1. VCDL looking for new gun show coordinator in the Shenandoah area2. Upcoming Sussex hearing on shooting ranges - corrections - March 17th3. VCDL membership meeting in Newport News area on March 24th4. VCDL membership meeting in Annandale on March 29th, speaker survived terrorist attack at a church5. VCDL membership meeting in Charlottesville area on April 7th6. Wyoming adopts Constitutional Carry!7. Newport News ammo store8. Dept. of Forestry comments on carry amendment 9. VA-ALERT reader: Guns in churches (VCDL Update 2/28/11) 10. VA-ALERT reader: We must repeal the right to assemble11. Cracker Barrel's policy on open carry12. LTE: Guns in National Parks anniversary ignored 13. LTE: The element of harm is always human 14. Countering a gun buy-back with a gun buy-up 15. Henigan's CCW claim: Down the Memory Hole Redux16. Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico17. Tucson shooting spotlights U.S. shift on gun control18. UN calculations on firearms' deaths questioned
**************************************************1. VCDL looking for new gun show coordinator in the Shenandoah area**************************************************
Gun shows are critical to VCDL's continued success. VCDL is looking for a replacement for Mike Piper, VCDL's Shenandoah gun show coordinator, who is responsible for the Fisherville and Harrisonburg shows.
If you are interested in taking over Mike's position, send an email to me at president*vcdl.org
VCDL would like to thank Mike for his selfless service to the organization over the past few years.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of our current and past gun show coordinators - we couldn't have done all that we have without them!
We you are at a gun show, be sure to go by the VCDL booth and thank all the volunteers for their time!
**************************************************2. Upcoming Sussex hearing on shooting ranges - corrections - March 17th**************************************************
Sussex area members (and anyone else who can come), the Sussex Count Board of Supervisors is meeting on March 17th to consider some onerous shooting range restrictions.
IMPORTANT NOTE: the original proposed ordinance has been modified since the hearing last month and we need to make sure that the updated ordinance goes back to the Planning Commission for another public hearing on the changes! We do NOT want them to RAM this through!
The meeting is going to be held:
When: Thursday, March 17 Time: 6:00pm Where: Sussex Central High School Auditorium 21394 Sussex Drive Sussex, Virginia 23884
*** Please note that the meeting is being held in a *high school*.
A good turnout is needed to show support for ranges, both current and future, in Sussex County!
**************************************************3. VCDL membership meeting in Newport News area on March 24th**************************************************
EM Ron Lilly and Ed Burton have arranged for VCDL to have a membership meeting at the Lafayette Gun Club in Grafton. The meeting is on Thursday, March 24th, from 7 PM to 9:30 PM. The meeting will cover a wrap up of the General Assembly session and a variety of recent events affecting our right to keep and bear arms.
For those who have never been to the Lafayette Gun Club, this will be a great chance to see their facilities (including an indoor handgun range that is open 24/7!)
The meeting is open to the public, so bring your family, friends, and coworkers.
Here is a Google map to the Club that you can use to get directions:
http://tinyurl.com/4bfafgd
I'll see you there!
**************************************************4. VCDL membership meeting in Annandale on March 29th, speaker survived terrorist attack at a church**************************************************
VCDL will have its monthly membership meeting at the Mason Government Center in Annandale on Tuesday, March 29th, from 8 PM to 9:30 PM. Fellowship starts at 7:30 PM.
We will have two guest speakers:
Scott Martin, who is running for the 39th Virginia Senate district against Senator George Barker, will speak for a few minutes about his campaign.
Charl van Wyk, from South Africa, will be speaking about his deadly run in with terrorists at an attack on a church he was attending in South Africa in 1993 (St. James Massacre). He survived and saved lives because he was armed with a .38 snub-nosed revolver on that fateful day. This should be very, very interesting!
We will also be discussing recent events affecting our gun rights.
As with all VCDL membership meetings, this is open to the public. Bring friends, family and coworkers with you!
