VA-ALERT: VCDL Update 6/25/09

[zephyp]

Some interesting reading in this issue from VCDL. I've posted the entire report so you don't have to suffer a page reload.
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1. Growing up without guns
2. Who needs a gun while working in the yard? A MUST READ
3. Deeds wins Democratic primary for VA governor
4. Brady Campaign endorses Deeds for gun show loophole stance
5. Chet Szymecki files new suit against Norfolk over '07 arrest
6. "No guns for Negroes" from JPFO
7. SCCC and Brady Campaign debate guns on college campuses
8. South Dakota adds two reciprocity agreements
9. Nice encounter with state trooper while carrying
10. Another one pulled over for bumper stickers
11. Many new mobile phones provide handy recording device
12. Virginia's permit requests, gun sales rise at record clip
13. Holocaust Museum shooting proves guns save lives
14. Lone wolf terrorists impossible to stop
15. The Second Amendment and the states
16. Who needs a gun at home?
17. Who needs a gun in a pizza parlor?
18. Who needs a gun in the forest?
19. Pro-gun firearms safety commercial
20. Obama plan would eliminate 8 out of 10 pocketknives

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1. Growing up without guns
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Leyla spoke at the Newport News VCDL picnic:

http://tinyurl.com/ma69kf

ammoland.com
Growing Up Without Guns

Washington, D.C - -(AmmoLand.com)- While growing up, I knew there were guns and other arms, because the army and police had them. Us, ordinary people didn't need them. The saying was "my police protect me". I don't think I ever saw a gun except in movies or those carried by police on the streets. Some people in remote mountain villages had small rifles and a limited amount of ammunition - mainly to shoot predator animals to protect their farm animals. At 13, police were going door to door at night, pointing guns at my family and other neighbors. Later I witnessed how government ordered army and tanks to the streets of my city under the cover of the night, killing dozens of innocent people. Not a very good experience to base your opinion about guns.

When I came to America, I was prepared to see the abundance and wealth, and knew I would need to learn lots of things. As an immigrant, I looked into various laws - those that applied to immigration, employment, and travel. I never looked into the laws about guns. There was not a single "drawer" in my brain dedicated to firearms; the only knowledge I had was "guns are bad." In 2002 there was a sniper on the streets of Virginia, but I never thought about how I could protect myself. I was simply glad the sniper was not frequenting my area, and I stayed home.

In all my searches for good shopping stores, I never even considered that ... gun stores exist. No one tells you that at the border control at the airport, and unless I came across someone who took the time to talk and explain the facts to me, I still would never have thought any different. I give full credit for my re-education to my husband (boyfriend at that time) who was the first person I would hear to frequently use words, "the Constitution actually says ...", "the local rules do not require you to...", "have you read Common Sense?" These were very different conversations from the ones I had at work or with my girlfriends.

So my message to you is this - if you let any society grow accustomed to seeing guns as only for use by police or criminals, if you let just two generations to go on like that, you will eventually have a society in which I grew up. It is a strange feeling when, while carrying open in Virginia, I have to tell people, "no, I am not a law enforcement officer, and do not intend to impersonate one, I am just exercising my right. You have one, too, you know?" Sometimes this makes me want to double check if I am in America.

If you haven't figured it out yet, - I was born in the Soviet Union. It was the largest prison in the world, where the prisoners were either unaware that they were prisoners, or were deeply aware of it and therefore were eliminated by the government.

I have lived in this country for eight years and I am just coming to a point where I can't imagine not having a Second Amendment as the norm. It takes time to turn your whole knowledge and vision of life up-side-down, to pretty much throw away the morals you grew up on. I just finished reading 1984 by George Orwell. We would never be allowed to read this book in the Soviet Union. But when I was done reading it, I knew that for over 20 years, I had lived the life of "the next generation after Winston Smith" - the generation that did not know that a human is capable to think and to reason. And the Soviet government did not have to torture me to get me to that stage - I was already born in a thought-vacuum my ancestors allowed to be established.

I always point out that Soviet schools had very strong curriculum, especially in math and history. But we never heard Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" speech; history books never mentioned Jefferson's proposed language for the Virginia Constitution - "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." We were slaves, no doubt. Worst yet, we were dead in a sense that we could not live out our lives how we wanted.

Most people at least once in their life said or heard someone say, "I wish I could bring my childhood back." I might have said it too. Not now, not anymore. The Second Amendment to me, then, is one guarantee that my past will never become my future.

-- Leyla Myers

About author: Leyla Myers was born in Azerbaijan Republic, former Soviet Union. She came to the States in May 2001 on an employment visa. She currently lives with her husband in Virginia.

About:

The mission of the Second Amendment March is to galvanize the courage and resolve of Americans; to petition our elected officials against establishing anti-gun legislation; and to remind America that the Second Amendment is necessary to maintain our right to self defense.


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2. Who needs a gun while working in the yard? A MUST READ
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VCDL member Virginia Griggs writes:

My husband and I both have CHPs and never leave the house without carrying. Our handguns are with us at all times in the house as well. And yet, we learned an important lesson two weeks ago.

On June 1st, I was at work and my husband was building me an elevated garden in our back yard. He heard 15 shots fired and went looking but could not see any disturbance. About 10 minutes later the dog started barking, and he was confronted by a man in the back yard who claimed to be a victim of an attempted robbery. That sounded logical as he had just heard shots fired. (I will add here our back yard ends on a freeway and we hear shots fired there weekly.)

The intruder asked to borrow his cell phone to make a call, and he handed it to the man. He then told the intruder the first thing that needed to be done was to call 911. Immediately the man panicked and started saying "Don't call the cops. Please don't call the cops."

RED FLAG time.

My husband immediately went inside to get the portable house phone and his weapon. (He was not wearing it, as he thought he was safe in our yard and that guns and power tools don't mix well.) When he got back outside, the man and the phone were gone. He called 911 and things got interesting after that. The police caught the man 15 minutes later, one block over from our place.

