Not yet a VCDL member? Join VCDL at: http://www.vcdl.org/join.html
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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. VCDL picnic in Newport News on Saturday, September 10th!
2. Shooting range in Bedford County
3. Great behavior from a Leesburg police officer
4. Air gun rules irk Vinton official
5. Va man killed while playing with gun
6. Cuccinelli speaks out about opinion on guns at UVA
7. Do tell, Virginia Tech
8. TSA: Man charged with bringing loaded gun into Norfolk airport terminal, allowed
to catch flight
9. Proposed U.N. treaty to regulate global firearms trade raising concerns for U.S.
gun makers
10. Larry Pratt: The 'Council of 13' to decide everything!
11. 10 years after concealed weapons law, unclear why many in state were gun-shy
12. Muggers meet target's Sig Sauer P239
13. Suits push for greater gun rights in public
14. Bearing arms in public is next legal battlefield
15. Who needs a gun at a state fair?
16. Assault, sniper rifles stolen from Fort Irwin
17. CMP Shooter's News 08-01-11
18. Reality check on knife attacks
19. Norway gun laws
20. Meeting recap for Charlottesville
21. Virginia Tech false "scare" spurs call for more gun control
22. Video coverage of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus event last week
23. VCDL member works successfully to get local park rules fixed in Pearisburg
24. Another tantrum on the new BB gun law
*************************************************
1. VCDL picnic in Newport News on Saturday, September 10th!
*************************************************
The Virginia Citizen's Defense League will be hosting a picnic in the Riverview park
in the city of Newport News. The picnic will be held on September 10th from 11:00
AM until 2:00 PM. All are invited. The park rules includes the following:
NO alcohol
Pets should be on a leash or under direct control of the owner
Vehicles may not be driven onto the grass
www.opencarry.org has a list of items needed for the picnic. To access the list,
click here:
http://tinyurl.com/43cf4fo
100 City Farm Road
Newport News, Virginia 23602
(757) 886-7912
nnparks.com?
Thanks to EM and gun show coordinator, Ron Lilly, for setting up this picnic!
*************************************************
2. Shooting range in Bedford County
*************************************************
Joe Seiffert emailed me this:
From the Lynchburg News and Advance: http://tinyurl.com/4yd3sx4
Owner of Forest shooting range seeks rezoning
By: STAFF
August 03, 2011
The owner of an outdoor shooting range in Forest that Bedford officials said last
year was not allowed under county zoning is seeking a rezoning for his property.
Timothy Hooper, who had operated the range at 6010 Thomas Jefferson Road near New
London Academy, is asking to rezone 21 acres of an 80-acre parcel to allow the
eight-acre outdoor shooting range by special use permit, according to the county's
Department of Community Development. The Board of Supervisors would have the final
say if the rezoning or permit would be granted. The rezoning would need to be
approved before Hooper could seek the permit.
The facility on Hooper's family farm was in use prior to the establishment of the
county's ordinance in 1998 but officials said it could not be grandfathered in.
A shooting range is not allowed under Medium Density Residential (R-2), the current
zoning. Hooper is seeking to change it to Agricultural/Rural Preserve (AP), which
permits a shooting range through a special use permit.
The county planning commission, which makes recommendations to the supervisors, is
scheduled to review the rezoning request Sept. 19. A neighborhood information
meeting is also planned at 7 p.m. Aug. 17 in the Forest Library.
The county also recently received a site plan for a new Wendy's to be built in
Forest at the intersection of Elkton Farm Road and U.S. 221 next to the Forest
Square Shopping Center.
*************************************************
3. Great behavior from a Leesburg police officer
*************************************************
A VA-ALERT reader emailed me this:
--
Philip,
On the morning of July 28 I was northbound on US route 15 just north of Leesburg
where the road starts to narrow to two lanes. It seemed appropriate for me at the
time to accelerate and go around the car next to me.
As I did this from the side of the road a Leesburg Police Officer aimed a radar gun
at me. As I passed him in my mirror I saw him enter his car, turn on his lights and
start driving. As he pulled behind me I turned on my flashers and pulled to a safe
section of the shoulder.
I shut off my engine, rolled down the windows and put my hands on the steering
wheel. The officer approached and politely informed me that he "clocked" me at 61
mph in a 45 mph zone. He asked for my driver's license and registration. I told
him the license was in my wallet in my back pocket and the registration was in my
glove box.