Directions can be found here:
http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
**************************************************5. VCDL membership meeting in Charlottesville area on April 7th**************************************************
A VCDL meeting with food - hard to beat that
=46rom EM Patricia Webb:
In an effort to make membership meetings more accessible for those in western portions of the state, Rivanna Rifle and Pistol Club has been very generous in making their clubhouse available for VCDL meetings. We are most grateful for this.
The next VCDL meeting at Rivanna Rifle and Pistol Club will be on Thursday, April 7th. Preceding the meeting there will be a pot-luck dinner beginning at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will begin at 7:30PM. We will be discussing the advancements made this year in the General Assembly.
Please come join us. Membership in VCDL or RRPC is not required. In fact, we encourage you to bring guests who have never been to a VCDL meeting. In addition, if you live in the vicinity and have never been to RRPC, this is an excellent opportunity to check out the range. RRRC is dedicated to the shooting sports and firearms education.
Those planning to attend the dinner please RSVP to pat.webb*vcdl.org, placing the number attending in the SUBJECT line. Example: 4/7 VCDL meeting, 2 for dinner. The drinks and a main course of homemade meatloaf will be provided. Please bring a side dish to share if you can, but don't let that stop you from coming if you can't.
Hope to see you there!
**************************************************6. Wyoming adopts Constitutional Carry!**************************************************
Wyoming has now joined 3 other states (Arizona, Alaska, and Vermont) that have Constitutional Carry, which allows a person to carry a handgun openly or concealed without a permit. Last week the Wyoming Governor signed the bill into law, and it takes effect on July 1.
Virginia is the cradle of liberty for America - so we need to get cracking at getting Constitutional Carry passed here. The bill put in this year did not make it, but we will try again next year.
**************************************************7. Newport News ammo store**************************************************
Joseph Ferguson emailed me this:
--
I just found a new ammo store in Newport News this week, Sherrifs Ammo & Police Supplies. The owner is not a gun expert, but he is an Italian restauranteur, who owns the retail strip, with the restaurant next door. Says he had the open retail space, unrented, so he opened this shop, to try to make some money. His big draw, apparently is 5.11 tactical gear, which he also sells there. Says he will guarantee the best ammo price, and will special order. He had cases of 5.56 there for $305/1000, which I thought was pretty good. I talked to him about VCDL. He was unaware, so I encouraged him to join and offer discounts for membership cards from VCDL and LEO. He was very interested in that concept. Said the ammo was already going to be bottom dollar, but he could offer a discount on the 5.11 gear. I told him about the summer picnic, and he wanted to know when it is in 2011.
The address is 15398 Warwick Blvd., 757/874-2666 (AMMO), www.sheriffsammo.com He tossed in an ammo can with the bulk ammo purchase. He is open to developing relationships with people like us. Stop by and encourage him to be one of our gun-friendly firms here on the web.
**************************************************8. Dept. of Forestry comments on carry amendment **************************************************
Lying - par for the course for the other side. Dale Hawley emailed me this:
--
So far it's a landslide on the Dept. of Forestry comments section. However it looks like Andrew Goddard and the folks over at the "Virginia Center for Public Safety" have decided to say their piece.
Here's a couple of quotes (have that duct tape ready)
Mr. Andrew Goddardhttp://www.townhall.state.va.us/L/viewcomments ... ntid=16082
"Handguns are not a necessity when visiting Virginia State Forest, just like they are not a necessity in State Parks. This is just another feel good concession to the so called gun rights groups that seek to impose their minority opinions on the majority of Virginians. If anyone is so afraid to enter a State Forest without carrying a handgun then they should stay at home!" [PVC: As President of a "so called gun right group," I would say to Mr.. Goddard that if he doesn't like gun owners being able to protect themselves in a state forest, HE should stay at home.]
Mr. James Sollohttp://www.townhall.state.va.us/L/viewcomments ... ntid=16084
"Allowing private citizens to carry guns in state parks is a dangerous and stupid idea. I have enjoyed hiking for many years in Virginia's wonderful state parks. There is no need for people to carry guns into these pristine settings. It would be upsetting and intimidating to many families. There are plenty of other places in Virginia where hunters can go into the forests and kill things. But the state forests should not be one of them. [PVC: Mr. Sollo is bouncing back and forth between state parks and state forests. State parks have already been settled in our favor. And the issue is NOT about hunting, but about carrying defensive sidearms to protect oneself if the need arises.]