We found out that he was one of two men who murdered someone and shot a police officer (the shots fired he had heard). Because of all that has happened, my husband will be going to court to testify when the intruder goes to trial. The police officers who came to investigate told us both that going armed at all times is smart.

We have learned the hard way that you are not safe, even on your own property, and now neither of us goes anywhere now without carrying -- including outside to mow the lawn.


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3. Deeds wins Democratic primary for VA governor
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http://tinyurl.com/nmq6wl

google.com
Deeds wins Democratic primary for Va. governor
By BOB LEWIS - 6 days ago

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds won Virginia's three-way Democratic primary for governor Tuesday with shocking ease, defeating a former Clinton White House insider and a former legislative colleague.

The victory sets up a Deeds rematch with Republican Bob McDonnell, who beat him in the 2005 attorney general election by 323 votes out of nearly 2 million cast.

"I'm a Presbyterian. I believe things happen for a reason," a jubilant Deeds, surprised at the ease of his victory, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Deeds had about half the vote with nearly all precincts reporting. His opponents, Terry R. McAuliffe and Brian J. Moran, each had around a quarter of the vote.

"The rematch isn't so important to me," Deeds said of the race against McDonnell, a conservative with strong ties to Pat Robertson. He was unopposed for the GOP nomination.

Deeds raised only about $3.7 million, far less than his two rivals. McAuliffe, who dominated fundraising, received nearly twice Deeds' total.

In other races, former Virginia Finance Secretary Jody Wagner won the Democratic lieutenant governor primary over first-time candidate A. Michael Signer.

Deeds, the only Democrat in the race not from the Washington, D.C., suburbs, piled up surprisingly large margins across the state, including the northern Virginia region his rivals call home.

McAuliffe and Moran both called Deeds to congratulate him by 8:30 p.m.

Both men had criticized Deeds for legislative votes supporting Virginia's broad, pro-gun laws, actions popular in rural areas that don't play well in cities and affluent suburbs.

McAuliffe's political connections from his days as chief fundraiser for Bill Clinton and chairman of the Democratic National Committee helped him dominate press coverage and amass a hefty amount of cash in his first bid for elective office.

The indefatigable McAuliffe, who had campaigned statewide with the former president, told dejected backers the campaign was "one of the greatest experiences of my life." He received polite applause when he exhorted them to help elect Deeds in November.

Asked about his own political future, McAuliffe kept his options open.

"I actually enjoy this," McAuliffe said of campaigning. "I had a great time. I loved it."

He seized on the down economy by promising to bring jobs to Virginia, touring the state with his confidante Bill Clinton. However, that left the venture capitalist open to attacks over his involvement in a telecommunications firm that made him millions before the company went bust, leaving 10,000 people jobless and costing investors $54 billion.

Moran, former House Democratic Caucus leader from Alexandria, went farther to the left than his rivals in appealing to liberal activists. He pledged to oppose new coal-fired power initiatives and reverse the state's same-sex marriage ban.

Deeds, with by far the least money raised of the three and a staff so sparse that he sometimes drove himself to campaign events, hewed toward the middle.

His campaign finances were so precarious that he was forced to lay off some of his field staff so that he could afford to run television ads in the final two weeks of the campaign.

For much of the campaign, Deeds, a country lawyer from the Alleghany Mountain resort community of Bath County, remained out of the crossfire between bitter rivals Moran and McAuliffe. Because he remained in the Senate, he missed 46 days at the start of the campaign and was barred by state law from raising any money during that time.

Deeds managed to avoid much of the crossfire between bitter rivals Moran and McAuliffe. It was only after he surged at the polls near the end of the campaign that his opponents criticized him for Senate votes against closing a loophole in state laws that exempt gun show sales from background checks. Federally licensed gun retailers must perform the checks.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the new Democratic National Committee chairman, is barred by the state Constitution from seeking re-election.

Associated Press Writer Matthew Barakat in Arlington, Va., and Sue Lindsey in Charlottesville, Va., contributed to this report.

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4. Brady Campaign endorses Deeds for gun show loophole stance
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When you start supporting gun control, guess who will walk in your door:

http://tinyurl.com/m4q7cr

bradycampaign.org/
News Release
In Virginia, Voters Will Have Clear Choice
On Which Gubernatorial Candidate
Would Close Gun Show Loophole
For Immediate Release:
06-10-2009

Contact Communications:
(202) 898-0792

Washington, DC - Paul Helmke, President of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, issued the following statement on the victories of Creigh Deeds and Robert McDonnell in the Democratic and Republican primaries to run for Virginia Governor:

"Creigh Deeds told voters that he was moved by the arguments he heard from survivors of the Virginia Tech tragedy, and pledged that he'd support closing the loophole that allows dangerous people to purchase weapons without passing criminal background checks. Bob McDonnell so far has refused to acknowledge that the loophole even exists.

"The voters in Virginia now have a choice between a candidate who says he's 'determined to get the gun show loophole closed' and a man who talks about family values but has refused to make it harder for criminals and the dangerously mentally ill to buy guns. That's a clear choice indeed. We look forward to this issue, and other initiatives to reduce gun violence, being debated further during the rest of the campaign."

# # #

As the nation's largest, non-partisan, grassroots organization leading the fight to prevent gun violence, the Brady Campaign, with its dedicated network of Million Mom March Chapters, works to enact and enforce sensible gun laws, regulations and public policies. The Brady Campaign is devoted to creating an America free from gun violence, where all Americans are safe at home, at school, at work, and in our communities.

For continuing insight and comment on the gun issue, read Paul Helmke's blog at http://www.bradycampaign.org/blog/. Visit the Brady Campaign website at http://www.bradycampaign.org.