After deliberately and slowing providing both documents the officer asked, "Are you
carrying a handgun?" My response was, "Yes, I am, in a holster on my belt." He said
he noticed a magazine pouch on my belt when I lifted my polo shirt to reach my
wallet in my back pocket.
He asked if I had a CHP to which I responded in the affirmative. After checking my
permit he thanked me and went back to his car to process the rest of the stop.
I wish I had made note of his name so that I could pay him a personal complement for
his professionalism and calm handling of the situation. I feel that his reaction was
the result of proper training and maybe even VCDL getting the word out to
departments across the state.
In the end I thanked the officer for his service and bid him to stay safe. [PVC:
Good for this member! That showed real class, acknowledging that the officer is
just doing his job of enforcing the law.]
*************************************************
4. Air gun rules irk Vinton official
*************************************************
Boy, city councils and Boards of Supervisors sure hate being told what to do by the
General Assembly! Of course they are more than happy to tell you and me what we can
and can't do.
EM Dave Hicks emailed me this:
--
From The Roanoke Times: http://tinyurl.com/3vqk56q
Air gun rules irk Vinton official
A council member said she sees the legal use of air guns in the town as a public
safety issue.
By Cody Lowe
Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Mirroring reactions at localities throughout the Roanoke and New River valleys, some
Vinton Town Council members Tuesday expressed reservations at being forced to allow
the use of pneumatic guns within town limits.
Town Attorney Elizabeth Dillon presented a draft ordinance that would bring the
town's ordinance into compliance with a state law that says localities cannot ban
the firing of pneumatic guns if it's done with permission or on one's own property
with "reasonable care that the projectile not cross the property boundary."
Council member Carolyn Fidler noted that "in my neighborhood, lots are only 50 feet
wide so there is a house only 10 feet away on each side of mine. A weapon like this
could do a great deal of harm even in a larger area. I do not feel it is in the best
interest of public safety."
Fidler also said she was particularly concerned that the use of such guns could
create dangerous situations where police are called to investigate a report of
someone with a gun that turns out to be a BB gun but looks like a firearm.
"They do not want to go around shooting someone" with such a weapon.
She asked that the council also ask the state legislature to reconsider the
requirement.
Councilman Wes Nance, who is an assistant commonwealth's attorney in Bedford County,
said he understood those concerns but, "I don't think this completely handcuffs law
enforcement."
"It is reckless and still against the law if someone shoots out a window. If they
point such a gun at a person, that is brandishing" and punishable by up to 12 months
in jail, Nance said.
The council will consider a revised ordinance, as well as a letter admonishing the
General Assembly to reconsider the requirement, at one of its next two meetings.
The town council also will consider revisions to its noise ordinance, another
housekeeping item dictated by another branch of government -- in this case, the
state Supreme Court.
As had been the case in Roanoke County, the town's ordinance has used language
outlawing noise based on what would disturb a "reasonable person." Among a series of
other tweaks to the law, Dillon suggested replacing those references with
prohibitions based on sounds that are "plainly audible" 50 feet from the source.
For instance, the sound from a radio inside a car "plainly audible" to someone 50
feet away from the car would constitute a noise nuisance.
That ordinance also will come up for final consideration at one of the next two
council meetings.
*************************************************
5. Va man killed while playing with gun
*************************************************
Playing with a gun is a Darwinian proposition. Case in point below.
Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
--
From nbc12.com: http://tinyurl.com/3ltcjo9
Va man killed while playing with gun
Aug 02, 2011
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - A Henrico County woman faces an involuntary manslaughter charge
after her boyfriend was killed while the two were playing with a gun.
Henrico County police say 19-year-old Samuel Clarke II was shot in the chest Monday
afternoon at a residence on Engleside Drive. He was pronounced dead at VCU Medical
Center.
Clarke's girlfriend, 21-year-old Sharday Pleasants, told police that she and Clarke
were pointing his revolver at one another and pulling the trigger. She told police
that she watched Clarke empty the gun before they started playing with it and the
shooting was an accident.
Pleasants also is charged with shooting inside an occupied dwelling.
*************************************************
6. Cuccinelli speaks out about opinion on guns at UVA
*************************************************
Dave Hicks emailed me this:
--
From nbc29.com: http://tinyurl.com/3rwmozn
[SNIP]
"Virginia Tech is receiving generally positive reviews for how it handled an
on-campus gun scare Thursday. [PVC: What? Telling everyone on campus to panic,
hide, and suck your thumb until the police arrive? No praise from VCDL for such
stupidity and endangerment of students, faculty, and staff by disarming everyone.]
