he was certain he would be noticed by police. He was.

It wasn't his first encounter with the law. While vacationing in Nashua, N.H., early last year, he was stopped on foot on the way to a bank by police who asked about his gun. Minutes later he was allowed to go about his business with gun in tow. Such is life in the "live free or die" state, apparently.

The Las Vegas Strip encounter was far more intense, with police arriving in squad cars and on motorcycles in a show of force, guns drawn. Farrell was handcuffed and his gun was confiscated, its bullets removed. Over the course of the next 23 minutes, Farrell invoked his right to talk to an attorney, told police not to touch his gun, and that he hadn't consented to being searched and detained. He refused to answer questions about whether he possessed a registration card for the weapon, and invoked his right to remain silent.

Bottom line: He hadn't committed any crime. After police ran a background check on Farrell, confirming his gun was properly registered, and finding that he also has a concealed-weapons permit and is not a dangerous criminal, he was uncuffed. He was handed back his gun but the bullets were dropped down one of his pants pockets and the empty magazine was placed on an irrigation box 100 feet away. He was ordered not to move until police drove away.

"I understand the need for officer safety," Farrell said. "These guys have a tough job. But officer safety does not trump my rights. To stop me there has to be something other than the fact I have a gun. They shouldn't have even taken my gun."

Based on complaints from Farrell, Metro's Citizen Review Board and internal affairs division each launched investigations into his case last summer. Although the officers involved were cleared of wrongdoing, Metro's force had to take a refresher course on how to handle individuals who openly carry firearms.

Last month, a five-member panel of the Citizen Review Board found that police had complied with department policy related to the incident but that neither the policy nor police training at the time Farrell was stopped was specific enough on "open carry" stops. The board concluded that the police action was "the result of ambiguity among officers on how to handle an individual asserting his Second Amendment right to openly carry a gun in public."

While cadets are trained in Metro's police academy on how to handle constitutional rights, including those involving gun possession, the agency's thick policy and procedure manual is silent on open-carry issues.

Andrea Beckman, the Citizen Review Board's executive director, says Farrell's case "brought to light the significance of how to train police officers on open carry." Farrell's case, in fact, was the first open-carry dispute heard by the board, and his name is now familiar throughout Metro.

A little more than a month after "the Farrell incident," Metro's 3,000 officers took their refresher course.

"When we don't respond to something the way we should have, we're quick to correct ourselves," Metro Patrol Division Deputy Chief Kathleen O'Connor says.

The review board noted, however, that one police sergeant who confronted Farrell needed more training because it was clear from the sergeant's testimony that if he had been given a test after the refresher, he would have failed.

The open-carry issue is tricky for police, O'Connor says, because officers are caught between preserving an individual's open-carry rights and protecting the public from potential harm.

Of course, some police officers are not the only ones uncomfortable with the idea of lots of citizens walking around with guns on their hips. Opponents say the more guns that are being toted around, the greater the possibility that a bystander could be hit by a stray bullet, the more likely it is that a criminal will get a citizen's gun and use it for no good. Even some Second Amendment advocates acknowledge that an individual who openly wears a gun in a crowded public area might result in the same reaction that a false warning of fire can in a crowded theater.

There are exceptions to Nevada's open-carry rights. Among them is a state law that prohibits average citizens from carrying firearms on college campuses, at public or private schools and at day care centers without written permission from the heads of those facilities. An individual also cannot legally possess a firearm while intoxicated.

Local laws prohibit possession of guns in Clark County parks or in vehicles within North Las Vegas city limits.

Violation of the North Las Vegas "deadly weapons" ordinance, on the books since 1978, is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. The ordinance provides exceptions to the weapons ban as it pertains to "ordinary tools or equipment carried in good faith for uses of honest work, trade or business, or for the purpose of legitimate sport or recreation." The ordinance has only been enforced in conjunction with traffic stops for other violations, such as speeding or suspicion of criminal activity, police say.

It also appears to violate the state law that gives the Legislature, not local governments, the power to regulate firearms, UNLV Boyd School of Law professor Thomas McAffee says.

"The state statute does permit some older local registration requirements, but the city ordinance here is a complete ban on possession in a motor vehicle, which seems to clearly fall within the scope of the state reservation of authority," McAffee says.

Michael Davidson, North Las Vegas' chief criminal attorney, said his interpretation is that the ordinance is legal because when the state law was last revised in 2007, the intent was to preserve pre-1989 local gun laws that had nothing to do with firearm registration. He said there have been dozens of cases in recent years where convictions that included violation of that ordinance have been upheld in North Las Vegas Municipal Court without a single appeal of the weapons ban made to District Court in Clark County.

"The intent was to go after gangbangers, not mom and pop in the RV," Davidson says.

Farrell and other local open-carry advocates counter that North Las Vegas' law is unconstitutional on its face, no matter the intent.

These advocates staged peaceful protests in North Las Vegas last year - picking up litter "to show we're just regular guys" - and in January in front of Bally's on the Strip, where numerous tourists had their pictures taken with Farrell and roughly 20 of his fellow gun-toters.

Farrell had given a Metro watch commander a courtesy heads-up before his armed group headed down to the Strip. The police commander thanked him for the warning, acknowledged the group's right to assemble, but also pleaded with Farrell to cancel his plans.

The tourists who took pictures, however, encouraged Farrell and his posse to keep standing up for the Constitution, he says, and that's what he intends to do.


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17. R.I.P. Danny Lee Holmes
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Danielle Holmes emailed me about the loss of her husband, VCDL member Danny Lee Holmes in Iraq.

--

http://tinyurl.com/yasvcne

Danny Holmes Jr.

Danny L. Holmes Jr. CHESAPEAKE - Danny Lee Holmes Jr., 41, passed away March 12, 2010 in Tallil, Iraq. Born Aug. 1, 1968 in Baton Rouge, La., Danny loved being outdoors. He loved Alabama football, diving, the beach, working out, cooking, and being in the sun. He was an alumnus of Arkansas State University where he played football. He will always be remembered as a hard worker and a wonderful man who lived life to the fullest. Left to cherish his memory are his loving wife, Danielle Holmes; son, Dustin Holmes; father, Danny L. Holmes Sr. and family; mother, Linda Pyle and family; and brother, Curtis Holmes and family.

All services will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to P.O. Box 16335, Chesapeake, VA 23328 in the name of Danny Lee Holmes Jr.


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18. Gun quote
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Bob Marcellus emailed me this:

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http://tinyurl.com/yad8n3t

http://www.brainyquote.com

A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I advise the gun. While this gives moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be your constant companion of your walks.

Thomas Jefferson



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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/]