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5. Chet Szymecki files new suit against Norfolk over '07 arrest
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http://tinyurl.com/lg37sn

HamptonRoads.com
Gun-rights activist again sues Norfolk over '07 arrest
NORFOLK

A Yorktown advocate of the right to openly carry firearms has filed another federal lawsuit over his one-hour detention during the June 2007 Harborfest, this one alleging excessive force against four policemen involved.

Chester "Chet" Szymecki Jr., who is proceeding without a lawyer, alleges that intentionally tight handcuffs and his physical removal from the festival site at Town Point Park caused pain and aggravated existing neurological problems. He seeks $2 million plus costs.

The local criminal charge against him over wearing a holstered .45-caliber handgun at the festival was withdrawn. Virginia law prohibits localities from regulating firearms.

The city settled a previous federal suit over the constitutionality of his arrest with a $15,000 payout before a scheduled December trial but admitted no wrongdoing.

City Attorney Bernard Pishko said Thursday that the city's position is that there was no excessive force.

"The officers' version doesn't confirm Szymecki's allegations," Pishko said.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com

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6. "No guns for Negroes" from JPFO
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What are the roots of gun control in America? Here's some inconvenient truth that the gun haters like to sweep under the rug:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nckgyfGbdnU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g7TbxkJuqA

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7. SCCC and Brady Campaign debate guns on college campuses
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http://tinyurl.com/lzvndz

opposingviews.com
SCCC and Brady Campaign Debate Guns on College Campuses
By Students for Concealed Carry on Campus , Supporting Self-Defense - June 04, 2009

In the wake of a series of horrific school shootings, from Columbine to Virginia Tech, a growing number of voices are calling for colleges to allow concealed weapons on campus, saying that armed and law-abiding students would be able to stop these tragic incidents. But many gun violence prevention groups believe that adding more weapons to the mix would only further endanger students lives.

In this video from Fox News, Scott Lewis, a spokesperson for Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, debates Paul Helmke, the president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

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8. South Dakota adds two reciprocity agreements
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This doesn't change things for Virginians with CHPs carrying in South Dakota, but it does change things for gun owners in South Dakota who want to carry here:

http://tinyurl.com/n47otj

keloland.com
06/10/2009 7:15 AM
State Adds Two Weapons Reciprocity Agreements

Secretary of State Chris Nelson said Maine and Virginia have been added to South Dakota's list of states honoring each other's concealed weapons permit.

South Dakota has weapons reciprocity agreements with 25 states.

Virginia will only recognize South Dakota permits issued to people age 21 and older.

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9. Nice encounter with state trooper while carrying
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VA-ALERT reader Doug Kelsey writes:

On my way to the VCDL picnic, I ran over some road debris on I-264 at Independence -- a bungi cord. The hook went all the way into the tire and split the steel belt so I never made it. I spent the rest of the day trying to get a replacement tire.

On the bright side, a state trooper saw me on the side of 264 and pulled up to see what the problem was. Although VA law says I don't need to tell him I was carrying concealed, I told him as he walked up that I had a CCW permit and was carrying (a full size Taurus .40 in a Fobus holster under my Tactical 5.11 shirt).

My concern is one of them will see a print, panic and draw on me, so I told him. [PVC: I would think that a State Trooper doing so would be highly unlikely, but the decision to notify is one that each person makes for themselves.] He did exactly what a trooper should do in this case: "OK, thanks, what's the problem with the car?" None of this "let me secure it," "keep your hands in plain sight" or any other nonsense.

He called the highway assistance guy for me and was on his way. Maybe his positive, professional attitude was due to the fact that he was a state police 1st Sergeant. I hope his troopers are as professional as he was. [PVC: I expect so. The State Police are very rarely unprofessional in dealing with lawful gun owners.]

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10. Another one pulled over for bumper stickers
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Long distance gun-owner Robert Baillio writes:

Tom Gresham pointed me to your bumper sticker issue, so I thought I would let you know what happened to me.

I was pulled over in my hometown of Shreveport, LA on Friday, June 5. I exited my truck and walked to the tailgate and stopped. The officer was walking toward me. As he approached, he said, "Do you have any firearms in you vehicle?" I told him I did. He asked where they were, and I said in sight between the driver's seat and the console.

He turned and walked to the driver's side door, opened it, and removed my pistol. I stayed at the back of the truck. He approached me, held my HK .45ACP up and dropped the magazine. He then asked if there was a round in the chamber, and I said yes. He ejected it onto the ground, locked the slide back and walked to his patrol unit. He came back and started asking me what I consider odd questions: Where am I going, where have I been. I answered him truthfully. I had been to the Downtown airport, and I told him. (I have a plane there and I rent office space in the terminal.)

He asked me what I was doing at the airport. I told him. He asked if I was a member of the NRA, and I said yes. Eventually he asked for my driver's license, and he took it to his unit. He asked me how long I had been living at the address. I replied about 25 years.

I have requested the video and the audio of the stop via a Public Records request. On the audio, I can hear him saying his name and that he was pulling me over because I changed lanes without using my signal. At the time, I could not hear him due to his car running and vehicles passing by.

But he never said another word about the traffic offense. The questions he asked sounded like they were directly out of the Homeland Security memo.

I called the mayor of Shreveport, and after he finally called me back, I told him that I was very uncomfortable standing on a busy street without my handgun, and I did not believe the officer had any reason, or right to remove it from my vehicle.

He told me that during a traffic stop "my rights were suspended." At first I couldn't believe he said that. Then I thought, no one is going to believe me when I tell them he said that, so I turned on my digital recorder and recorded the rest of our conversation.

He doesn't even know what RIGHTS are. [PVC: Some have suggested that politicians be required to pass a test on the Constitution. I like the idea.]

I know exactly what's going on, and I know what happened. I can only describe the way I felt after being disarmed by someone I thought I could trust as sickening. I felt like someone had broken into my home and stolen the most important irreplaceable items that I had worked for. The things I wanted my grandchildren to have were gone. It was at that point I got very angry, called the mayor, and decided I am not going to ever let this thing go.