It's with some irony that a day later, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is
again talking about having the University of Virginia bow to state laws and allow
those with permits to bring guns onto grounds."
*************************************************
7. Do tell, Virginia Tech
*************************************************
Board member Dale Welch emailed me this:
--
Tech policy group members Larry Hincker, the school's director of university
relations, and police chief Wendell Flinchum, said in an afternoon news conference
that Tech's campus is too big to "lock down."
---Dale
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/3v2ws3z
Virginia Tech officials maintain campus too big for lockdown
By: SCOTT LEAMON
August 04, 2011
BLACKSBURG, VA -- After lifting a "campus wide alert" Thursday afternoon, Virginia
Tech administrators said they were pleased with the response to a report of a man
with a possible handgun on campus.
A few minutes after nine o'clock Thursday morning, three teenage girls reported
seeing a man carrying a possible handgun near Dietrick dining hall, police said.
The girls told police the handgun, if it was one, was covered up by some sort of cloth.
Tech policy group members Larry Hincker, the school's director of university
relations, and police chief Wendell Flinchum, said in an afternoon news conference
that Tech's campus is too big to "lock down."
Flinchum told reporters Tech's campus is 2,600 acres with dozens of buildings.
Flinchum said police checked every building on campus and searched all other areas.
Hincker said 45,000 subscribers were notified through text alert or by voice mail of
the situation.
Tech also cancelled classes for the day, and changed the look of it's website for
all of Thursday morning, and much of the afternoon.
The website reflected the latest updates on the situation.
Hincker said the university also constantly updated its Facebook page and Twitter
account.
Hincker said classes will resume as scheduled Friday morning.
*************************************************
8. TSA: Man charged with bringing loaded gun into Norfolk airport terminal, allowed
to catch flight
*************************************************
From dailypress.com: http://tinyurl.com/43qlf4c
TSA: Man charged with bringing loaded gun into Norfolk airport terminal, allowed to
catch flight
By Austin Bogues
August 3, 2011
A Richmond man was charged with bringing a loaded gun into a Norfolk International
Airport terminal on Monday afternoon.
He was still able to catch his flight. Jeff Horowitz, Federal Security Director for
the Transportation Security Administration in Southern Virginia, said that Joseph
Timothy Bass, 51, was heading through security when a TSA worker noticed a firearm
in his carry-on luggage. The worker saw the gun when the bag was passing through an
x-ray machine, Horowitz said.
At that point, Horowitz said, airport police were called and Bass was questioned.
After seizing his weapon and issuing him a summons, Bass was allowed to continue
traveling on a United Airlines flight to Chicago, Horowitz said.
Wayne Shank, executive director of the airport, said that no danger was posed to
travelers.
"The system worked," Shank said. [PVC: Yeah, let's punish someone who had no intent
to harm anyone.] He said that no additional security measures were being planned in
wake of the incident.
*************************************************
9. Proposed U.N. treaty to regulate global firearms trade raising concerns for U.S.
gun makers
*************************************************
Walter Jackson emailed me this:
From foxnews.com: http://tinyurl.com/3hcx25e
Proposed U.N. Treaty to Regulate Global Firearms Trade Raising Concerns for U.S. Gun
Makers
By Maxim Lott
August 05, 2011
A controversial U.N. proposed treaty aimed at regulating guns worldwide has been
shrouded by confusion and misinformation.
Known informally as the 'Small Arms Treaty,' its detractors have charged the
proposed agreement with secretly trying to take guns out of the hands of Americans
and circumventing the 2nd Amendment.
While that is unlikely, a working draft proposal obtained by FoxNews.com contains
language that some gun advocates say could have a real impact on American gun
makers.
Last month a U.N. committee met in New York and signed off on several provisions,
including the creation of a new U.N. agency to regulate international weapon sales,
and require countries that host firearms manufacturers to set up a compensation fund
for victims of gun violence worldwide.
Tom Mason, who represented the World Forum on the Future of Sports Shooting at the
U.N. conference, told FoxNews.com the provisions are worrying.
"No, there are no black helicopters. There is no secret treaty that Hillary Clinton
has signed," Mason said. "But on the other hand, the treaty is a significant threat
to gun owners. I think the biggest threat may be the body that would administer the
treaty," he added, referring to a new U.N agency the treaty would create, to be
called the "Implementation Support Unit."