I do understand that the people who carry guns everywhere say that they are just shooting and killing bad guys and stopping criminals. I went the NRA website and saw where the concealed weapons carriers have stopped two crimes in Virginia since the mid-90s. Then I went to the Violence Policy Center website and saw where the concealed weapons people from Virginia have murdered over 30 people since 2006. I'm sorry but I don't see how stopping 2 crimes is worth the 30 lives that they have taken. Allowing these people to carry their guns in our parks and forests makes no sense." PVC: Jim Sollo is notorious for his outlandish predictions and data analysis. During the debate over "shall issue", he was predicting that blood would flow in the streets over shootouts due to fender benders and shopping cart collisions. During the debate over repealing the restaurant ban, he was a doomsayer and claimed there would be shootouts over spilt water. Now he's again preaching doom and gloom over the state forests...and again it won't come true.]
**************************************************9. VA-ALERT reader: Guns in churches (VCDL Update 2/28/11) **************************************************
Wesley Thomas emailed me this:
--
Re: Article #13: Guns in Churches (VCDL Update 2/28/11)
I have been a member of the VCDL for several years and have met and spoken w/you several times in York Co., especially w/Sheriff Diggs' defense of the 2nd Amendment in the Board of Supervisors meetings and other times as well..
I am the armorbearer (personal protector/gopher) for my pastor. He is a VCDL member and we have a number of trained and authorized volunteer security team members who (conceal)carry during services and other events. We have never needed them (thank God!) but are pro-active in protecting the congregation. Some of us are members of Lafayette Gun Club in York Co. and regularly take other members to practice.
We utilize the training services of Savior Protection Ministry, which provides excellent Bible-based training as well as NRA approved instruction. It also trains ushers in non-lethal restraint. I highly recommend them to any and all pastors/clergy concerned about being pro-active in protecting their congregations. Their website is www.SaviorProtection.com.
**************************************************10. VA-ALERT reader: We must repeal the right to assemble**************************************************
Tongue-in-cheek from VCDL member Craig H. Faunce:
--
I strongly support # 18 [VCDL Update 2/28/11, Tongue in Cheek: We must ban automobiles]! Especially those scary black ones, and the high capacity ones (I'm looking at you, Mr. Minivan, and YOU, Mr. SUV!!). And don't get me started on those "automatics". Nobody *needs* an automatic transmission!
I also think the right to assemble should be repealed. If people were prohibited from gathering in large groups, the Arizona tragedy could have been avoided.
**************************************************11. Cracker Barrel's policy on open carry**************************************************
I received a copy of a Cracker Barrel internal policy memo from a source who will remain anonymous. The nutshell is that if a store manager wishes to he can enforce a company policy against open carry, asking the open carrier to return his gun to his vehicle, while saying (according to the memo), "We're making this request in order to accommodate our guests and employees who may be uncomfortable in the present of a fire arm (sic)."
I think they should ask the guests who are uncomfortable with someone else exercising their Second Amendment rights to leave, not the gun owner who is minding his own business! I'm sick and tired of all this faux concern about somebody being *uncomfortable* about this, that or the other. If a person is uncomfortable about someone else's skin color or religious dress, should the "offender" be asked to leave? I hope not.
Anyway concealed carry is not at issue for Cracker Barrel, only open carry. Just an FYI.
**************************************************12. LTE: Guns in National Parks anniversary ignored **************************************************
Now THAT'S a short and sweet LTE from VCDL member Alan Rose. Way to hit it out of the park, Alan!
--
=46rom the Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/4wecgsa
Peaceful outcome gets no coverage
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
It has been one year since concealed handguns were allowed in national parks.
Where is the carnage? Where are the rivers of blood? It is just another pro-gun non-event that highlights the wisdom of trusting law-abiding citizens. Nothing to see here?
Alan W. Rose.
Carrsville.
**************************************************13. LTE: The element of harm is always human **************************************************
Another short and sweet LTE.