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11. Many new mobile phones provide handy recording device
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Thanks to Grant Balint for the tip:

Almost all of the newer advanced mobile phones can record. It might be a good tip to remind people to start recording. Of course, most people do not think of that when being pulled over.

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12. Virginia's permit requests, gun sales rise at record clip
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"'A driver's license is harder to get [than a CHP],' Karp said."

Oh, baloney! I don't remember going through a background check, getting fingerprinted, and waiting up to 45 days for my driver's license:

http://tinyurl.com/njrpeg

HamptonRoads.com
Virginia's permit requests, gun sales rise at record clip

Erin King squeezed into a packed classroom at Bob's Gun Shop with a new pistol and a mission.

She sat through two hours of instruction and fired off several dozen rounds at the range with her Guardian .32-caliber. The 26-year-old from Suffolk bought her first gun a few weeks ago and plans to get a concealed-carry permit next month.

She'll slip her pistol into a hidden holster and protect herself commuting to her part-time job cleaning offices at night. "I'm responsible for myself," King said.

As the classroom shows, she's not alone.

Driven by safety concerns or political angst, gun sales and applications for concealed-carry permits are booming.

Applications for concealed-carry permits statewide have jumped 42 percent from the same period last year, when the state issued a record number, according to the Virginia Supreme Court. In South Hampton Roads, this year's requests are running nearly 40 percent over last year's. Most are granted.

In May, the number of active concealed-weapons permits in Virginia reached 188,900,

according to the Virginia State Police. More people than ever are eligible to carry concealed handguns in the state.

Reported firearms sales by licensed dealers and gun shops in Virginia have also skyrocketed.

Dealers sold 60 percent more guns in November 2008 than they had in November 2007, according to State Police records. Sales by licensed dealers are on pace to break last year's record by more than 30 percent. The totals do not include private sales.

Steve Dowdy, firearms instructor at Bob's Gun Shop in Norfolk, said gun owners fear they will lose their rights under President Barack Obama and a Democratic Congress. "I hear this every day: 'I want to get this while I can,' " Dowdy said.

Aaron Karp, a consultant with Small Arms Survey [PVC: Our research has found that Small Arms Survey is anti-gun. Surprise, surprise], a think tank studying international policies and proliferation of firearms, agrees that political motivations and a strong gun lobby have driven the increases.

A perception of growing lawlessness in communities can also drive people to buy and carry handguns, he said. For example, a proliferation of gangs in Hampton Roads could spur residents to purchase more handguns, said Karp, also a political science lecturer at Old Dominion University.

Gun sales have historically increased in healthy economic times, which makes the recent spike during this recession unusual, Karp said.

To obtain a concealed-handgun permit in Virginia, a person must be at least 21 and demonstrate handgun competency, which can be accomplished by completing an approved gun safety course or showing proof of military service. The person must also undergo a criminal background check. Total fees are capped at $50.

"A driver's license is harder to get," Karp said.

A survey of recently approved applications at the Chesapeake courthouse show a wide range of permit holders: fathers and sons, active-duty Navy officers, enlisted sailors and even a retired Baptist minister.

Jim Coppage, 66, received his permit about a month after he filed his application in Chesapeake Circuit Court. The long time gun owner said he did it to make a political statement.

He renewed his membership to the National Rifle Association. He said he noticed that it's become difficult to find ammunition in outdoors stores. He watched gun-control laws tighten in Illinois, where Obama served as senator.

"I don't trust the president," he said. "I wanted to do it and express my rights."

But he has no intention of carrying a concealed handgun. "I don't expect a war," said the retired Navy senior chief petty officer. "Some people are. I'm not." [PVC: Huh? Carrying a concealed handgun is preparing for war? So THAT is why police detectives carry concealed handguns...]

Jimmi Bonavita, a former Virginia Beach police officer, said the handgun activity is probably the most he's seen in his 35 years as a weapons instructor.

He began teaching a new concealed-weapons permit class in September after noticing a growing demand, he said. When properly handled, he said, a concealed weapon "gives you better protection for you and your family."

Doug Pennington, spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said statistics actually show reported violent crime decreasing. According to the FBI, violent crimes reported to police decreased 2.5 percent between 2007 and 2008. [PVC: During a time when gun ownership was continuing to soar and gun control was disappearing.]

Pennington dismissed the argument that tougher gun-control laws would completely strip gun owners' rights. "It's never going to happen," he said. "Nobody is ever going to take all the guns away."

Bob's Gun Shop, housed in a old brick building on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk, is one of several shops that offer training courses for concealed weapons. They've been running full classes at least once a week since the fall, Dowdy said.

On a recent Tuesday night, he ran through the basics of safely handling a gun for about 30 students. After that, the students went to the top-floor shooting range.

Shanika Pledger, 27, brought her cousin and a friend to the course. Although they joked about their shooting skills on the paper targets, they planned to buy their own guns and get concealed-carry permits.

Pledger and her husband, Dontay, decided they need a handgun for protection because of growing crime in their Norfolk neighborhood.

"He thought it was a good idea," Pledger said. "We're living in different times."

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13. Holocaust Museum shooting proves guns save lives
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VA-ALERT reader John Pepper writes:

The attack at the Holocaust Museum was stopped short by counterfire from individuals armed with pistols -- proof that guns save lives.

The rantings of the anti-Liberty, anti-gun crowd is illogical. The fact that counterfire came from Wackenhut armed security guards is beside the point. Stephen Johns gave his life in the line of duty, and we mourn his unavoidable death due to the surprise element of the attack. It could have been worse if the museum had been declared a "Gun Free Zone," the illogical cry of the Antis.