Under the latest draft of the treaty, every country would be required to submit a
report to the ISU outlining "all activities undertaken in order to accomplish the
implementation of this Treaty, including... domestic laws, regulations and
administrative measures."
It also requires countries to set up their own government agencies to track any guns
that could be exported. "Parties shall take all necessary measures to control
brokering activities taking place within its territories ... to prevent the
diversion of exported arms into the illicit market or to unintended end users," the
draft reads.
The vague wording leaves room for interpretation, and a U.N. representative for a
major U.S. gun manufacturer who spoke to FoxNews.com on the condition of anonymity
told FoxNews.com that he believed it left room for the ISU to declare the
registration of all American-made guns to prevent illegal exportation.
"Does this mean it's going to impose some international gun registration scheme?
That could happen here, under the treaty," said the gun manufacturer representative.
Daniel Prins, chief of the Conventional Arms Branch for the U.N.'s Office for
Disarmament Affairs (ODA) told FoxNews.com that no provisions have been finalized.
"All the issues remain on the table," said Prins.
Other gun control supporters who attended the U.N. conference say that American gun
owners have nothing to worry about.
"People within the U.S. should not be worried about it unless they sell arms
internationally," Collin Goddard, of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence,
told FoxNews.com. "The whole treaty is to prevent countries from selling guns to
other countries that have gross violations of human rights."
Goddard said that concerns about a possible national gun registry is ridiculous
because the intent of the treaty was only to restrict arms sales between countries.
"This does not cover weapons that are kept internally," he said, adding that the ISU
would be kept efficient.
"They are just trying to establish a regulatory board... Everyone's worried about
another big bureaucracy, and I can understand that. But the committee is trying to
keep it small and lean," said Goddard.
The gun manufacturer representative said his client doesn't buy that. "It's pretty
clear that it's going to impose major new administrative burdens."
An especially costly potential regulation discussed at the conference last month
would require gun makers to engrave sequential tracings on every one of some 3
billion bullets produced in the U.S. each year.
And that, he said, would make guns more expensive for everyone.
"Manufacturers would have to pass on the cost to civilian customers." Another
controversial part of the treaty draft establishes a compensation fund for victims
of gun violence, which would transfer money from countries that export weapons to
countries that had suffered gun violence.
"Countries should support victims of any kind of victimization," Goddard said,
noting that it was a big issue at the July treaty conference. But it is included in
the draft treaty only as a voluntary provision for each country.
Goddard added that he did not believe that the fund would make it into the final
version of the treaty, in part because the U.S. delegation opposed the measure. The
U.S. government's delegation has opposed restrictions on civilian weapons in
general. Canada has done the same.
The State Department did not respond to calls for comment.
But Versnel said that the vast majority of countries support additional regulations
on civilian weapons.
"Just about everybody is pushing for more," Julianne Versnel, the director of
operations for the Second Amendment Foundation, who also attended the conference,
told FoxNews.com. "It's Europe, it's Africa, it's the Caribbean, it's South America.
Mexico has been at the forefront."
Regardless of what regulations other countries agree to, the treaty only becomes law
in the U.S. if it gets a two-thirds majority in the Senate.
And last month, more than 50 senators signed on to a letter to Secretary of State
Clinton saying that they will not vote for any treaty that restricts civilian arms.
The NRA is confident that the treaty will not be ratified in the U.S.
"The U.N. can pass it if they want it," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told
FoxNews.com.
"But for it to have domestic effect, it needs to pass us senate by a two-thirds vote
-- and clearly that will not happen in this make up of the U.S. senate, regardless
of what the administration does."
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10. Larry Pratt: The 'Council of 13' to decide everything!
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Chris Richardson emailed me this:
--
From YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/3cct4k5
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11. 10 years after concealed weapons law, unclear why many in state were gun-shy
*************************************************
Ben Piper emailed me this:
--
I really worry that all our gains in the states over the last 25
years with "shall issue" CCW laws will be wiped out by a single
federal law. I think Barbara Boxer has a bill right now that would
federally nullify all "shall issue" state laws. The reason I fear
this is because both major political parties, and gun rights
groups like the NRA are, and have been pushing for federal regulation of
gun possession for decades ("National Right to Carry," Law
Enforcement Officer's Safety Act, Brady Handgun Violence
Prevention Act, Gun Free School Zone's Act, etc). This, despite the fact that
Article I, Sec. 8, the 10th Amendment, and the 2nd Amendment make
clear that the federal government has zero authority to regulate
gun possession. This increasing nationalization of gun control
makes single votes to do things like outlaw handguns and repeal
"shall issue" laws inevitable.