=46rom the Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/6ebxjld
The element of harm is always human
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
Correspondent of the Day John Nebi's ["No right is absolute"] comments on rights not being absolute err in important ways. Putting aside the inaccuracies of firearms jargon in his letter, I do have the right to yell "fire " wherever I want. I have that constitutional right. However, if I do harm and there is no fire, the Constitution does not protect me. If I have done harm, I am liable to consequence under the law.
Similarly, I have a right to own a gun. I have that constitutional right. However, if I do harm with that gun (or anything else) without just cause, I am liable to consequences under the law, because the Constitution is not a defense for causing harm. In the case of harm, neither the yelling of FIRE, nor the gun is the measure. The measure is the harm done by the shooter (or the yeller). And that involves the human element, not the firearm.
Stephen M. Anderson
Chester
**************************************************14. Countering a gun buy-back with a gun buy-up **************************************************
It's been a while since anyone has tried a gun "buy-back" in Virginia.
Carl Barber emailed me this:
--
They did it in Austin, Texas. You have probably already heard of this, but I think it is worthy of mentioning in the email update.
=46rom deadlinelive.info: http://tinyurl.com/4ufm72k
[SNIP]Today in Austin TX - Activists were successful in buying TRUNKS full of usable firearms that would have otherwise been destroyed (or ended up in the hands of "terrorists" - as we have seen before how cops confiscate guns and resell them to cartels...)
About 40 gun buyers, both independent and otherwise, stood in front of the Austin Police Gun Buyback Event offering CASH for the guns they were about to turn in to the city for food cards. As people rolled up, we approached them with our offers, and paid them hard cash after inspecting the guns to make sure they were operable. (the Police were unbelievably cooperative in the process)I ended up with a 9mm for a fraction of what it would cost at a gun shop.
Media was in attendance, both local and international. They did seem somewhat confused by our DIRECT ACTION, as did some of the citizenry trying to TURN IN THEIR GUNS. The sounds bytes on local news all sounded identical: "We are turning in our guns so that no one can break in and steal them, using them for crime."
**************************************************15. Henigan's CCW claim: Down the Memory Hole Redux**************************************************
Dennis Henigan is with the Brady Campaign. He occasionally makes an outrageous and false claim and a doting press helps by ignoring it or covering up the gaff. Here is a case in point.
--
=46rom daysofourtrailers.blogspot.com: http://tinyurl.com/6896uj6
[SNIP]THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011Down the Memory Hole Redux
Dennis Henigan is good at making flubs then hoping they disappear. His most famous is when he truncated the Second Amendment leaving out 'of the people'.
In his latest post attacking the right to defend yourself on college campuses, he did it again. He initially made the claim that the VT shooter had a Virginia issued CCW license. [PVC: Virginia actually has a CHP, not a CCW..]
Then that claim disappeared.
Nothing disappears entirely though. I love screencaps.
**************************************************16. Agent: I was ordered to let U.S. guns into Mexico**************************************************
Mike Lewis emailed me this:
--
=46rom CBS News: http://tinyurl.com/5v46axs
[SNIP](CBS News) WASHINGTON - Federal agent John Dodson says what he was asked to do was beyond belief.He was intentionally letting guns go to Mexico?
"Yes ma'am," Dodson told CBS News. "The agency was."
An Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms senior agent assigned to the Phoenix office in 2010, Dodson's job is to stop gun trafficking across the border. Instead, he says he was ordered to sit by and watch it happen.
Investigators call the tactic letting guns "walk." In this case, walking into the hands of criminals who would use them in Mexico and the United States.
**************************************************17. Tucson shooting spotlights U.S. shift on gun control**************************************************
A VA-ALERT reader emailed me this:
--
Poor Christian Science Monitor - they are all but hurt that there is not enough support for gun control legislation in Congress and in the state legislatures.
AND they use the Lobby Day picture of the AR-15 pistol to make everybody all scared.
=46rom the Christian Science Monitor: http://tinyurl.com/62x2sse
Tucson shooting spotlights US shift on gun controlSince the Tucson shooting on Jan. 8, federal gun control advocates have made little headway and many states are considering expanding gun rights. Why?