Since I have spent much of my life instructing armed self-defense, which has included students from various occupations, including police and security guards, I've seen that many of the ordinary occupation armed citizens are more competent in the use of arms than the police and security guards. This is generally known in the shooting instruction community, but little talked about. Just fact.

The point is that the Holocaust Museum is not a "Gun Free Zone," as armed guards are present. In this instance, their guns probably saved lives, which in other places and circumstances could have been saved by an armed citizen of an occupation other than police or security.

Over the years, I have received after-action reports in cases where some of my ordinary occupation citizen students had to fire in self-defense. None of them got in trouble with the law. In all instances their actions were ruled justifiable. In all but one of these defense actions, they killed the assailant or, in three instances, assailants -- as in more than one.

Several were outstanding in that they fired no misses, all shots fired hitting vital areas of the criminal. The really best defense action was the grocery store owner student who fired five rounds, all of which hit the holdup man center of mass. The holdup man as near as could be ascertained fired nineteen rounds -- all misses.

Aside from an initial training course, he realized the responsibility of being armed and, on my advice, he had kept in practice with periodic shooting sessions at the range. He reacted as he had been trained and conditioned, immediately moving to cover, breaking the line of attack, and delivering accurate defensive counterfire.

Yes, your "Guns Save Lives" slogan is absolute logic in its truest form. Let's hope this phrase catches on nationwide.

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14. Lone wolf terrorists impossible to stop
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An interesting admission by an ex-government DEA agent. This is why we should carry wherever we might go.

http://tinyurl.com/no7bu3

northstarwriters.com
Gregory D. Lee
June 12, 2009
Lone Wolf Terrorists Are Impossible to Stop

This week's shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. is the latest example of a crime committed by what law enforcement officials describe as a "lone wolf" terrorist. The shooter, James W. Von Brunn, fits the profile perfectly. Desperate for money and addicted to hatred, he blames Jews for his plight.

Last week's attack on a Little Rock Arkansas Army recruiting station illustrates how Muslim terrorists perform Jihad, or Holy War, against Americans. Even though American Muslim convert Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad had recently traveled to Yemen on a forged Somali passport, he acted alone when he killed one soldier and seriously wounded another. Whether he is part of a larger conspiracy has yet to be determined.

Once alerted to Muhammad's arrest in Yemen, the FBI launched an investigation into his activities. Despite this, Muhammad managed to obtain several firearms and shoot the two young Army recruits who were acting as hometown recruiters.

Like Muhammad, other Muslim fanatic lone wolves have sought their prey within this country. In my space restraints, I can only scratch the surface in making my point that these individuals are hard to detect, and almost impossible to stop.

For example, in 1993, Pakistani National Mir Amal Kansi had heard enough on the news about what he perceived as mistreatment of fellow Muslims by Americans, and decided to take action. He purchased an AK-47 rifle from a Virginia gun dealer. One morning he laid in wait outside CIA headquarters and walked up to a line of stopped vehicles in a left turn lane that led into the secure complex. He opened fire on the occupants of the vehicles, killing two and wounding several others. Kansi reasoned that all were probably CIA employees, and he was right. He immediately fled to Pakistan, where he was finally arrested years later after an exhaustive FBI manhunt, and returned to Virginia to stand trial. He was found guilty and executed for his crimes.

On July 4, 2002, an Egyptian Muslim immigrant, Hesham Mohamed Hadayet, living in Irvine, California, also found himself in financial straits. His limousine service business was failing, he had family problems, and in general his life was in the toilet. After apparently having thoughts of suicide, he decided instead to become a Jihad warrior. He drove to the Tom Bradley international terminal at Los Angeles International Airport and calmly got in line at the El Al ticket counter, where he reasoned he'd find Israelis returning home. He pulled out a .45-caliber pistol and shot six people, killing two of them. An alert El Al security guard shot and killed Hadayet before he could do any more damage. Los Angeles political figures called it an "isolated incident," and police authorities could not find a connection with Al Qaeda or any other terrorist organization. I spoke with an Irvine Police detective I knew, who helped search Hadayet's residence, and he told me there was nothing to indicate Hadayet was a member of any terrorist organization.

When a Muslim fanatic wakes up in the morning and decides to perform Jihad, it is impossible for law enforcement to stop them. Lone wolves do not share their intentions, and they rarely engage in a larger conspiracy, making it improbable to learn their plot.

I predict other lone wolves will emerge in the coming years. Most Muslim lone wolves do not have the wherewithal, time, money or intention to contact Osama Bin Laden to seek his permission to do their deadly deeds. Surely Hadayet and Von Brunn did not expect to survive events at LAX and the Holocaust museum. (Von Brunn is in critical condition with a gunshot wound as of this writing.) Their actions are akin to suicide bombers detonating an explosive vest under their jacket in a crowded restaurant.

Muslim lone wolves get their inspiration from Al Qaeda and sick mullahs who fan the flames of hatred. Christian lone wolves are quick to blame government and Jews for their despair. These people serve as force multipliers for domestic and transnational terrorist organizations when their miserable lives turn them to violence against Americans.

Gregory D. Lee is a retired DEA Supervisory Special Agent who worked in Pakistan and helped the FBI in the Mir Amal Kansi investigation. He can be contacted at info@gregorydlee.com.

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15. The Second Amendment and the states
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http://tinyurl.com/nayubv

reason.com
The Second Amendment and the States
Why the Supreme Court should strike down Chicago's handgun ban
Damon W. Root | June 11, 2009

Last year's landmark Supreme Court decision in District of Columbia v. Heller definitively settled the fact that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right--as opposed to a collective one--to keep and bear arms. Yet that ruling applied only to the federal government (which oversees Washington, D.C.). Does the Second Amendment apply against state and local governments as well?