BP
From freep.com: http://tinyurl.com/3c7jz2o
[SNIP]
"Ten years after Michigan made it much easier for its citizens to get a license to
carry a concealed gun, predictions of widespread lawless behavior and bloodshed have
failed to materialize."
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12. Muggers meet target's Sig Sauer P239
*************************************************
Deborah Jane Anderson emailed me this:
--
Great story that takes place up in New Haven, CT. By the way, I just love the first
two lines of this story --
"Brandon Kruse said nothing when three attackers set upon him on his way out for
sushi and a beer. Words weren't necessary. Kruse pulled out a handgun instead. The
attackers fled; [and] soon after, he helped the cops arrest them."
Great outcome! Still, I sure hope he's learned his lesson from this incident and
starts to carry all the time from now on.
Blessings,
Deborah Jane Anderson
From newhavenindependent.org: http://tinyurl.com/3mneo7o
Muggers Meet Target's Sig Sauer P239
By Paul Bass
AUG 2, 2011
Brandon Kruse said nothing when three attackers set upon him on his way out for
sushi and a beer. Words weren't necessary.
Kruse pulled out a handgun instead. The attackers fled; soon after, he helped the
cops arrest them.
The encounter took place Saturday at 9:46 p.m.
Kruse, a 29-year-old sales manager for a company that sells ceramic pots, was
walking from his Trumbull Street residence to Kumo Japanese Restaurant at State and
Elm.
He had a handgun on him, a Sig Sauer P239. He has a permit to carry the gun, but he
doesn't usually carry it. For some reason he carried it Saturday night. He's not
sure why. "I just had a weird feeling," he said.
At State and Wall, three young men walked toward him. He stepped to the left. One of
the young men punched him in the head; the two others surrounded him.
The initial attacker punched him again with a closed fist.
Kruse was able to push him back. Then Kruse reached for his waistband. He pointed
the gun at them. He didn't speak.
"I just pulled the gun. They all scattered," Kruse said in an interview Monday.
"I was shaking. It's one of those things you don't expect it. You're walking by,
minding your business. You're attacked."
Kruse called 911. Then two of the gang returned to the scene to retrieve some
sandals and shopping bags they'd dropped. He pulled the gun again--and this time he
spoke. "Stand back," he said, and held them there until two cops arrived.
According to a report written by one of the officers, Steven Cunningham, the two
young men (who are minors) claimed they "had nothing to do with the incident." They
"stated they didn't know why their friend ... attacked" Kruse.
The cops put out a broadcast for the third man, who had struck Kruse. A sergeant
responded that Yale cops had detained a man fitting the description, at Church and
Chapel. Kruse accompanied the cops to that intersection and identified the man as
his attacker. The cops charged the man, who's 19, with disorderly conduct,
third-degree assault, and possession of less than half an ounce of marijuana.
Kruse suffered a bruised jawbone and "kind of a blackish eye" in the attack, but
declined medical attention. "I'm OK," he said Monday. "I don't like to make a big
deal out of things." He praised the way the cops handled the incident.
Kruse moved to New Haven a year ago. He said he obtained a permit to carry a
concealed weapon not so he could walk down State Street with it, but "just to be
able to buy handguns without a hassle." I've had guns all my life," he said. "I grew
up on a farm in southern Illinois." He shoots for fun at New Haven Sportsman's Club
in North Guilford.
*************************************************
13. Suits push for greater gun rights in public
*************************************************
Dave Hicks emailed me this:
--
From blogs.wsj.com: http://tinyurl.com/4xwe955
Suits Push For Greater Gun Rights in Public
By Nathan Koppel
AUGUST 1, 2011
We have to imagine that a time will come (maybe, let's say, around the year 2150)
when gun rights will be a settled legal issue in our country and there will be
little to fight over.
Until then, suits will continue to fly. WSJ's Ashby Jones takes a look at the
latest front in gun litigation: the extent to which people have a constitutional
right to carry guns in public.
Two recently filed Illinois suits are among a handful that could give rise to the
next big Supreme Court decision, Jones writes. The suits challenge Illinois'
gun-control laws, which ban nearly everyone from carrying firearms outside their
homes.