By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / January 24, 2011
Atlanta
Far from launching a flurry of comprehensive gun-control bills in Congress and statehouses, the Jan. 8 mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz., has instead only emphasized how entrenched gun rights have become in America during the past 20 years.
The 1994 ban on assault weapons - which has since lapsed - remains the last major piece of gun-control legislation passed by Congress. While a number of gun-control measures are now being proposed on Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) of Arizona, none is sweeping and each could well fail.
Meanwhile, states are actively expanding gun rights. Even in the days after the Tucson attack, Arizona legislators moved forward with a plan to allow guns on college campuses.
The national recalibration on gun control comes as Americans' interpretation of the Second Amendment has shifted - embracing the right to "keep and bear arms" as a fundamental expression of individual rights. Within conservative groups like the tea party, gun rights has become a primary symbol of the pushback against the steady expansion of the federal government's purview.
This has helped gun-rights advocates maintain their momentum despite other mass shootings, such as the ones at Virginia Tech in 2007 and at Columbine High School in 1999.
Yet polls suggest that support for gun rights is not absolute. Even gun owners support certain gun-control measures, such as increasing the amount of information fed into the federal background-check database.
As it considers new gun-control measures post-Tucson, Congress is seeking to find where, exactly, that balance now lies.
Gun-support "polls have dipped a blip after Virginia Tech or Columbine, but the long-term trend is still one that's fundamentally moving toward less support for gun control and more support for gun rights," says Charles Franklin, a pollster at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "Now, if you phrase questions about extreme forms of gun rights - automatic weapons or open carry - the support is shakier."
A recent poll, jointly conducted by Democratic polling firm Momentum Analysis and Republican firm American Viewpoint, points to where gun-control laws might be successful.
Some 85 percent of gun owners (and 89 percent of Americans) would endorse a bill to require background checks for all guns sold at gun shows. An even larger share of gun owners - 90 percent - would support a bill to beef up background-check databases to better prevent the mentally ill and drug abusers from buying guns.
Members of Congress seeking to increase gun control are similarly aiming at niche issues. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D) of New York wants to ban extended magazines - like the ones used in the Tucson shooting. Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York wants the federal background-check database to include people rejected by the military for drug use - a measure that would have prevented Tucson suspect Jared Lee Loughner from buying a gun legally.
But larger gun-control priorities have mostly been abandoned. President Obama came into office promising to restore the assault-weapons ban. He has instead signed two gun-rights laws, allowing licensed guns on Amtrak trains and in national parks.
"You have to pick your fights, and I think [Obama] just decided [gun control] was a losing battle," Rep. James Moran (D) of Virginia told The Hill newspaper recently.
The Arizona shootings provided no boost for gun-control advocates. Only 1 in 5 Americans believes stricter gun laws could have prevented the shooting, Gallup reported.
At the state level, gun laws are expanding. For instance:
*Bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature to allow college students and professors to carry guns on campus.
*Florida state Rep. Jose Diaz (R) proposed a bill that would waive roadblocks for Floridians buying guns in Georgia and Alabama. Also in Florida, Republican lawmakers filed a bill that would prohibit doctors and their staff from asking patients if they own guns.
*In Wisconsin, momentum is building under newly elected Republican Gov. Scott Walker to end the state's ban on concealed weapons. Wisconsin, Illinois, and the District of Columbia are the only states and federal jurisdictions that currently have such a ban.
*Arizona's pro-gun legislature is also expected to take up debate on two bills filed before the Tucson shooting, including one that would allow gun owners to display a weapon in self-defense.
*In Virginia, the legislature is on track to address a number of gun-rights bills, including a proposal to end Sunday hunting bans and a reciprocity law that would force the state to honor concealed-carry permits from other states.
Indeed, state expansion of gun-carry rights has become the norm. The number of states that automatically issue concealed-weapons permits after a background check has gone from nine in 1980 to 37 today. Twenty-four states allow people to openly carry guns, 11 of which require no permit to do so. And 25 states now have "castle doctrine" laws that protect homeowners from the legal ramifications of shooting intruders on their property.