Although Heller never answered that question, Justice Antonin Scalia's majority opinion did provide a very potent hint. In footnote 23, Scalia observed that while the Court's earlier ruling in U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876) stated that the Second Amendment did not apply against the states, "Cruikshank also said that the First Amendment did not apply against the States and did not engage in the sort of Fourteenth Amendment inquiry required by our later cases."

To appreciate Scalia's meaning, consider that the Supreme Court has been protecting First Amendment rights from state and local abuse since 1925's Gitlow v. New York. The Court has done so under the so-called incorporation doctrine, whereby most of the Bill of Rights and certain other fundamental rights have been incorporated against the states via the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, which reads, "nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Cruikshank is therefore a dead letter when it comes to free speech. So why should it still matter for gun rights? As the footnote basically points out, Cruikshank was decided before incorporation had even been invented. So it's the modern incorporation doctrine that matters now, not the long-dead reasoning behind Cruikshank.

This controversy lies at the center of last week's unfortunate decision in National Rifle Association v. Chicago (formerly McDonald v. Chicago), where the federal 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Second Amendment offers zero protection against the draconian gun control laws currently in place in Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois.

It's a mistaken and also strangely misguided decision, as plaintiff's attorney Alan Gura (who previously argued and won Heller) demonstrates in the appeal he quickly filed with the Supreme Court. As Gura notes, not only did the 7th Circuit decline "to perform the required incorporation analysis," the court "erred in failing to heed Heller's cautionary statement that the pre-incorporation relics [including Cruikshank] lack 'the sort of Fourteenth Amendment inquiry required by our later cases.'"

Moreover, the 7th Circuit even suggested that federalism would best be served by letting the states disregard the Second Amendment entirely. "Federalism is an older and more deeply rooted tradition than is a right to carry any particular kind of weapon," Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote for the three-judge panel.

Yet as Gura rightfully responds in his petition, "To claim that of all rights, the Second Amendment must yield to local majoritarian impulses is especially wrong considering that the rampant violation of the right to keep and bear arms was understood to be among the chief evils vitiated by adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment." Indeed, the 14th Amendment was specifically written and ratified by the Radical Republicans after the Civil War to protect the recently freed slaves and their white allies from the depredations of the former Confederate states, including the infamous Black Codes, which curtailed property rights, liberty of contract, free speech, and the right to keep and bear arms.

The Second Amendment deserves the exact same respect as the rest of the Bill of Rights, nearly all of which have now been incorporated, something Gura is careful to explain. Which is precisely what the 7th Circuit should have said. Moreover, Gura persuasively argues that now is the right time for the Supreme Court to correct one of its most glaring historical errors by overturning the controversial Slaughterhouse Cases (1873), which essentially gutted the 14th Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause, which reads, "No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States." As numerous legal historians have now documented, the text, original meaning, and history of that clause all point in one direction: It was designed to nationalize the Bill of Rights and other substantive rights.

The 7th Circuit essentially breezed past this argument, though it's perhaps worth noting that Judge Easterbrook did so while repeatedly referring to the "Privileges and Immunities Clause," which is actually located in Article IV of the Constitution, when he quite clearly meant to write (and refer to) the 14th Amendment's "Privileges or Immunities Clause." It's a small error, to be sure, though it's still one that the federal circuit ought not to make.

So what does all this mean for the future of the Second Amendment and gun rights? Last January, the 2nd Circuit, including Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, reached the same erroneous conclusion about incorporation as the Seventh did last week. Yet in April, the 9th Circuit got it right, holding in Nordyke v. King that, "the right to keep and bear arms is 'deeply rooted in this Nation's history and tradition'... [and] is necessary to the Anglo-American conception of ordered liberty." This split among the circuits means the Supreme Court will almost certainly take up the issue.

Given that Gura's provocative and sharply reasoned appeal is now in the Court's hands, and given that Chicago's contested handgun ban so closely resembles the D.C. ban nullified last year in Heller, this case offers the perfect opportunity for the Court to fully restore the Second Amendment to its rightful place in our constitutional system.

Damon W. Root is an associate editor at Reason.

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16. Who needs a gun at home?
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http://tinyurl.com/nz937o

nvdaily.com
Man and his gun thwart attempted home invasion

By Ben Orcutt -- borcutt@nvdaily.com

RELIANCE -- Edgar "Ed" Shifflett and his wife, Thelma, are Bible- and gun-toting Christians who say they feel just as safe after thwarting an attempted home invasion as they did before.

"Yeah, I feel safe," the 71-year-old Shifflett said Friday as he recalled how he used a .22-caliber pistol to ward off a would-be home invader Wednesday. "I got an arsenal here and I know how to use it all."

Mrs. Shifflett, 69, said angels were watching over her and her husband at their Reliance Road home in Warren County. She also says it didn't hurt that her husband knows how to use a gun.

"I'll tell you why I feel safe because I know the Lord is on my side," Mrs. Shifflett said. "We're both Christians and if it hadn't of been for [the Lord] and his angels and he hadn't had that gun ..."

"That'd been it," Shifflett said, finishing his wife's sentence.

Diagnosed with cancer and given only five months to live, Shifflett said he wasn't about to let the man who tried to force himself inside his home do him or his wife harm.

"It's just my duty," Shifflett said. "It's a man's job."

The Shiffletts said they were already on edge on Wednesday when three different men who appeared to be in their 20s inquired if they wanted to have their driveway sealed. Shifflett said he thought it was a scam because one of the men said he would give him a good price because the sealer would go bad, which Shifflett said isn't true.

The couple were just sitting down to lunch in their kitchen when the back doorbell rang again and there was a faint knock at the door, Shifflett said.

"When I went to answer the door, well, I looked," Shifflett said, adding that he had his pistol in his right hand. "You don't really suspect anything. I'm on pins and needles. Something ain't jiving with these three cats that was here before. I unlocked the door, done the dead bolt, pulled the gun down beside me. When I did the knob, he knew it cleared the door because you can hear it when it does it."