The litigation has been spurred by the fact that the Supreme Court, in its recent
rulings on the 2nd Amendment, did not clearly spell out what types of gun-control
regulations outside the home are permissible.
"That's why we're filing so many cases," said Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the
Second Amendment Foundation, which filed one of the Illinois cases and has 18 other
suits pending.
A spokeswoman for Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the named defendant in the
Illinois suits, told WSJ that the Supreme Court "has never interpreted the Second
Amendment to include an unrestricted right to carry a concealed gun in public."
Other states, meanwhile, are more permissive when it comes to carrying guns outside
the house. In North Dakota, a new law takes effect today that provides that
businesses that normally ban firearms on their property must permit employees to
bring guns to work, provided they are left locked in the worker's vehicle, the
Associated Press reports.
In Texas, as we noted here, legislation has been proposed to allow people to carry
guns in college and university buildings.
Given the diversity of views on this subject, it may in fact be 2250 before we are
done with gun litigation. [PVC: VCDL will work to be done with litigation on gun
control long before then.]
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14. Bearing arms in public is next legal battlefield
*************************************************
This is a battle that VCDL has been fighting (pretty darned successfully) since 1995!
From the Wall Street Journal: http://tinyurl.com/3d96he7
[SNIP]
Gun-ownership advocates are filing lawsuits in courts across the U.S., hoping to get
rulings that people have a constitutional right not only to keep firearms in their
homes, but to carry them in public.
The suits could affect the direction of gun-control legislation for years to come.
Two recently filed suits in Illinois are among a handful that could ultimately
provide the U.S. Supreme Court its next opportunity to clarify the rather murky
outlines of the Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms.
"Whether the right to bear arms extends to outside the home is the next
battlefield," ...
*************************************************
15. Who needs a gun at a state fair?
*************************************************
The Virginia State Fair continues to ban guns. Here is an example of why that is so
foolish. Oh, and I have better ways to spend my hard-earned money than at the
Virginia State Fair.
John Oliver emailed me this:
--
From todaystmj4.com: http://tinyurl.com/42r6jed
Witnesses describe mobs, some people claim racially-charged attacks
By The WTMJ News Team
AUG. 5, 2011
WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young
people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair,
with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene.
Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair.
Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people
beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night.
Authorities have not given official estimates of the number of people involved in
the attacks.
"It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb
Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State
Fair Entrance near the corner of South 84th Street and West Schlinger Avenue in West
Allis.
"They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever."
"It was 100% racial," claimed Eric, an Iraq war veteran from St. Francis who says
young people beat on his car.
"I had a black couple on my right side, and these black kids were running in between
all the cars, and they were pounding on my doors and trying to open up doors on my
car, and they didn't do one thing to this black couple that was in this car next to
us. They just kept walking right past their car. They were looking in everybody's
windshield as they were running by, seeing who was white and who was black.
Guarantee it."
Eric, a war veteran, said that the scene he saw Thursday outside State Fair compares
to what he saw in combat.
"That rated right up there with it. When I saw the amount of kids coming down the
road, all I kept thinking was, 'There's not enough cops to handle this.' There's no
way. It would have taken the National Guard to control the number of kids that were
coming off the road. They were knocking people off their motorcycles."
Another witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "it was like a scene you
needed the National Guard to control."
"To me, it looked like a scene out of a movie," claimed the anonymous witness.
"I have not seen anything like this in my life. It was a huge mob, and it was a
fight that maybe lasted one to two minutes."
Roffers claimed that as he left the state fair with his wife, crowds near that
entrance were large, and someone in that crowd .
"As we got closer to the street, we looked up the road, and we saw a quite a bit of
commotion going on and there was a guy laying in the road, and nobody was even
laying there. He wasn't even moving. Finally a car pulled up. They stopped right
next to the guy, and it looked like someone was going to help him. We were kind of
stuck, because we couldn't cross. Traffic was going through. Young black men
running around, beating on people, and we were like 'Let's get the heck out of
here.' The light turned, and I got attacked from behind. I just got hit in the
back of the head real hard. I'm like, 'What the heck is going on here?' I heard my
bell ring."
Roffers further described what witnesses said happened to the man who was lying in
the street.
"People were saying he was on a bike. They tore him off his bike and beat on him.