"The pro-gun, pro-Second Amendment [set] has won the day in the court of public opinion," says Mr. Franklin. "There's zero evidence, at this point, that shootings and mass killings have had any real effect on that."
The National Rifle Association (NRA) has played its part in promoting gun rights. Observers say it has consistently stoked fears among its members that Democratic administrations intend to curtail Second Amendment rights. President Wayne LaPierre famously said at a Phoenix convention in 2009, "The people with the guns make the rules."
The NRA's growing political clout is witnessed by the speaker list at its last two annual conventions. It included Sarah Palin, presumed 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, then-Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, and Republican Governors Association head Haley Barbour of Mississippi.
Yet, in many ways, the NRA is merely seeking to corral a grass-roots revolt.. Through the blogosphere and talk radio, gun-rights advocates have returned the gun-rights movement to its Second Amendment core: that gun rights are a bulwark against the perceived expansion of government power - a basic tenet of America's unique tradition of rugged individualism.
"The gun has become the symbol of the conservative vision of freedom," Joan Burbick, author of "Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy," told the Monitor in 2009.
At a pro-gun rally at the Virginia capitol on Jan. 17, gun-toting protester D.J. Dorer told The Associated Press that incidents like the Tucson shooting should not be used as an excuse for "destroying the Constitution."
To some, such as the liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, such reactions are evidence of national paranoia, rooted in irrational fears of minorities and a predilection for violence. "[We're] a nation that invades other countries, that has a huge weapons budget, seems so intent on violence being the answer, and I think that's the thing we want to dance around," he told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow after the Tucson shootings.
But evidence that guns promote violence is mixed. Only 1 percent of gun deaths come from people protecting themselves from attack, according to a 2009 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
During an assault, the same study found, a victim with a gun is 4-1/2 times more likely to get shot than an unarmed one. In all, 100,000 people are injured or killed by gunfire every year in the US, and the gun-homicide rate here is 20 times higher than it is in most other developed countries.
Yet Arizona, which more than any other state, perhaps, embodies America's Old West credo, has less gun violence per capita than does Washington, D.C., where guns are far more restricted.
The next frontier for gun-rights advocates is "open carry," epitomized last year by protests in which permitted gun owners carried firearms in plain view at Starbucks coffee shops. But the gun-rights community is split over the issue, keenly aware that a misreading of the American public's view of the Second Amendment could backfire.
"The idea that we should look like the Old West, with everybody carrying a pistol on their hip, that's where public opinion is not yet clearly ready to go," says Franklin. "Open carry is out there on the frontiers and it's not clear [gun-rights advocates] have won the public on that issue." [PVC: Well, OK, maybe not in New Jersey yet.
]**************************************************18. UN calculations on firearms' deaths questioned**************************************************
Scott Johnson emailed me this:
--
An interesting article. The abstract alone is worth the effort of going to the site.
=46rom law.nyu.edu: http://tinyurl.com/4rrq95z
HOW MANY GLOBAL DEATHS FROM ARMS?REASONS TO QUESTION THE 740,000 FACTOID BEING USED TO PROMOTE THE ARMS TRADE TREATY
David B. KopelPaul GallantJoanne D. Eisen
ABSTRACT: Currently, the United Nations is drafting an Arms Trade Treaty to impose strict controls on firearms and other weapons. In support of hasty adoption of the Treaty, a UN-related organization of Treaty supporters have produced a report claiming that armed violence is responsible for 740,000 deaths annually. This Article carefully examines the claim. We find that the claim is based on dubious assumptions, cherry-picked data, and mathematical legerdemain which is inexplicably being withheld from the public. The refusal to disclose the mathematical calculations used to create the 740,000 factoid is itself cause for serious suspicion; our own calculations indicate that the 740,000 figure is far too high.
Further, while the report claims that 60% of homicides are perpetrated with firearms, our review of the data on which the report claimed to rely yields a 22% rate. The persons responsible for the report have refused to release their homicide calculations, or any other calculations.
This Article also shows how a narrow focus on restricting firearm ownership continues to distract international attention from life-saving, viable solutions. We propose some practical alternatives which have already saved lives in war-ravaged areas.
-------------------------------------------***************************************************************************