Shifflett said when he first began to open the door, he could see someone in the stairwell, and the man raised his right hand with a white bag that Shifflett suspects had a knife in it.

"I just jumped back, brought the gun up at the same time because I'm at least three feet from him. He tries to hit and kick at the same time," Shifflett said. "At the same time the door cracked, what had made me jump back, he pulled a bandana up over his face and that's why I know the white bag was there. I couldn't see it previously. That's when everything popped loose all at one time. A split second. I done had [the gun] cocked."

Shifflett said the man yelled, "'No man! No man!,' and he fell backwards on the steps."

The man gathered himself, Shifflett said, and as he was running away, Shifflett said he fired a warning shot about a foot over the man's head.

"I figured he knew who it was if he opened the door for them," Mrs. Shifflett said. "And all of a sudden he hollered, 'Hon, call 911!' And just like that, I mean I run and grabbed the phone and called 911."

Shifflett said the Warren County Sheriff's Office responded along with a K-9 unit, but the man escaped.

The suspect is described as a black male of unknown age, 5 feet 8 inches to 6 feet tall with a medium build, wearing a buttoned-up sweatshirt, dark pants and a dark baseball cap. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact Warren County investigator Chris Williams at 653-7100.

The Shiffletts say authorities have told them there appears to be no connection to a home invasion in Clarke County on Thursday.

Although the Shiffletts feel safe, they remain cautious.

"Right now I'm not taking any chances," Shifflett said. "I'm [going to] be first on the draw."

A devout Christian with a Bible in one hand and a gun in the other, Shifflett says he wished he had shot the would-be invader.

"I preach Jesus and I'll kill you with the other one," Shifflett said. "I wished I had shot. Yes sir, if I had it to do over again. I wouldn't have to worry about him coming back, for her sake."

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17. Who needs a gun in a pizza parlor?
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http://tinyurl.com/lug3em

wtop.com
5 shot in Connecticut pizza parlor
June 6, 2009 - 3:41pm

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Police say five people were shot in a Connecticut pizza shop, and one of the victims is hospitalized in serious condition with a gunshot wound to the back.

Police spokesman Jose Rivera says the people were shot inside Papas Pizza at Union Place early Saturday. Police didn't immediately identify the victims. In addition to the person with the back wound, police say the four others don't have life-threatening injuries.

Rivera says 21-year-old Byron Taylor of Hartford, Conn., was arrested and charged with several weapons violations.

Also in Hartford, another man was shot and wounded following a fight inside a nightclub. Investigators found shell casings and blood on the dance floor. The victim was not identified. Police say he had a non-life threatening wound to the abdomen.

No arrest has been made.


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18. Who needs a gun in the forest?
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yahoo.com
The Three Bears? Try 163,000 ... and counting
ROGER ALFORD, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jun 13, 8:59 am ET

HARLAN, Ky. - Bobby Koger was deer hunting on a Kentucky hillside when a black bear gave him the fright of his life.

A 300-pound animal, apparently unhappy that an intruder was on his turf, came charging and didn't stop until Koger raised his .50 caliber muzzleloading rifle and fired from point-blank range. A hunting companion who witnessed the attack from a distance also shot the bruin, which wheeled, ran a short distance and collapsed.

Conservation officers concluded that they fired in self-defense at a bear that had lost its natural fear of humans.

With black bear populations rising, run-ins have become almost commonplace -- more than 15,000 in the past year in states east of the Mississippi River according to a survey of state wildlife agencies.

Canadian bear researcher Hank Hristienko, who conducted the survey in January, found that 18 Eastern states were seeing more encounters with bears.

Most encounters involve hungry bears raiding backyard bird feeders or toppling garbage bins, but sometimes they're harrowing. In a 2006 attack, a 210-pound male bear killed a 6-year-old girl and mauled her 2-year-old brother as well as her mother who tried to fend off the animal. The attack occurred during a family outing in Tennessee's Cherokee National Forest.

Some bears have become brazen, dining beneath backyard fruit trees, raiding pet food bowls, even chasing campers. At a park near Prestonsburg, Ky., last year, a bear held tourists at bay inside a cabin until rangers arrived to chase it away.

They have also become road hazards. Wildlife agencies reported more than 1,300 struck by automobiles in 2008.

The U.S. bear population more than doubled between 1989 and 2006, rising from 165,000 to over 350,000, according to The International Association of Bear Research and Management, a bear conservation nonprofit that takes a periodic census of the animals.

Biologists with the same group found nearly 20,000 reported conflicts between bears and humans in 37 states in a 2006 survey of state wildlife agencies.

More recently, in the Eastern region alone, 18 states reported an increase in bear-human conflicts over the past year, Hristienko found in his survey of wildlife agencies.

Tennessee reported the largest increase, up from 300 to 1,000 over the past 10 years. That was followed by New York, which went from 587 to 1,127, and New Jersey, which jumped from 691 encounters to 1,117.

Frank van Manen, a U.S. Geological Survey research ecologist and president of the International Association for Bear Research and Management, said it's not that the bears are becoming more aggressive. Instead, he said, bear populations are skyrocketing under state bans or limits on bear hunting.

"What we have seen throughout the eastern United States is quite a phenomenal range expansion of the black bear," van Manen said. "With the range expansion, the likelihood of the encounters is increasing."

Black bears are the most common bear species in the U.S. with measurable populations in most states. Their larger cousin, the grizzly, is limited to the northwestern states and Alaska. They eat just about anything, including meat, but tend to subsist mostly on insects, nuts, berries, acorns and other vegetation.

Stephanie Boyles, a wildlife scientist for the Humane Society of the United States, said 14 people have been killed in attacks by black bears in North America since 2000, including two in Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee National Forest. Boyles said another 10 people were killed by grizzlies during the period, mostly in Alaska and Canada.