We were walking to the west on Schlinger. I was watching behind me a lot more
diligently, making sure there wasn't anybody coming to get us anymore."
One person claimed that someone was knocked off a motorcycle.
TODAY'S TMJ4 video shows West Allis police handcuffing at least one person, but they
won't say how many people they took into custody.
Some witnesses described attacks on the State Fair Grounds as well.
Milwaukee Police said that their officers were sent to State Fair Park for
"complaints of battery, fighting and property damage due to a large, unruly crowd."
A police sergeant told TODAY'S TMJ4's Melissa McCrady that the number of calls
describing injuries are still coming in, so they could not give an accurate number
of people who were injured.
That sergeant explained that some injuries were serious, and local hospitals were
attending to the injured.
As of early Friday morning, Milwaukee Police said they had no one in custody.
One woman told police that she was sitting in her car with a window down when some
teenagers reached through her window and started attacking her.
"I think once we get all the info in it'll be just like that, like what happened in
Riverwest," said the police sergeant.
West Allis Police ask you to call them at 414-302-8000 if you have any information.
Eric: "I feared for my life"
Eric, who asked Newsradio 620 WTMJ not to use his last name, talked about the
incidents that happened as he, his wife and a neighbor left the fair Thursday.
"We exited at the Schlinger and 84th exit, and we walked south about a block, and
then went up and got our car, came back up and around down Schlinger. When we made
a left hand turn, we were stopped in traffic. I looked toward the bridge, right
before you get on the freeway, and all I saw was a road full of black kids, jumping
over people's cars, jumping on people's hoods, running over the top of them."
Eric then claimed that he saw hundreds of young black people coming down a sidewalk.
"I saw them grab this white kid who was probably 14 or 15 years old. They just
flung him into the road. They just jumped on him and started beating him. They
were kicking him. He was on the ground. A girl picked up a construction sign and
pushed it over on top of him. They were just running by and kicking him in the
face."
Then, Eric talked about trying to get out of the car to help the victim.
"My wife pulled me back in because she didn't want me to get hit. Thankfully, there
was surprising a lady that was in the car in front of me that jumped out of the car
real quick and went over there to try to put her body around the kid so they
couldn't see he was laying there and, obviously, defenseless. Her husband, or
whoever was in the car, was screaming at her to get back into the car. She ended up
going back into the car. These black kids grabbed this kid off the ground again,
and pulled him up over the curb, onto the sidewalk and threw him into the bushes
like he was a piece of garbage."
Eric claimed that the victim in that beating was by himself, and that there was a
split of white people on one sidewalk and black people on the other.
"There was nobody else around to help him. There were no other white people,
period, on that side of the street. They were going in the opposite direction
because, those people who were coming out of the fair that saw these people coming,
they either went back into the fair or took off running south on 84th Street."
Eric expressed anger at the State Fair Police for what he considered a lack of
response.
"The thing that irritated me, the State Fair Police, the State Police, were down by
the Pettit entrance to get in there," said Eric. "There was probably 5 or 6 officers
down there. That's where all these kids came from. They came out of the Midway,
across the front of the Pettit. They were still filing out of there. The State
Fair Police, they knew this was going on. They knew these kids were beating these
guys in between that exit and Schlinger at the next gate."
"They were stopping traffic, and I said 'What in the hell,' excuse my language,
'what are you guys doing directing traffic when there are 300, 400 black kids up the
road beating the hell out of everybody, pushing people off of motorcycles?' I was
livid. I could not believe they were directing traffic."
Fair worker: attacks not limited to outside fairgrounds
A witness told WTMJ that as he worked in a kiosk at the State Fair Midway, he saw
what he described as "a Riverwest type mob. Easily between 50 - 100 kids all under
18 and all African American. They were running around knocking people over (young
kids and adults), looting the Midway games (stealing the prizes), starting fights."
The witness, who asked not to be identified, couldn't say for certain if only white
people were being attacked.
"It was just complete chaos. There were police on horses, lots of security guards,
and EMT's on the scene. They never got control of the area."
A State Fair spokeswoman said that there were arrests made involving the incidents
on the grounds.
He said that as the violence happened, he was "getting ready to grab my cash
register and run."
"Not to mention this type of behavior started around 7pm and forced me to close down
my stand at 9pm. It scared the paying customers out of the midway."
The man said hoping to bring family on Friday, but has decided not to.
"I was planning on bringing my two kids to the fair tonight. I won't be. We'll go
to the zoo instead."