In Kentucky, officials opened a hunting season for bears, a move pushed by the state League of Sportsmen to reinforce the animals' fear of humans.

More than a century ago, bears thrived in Kentucky, but over-hunting and habitat loss led to their disappearance. As the large animals have ventured back from neighboring states, Kentucky residents nowadays find themselves unaccustomed to living among bears.

"You've got bears moving into areas where people live and you've got people moving into areas where bears live," said Mark Ternent, a state bear biologist in Pennsylvania. "Both of those scenarios frequently involve people with little experience living around bears."

Ternent said most of the encounters are harmless, ending with the bears running away.

"The average bear is afraid of people," he said. "If it encounters a person, it would rather flee than fight."

Boyles said people can prevent unwanted bear encounters by doing simple things like putting bird feeders out of reach of the animals, putting trash out only on the day it is to be picked up, and keeping pet food indoors.

Koger, a construction worker, said he has run across lots of bears over the years in the mountains of eastern Kentucky. Most of the time, he said, the bears don't relish the encounters either.

"Usually they want to get away from you as much you want to get away from them," he said.

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19. Pro-gun firearms safety commercial
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This is for a pro-gun organization in Washington, DC:

http://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=4TKh1HhyiII

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20. Obama plan would eliminate 8 out of 10 pocketknives
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http://tinyurl.com/ndaxaa

wnd.com
Now Obama wants to take this out of your pocket
'If this were to pass and you cross the state line with one, it's a felony'
Posted: June 09, 2009
8:40 pm Eastern
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency is proposing a new definition that could be used to eliminate 8 of 10 legal pocketknives in the United States right now, according to activists who are gearing up to fight the plan.

The federal bureaucracy is accepting comments - written only - that must be received by June 21 before its planned changes could become final, but Doug Ritter of KnifeRights.org, said the implications of the decision would be far-reaching, since many state and federal agencies depend on the agency's definitions to determine what is legal in the United States.

For a long time, those switchblades that have long stiletto blades that are spring-ejected powerfully from the side or end of the handle have been illegal in the United States, but now a review by the agency of its own approval in 2008 of a particular type of knife for import is raising serious alarms.

Ritter said the effect of the proposed change would be that the new design in knives, many of which contain a tiny spring to help the user pull open the blade and lock it into position, would be classified alongside those true weapons where the user just presses a button and the blade is ejected.

"They are saying that any knife that you can open quickly or any knife that you can open with one hand is therefore a switchblade," Ritter told WND.

On his organization's website there are suggested letters for consumers to reproduce and dispatch to both the Customs agency as well as their members of Congress over the issue.

Ritter suggested that up to 80 percent of the pocketknives sold in America today either are one-handed opening knives or so-called assisted opening knives - and they all suddenly would be classified as illegal switchblades.

Read the book that says Christians have an obligation to be armed. Get "Shooting Back: The Right and Duty of Self-Defense"

The agency change came in a case involving a knife called the "VanHoy Assist," whose importers were represented in a request for affirmation of its legality by a San Francisco law firm.

Such determinations are not unusual since an importer does not want to have a shipment of products sitting on a ship waiting for unloading only to have a federal agent call them illegal.

The knives first were approved by the agency in 2008. But only a few weeks ago, Frederick McCray of the agency's Intellectual Property Rights and Restricted Merchandise Branch did a review.

"This is in reference to Headquarters Ruling Letter ('HQ') H032255, dated August 12, 2008, which concerned the admissibility of the 'VanHoy Assist,' a 'release-assisted' knife described below, pursuant to the Switchblade Knife Act, 15 U.S.C. S 1241, et seq. In the referenced ruling, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (hereinafter 'CBP') determined that the knives at issue were admissible into the United States pursuant to the Switchblade Knife Act. We have reconsidered the rationale of, and the admissibility determination made in HQ H032255 and found both to be in error. For the reasons set forth below, we hereby revoke HQ H032255," the letter said.

That could mean headaches for the knife industry, Ritter said.

"Customs," continued Ritter, "is the only place where the switchblade is interpreted in various rulings. Whenever a federal, state, or local jurisdiction is looking at what a switchblade is, whenever there's a court case or whatever ... they will look to the feds."

He said the change came after the incoming administration of President Barack Obama reassigned some managers at the agency.

"What we do know is when the incoming administration reshuffled assignments at Customs, it moved the responsibility for knives and switchblades from one organization with Customs to a new organization," he said. "That group has, as far we can tell, virtually no experiences, background or anything with knives."

Officials with Customs told WND that they do not comment on issues during an open comment period, such as going on for the regulation change right now.

"We do not comment on pending proposals for changes in our rulings under 19 USC 1625. We are in the comment period and we will carefully weigh the comments that we receive before deciding whether to proceed to a final decision," the prepared statement e-mailed to WND said.

Ritter said the reason for the change isn't clear, "but certainly this administration is no friend to things like knives and guns," he said.

A successful campaign to change the definition would mean thousands would be out of work in the knife industry, and the impact would have far-reaching effects.

For example, if someone would be caught with a newly-illegal "pocketknife," would the resulting charges be structured to allege that person was dangerous or had an illegal weapon, and how would that change the defendant's right to own a firearm, he wondered.

"If this law were to pass and you cross the state line with a folder (pocketknife) in your pocket, it would be a federal felony," he said.

In reality, pocketknives are tools, he said. "Certainly they can be used as a weapon." But so could a screw driver or other hand tools.

He said the proposal, which puts pocketknives in the classification of switchblades - described by a Senate committee as "almost exclusively the weapon of the thug and the delinquent" - isn't fair.

"There are 40 million people in America walking around with pocketknives in their pocket," he said.

Further, the majority of crimes committed with knives are done with the "lowly kitchen knife," he said.

According to Ritter's website, the proposed revocation of the approval for "assisted opening knives," would impact "most other pocketknives, even simple old-fashioned slip-joints."



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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