Woman: Teenagers in mob didn't attend rap concert
One woman who asked not to be identified tells us that contrary to some belief, the
young people involved in the mob did not go to the rap concert that night.
"The mob of black teenagers involved in the beatings and damage outside of State
Fair last night were not there for the MC Hammer concert," said the woman.
"I attended that concert with three of my friends last night and the crowd was
mostly white and adult (as are my friends and I). Any kids there seemed to be with
parents."
She described what she saw as she left the fair.
"As we came through the exit we saw a white boy lying in the street, in the fetal
position right by the traffic light, and coming towards us was tons and tons and
black teens - there had to have been over a hundred - in the middle of 84th Street
and on the sidewalk headed south," she said.
"Some who stopped to kick or punch him - or in the case of one girl drop kick him in
the head - as they walked past. My friends and I started towards him to help him up
and a black girl walked past telling us 'ya'll gonna get your ***** kicked'
repeatedly. As my friend stood in front of the boy trying to get him up one of the
teens picked up a traffic cone, hit her in the back of the head and ran off. A car
stopped, a white woman got out to try and help. Teens jumped onto the hood of the
car and ran over it. She just kept saying 'What is wrong with you!?' "
The witness also told us that not every African-American teenager outside the fair
grounds acted violent.
"We continued to move towards the parking lot, through even more black teenagers.
Thankfully this part of the crowd was not violent."
Roffers: "What in the hell's going on there?"
Roffers described his emotions and reactions to the attacks outside the park.
"I turned around and looked, there was this black kid standing there laughing,
thinking it's funny. My wife's like, 'Let's get out of here.' It's one of those
things, you don't expect it. Your reaction to it is, first of all, quite surprised,
then you get so angry, it's like, 'What in the hell's going on there? Why are these
guys acting like such hoodlums? What are they picking on anybody for?' We were
just like cattle being herded out of the park, and they were picking and choosing
who they wanted to beat on."
He said his injuries were limited to a headache.
Roffers said the attack wouldn't stop him from attending the State Fair.
"We will be going back," said Roffers.
"It's a family event for us. We get together with our family and we do stuff at the
park to enjoy the fair. My biggest concern is that the State Fair Park Police and
West Allis get their heads out of their butts and figure out how to do some security
over there. This isn't the first year State Fair has been going on. They should
know what the heck they've got to do and where they've got to have people in place
by now."
He said that the fear spread beyond those who he believed were the target.
"There were a lot of people scared," claimed Roffers.
"There were even some young black girls. They were screaming. They were running
across the road. This one girl was like, 'I don't know how I'm going to get out of
here. I'm all by myself.' My wife heard her saying that. She said, 'Walk with us.
Stay with us and you'll be OK.' We told her we were going down the street. If she
needed any assistance, we were just going down to our car. She needed to go quite a
way."
"There was this terror going on when you leave the place, you just wonder. Luckily,
all the violence that was happening stayed right close by the park entrance. As we
got a block away from the park, that's when the cops started showing up."
He said the lack of police and security presence will bring about his complaint up
the various channels of State Fair and local police.
"They should be able to provide safety and traffic control," said Roffers. "I've
never worried about it before."
He said he would give a written complaint to the State Fair and put in a call to
West Allis Police, but that's not all.
"I will be contacting the State Fair Park Board and I'm going to chew on their butts
a little bit about what happened."
State Fair spokeswoman: "Unfortunate situation, hopefully an isolated situation."
State Fair Director of Marketing and Communication Kathleen O'Leary told Newsradio
620 WTMJ's "Wisconsin's Morning News" that the incidents should not stop people
from coming to the fair.
"Certainly, don't change your plans," said O'Leary. "Please understand that this is
an unfortunate situation, hopefully an isolated situation."
Though witnesses had reported incidents inside the fair, she said the problems were
mainly outside the fairgrounds.
"Not so much inside," claimed O'Leary.
"We had complete control inside of what was happening inside of our gates. It's
what what spread into the neighborhoods."
O'Leary also pointed out that the fair has "taken measures already with the bag
checks, when you come into the fair," but will increase authorities' presence for
the remaining days at the fair.
"We will be taking severe measures, significant measures. We are in task force
already, circling back around, doing everything that we can to make sure the
experience is enjoyable and that the safety is insured," said O'Leary.
"They see the yellow security shirts. We have mounted police. We have bike police.
We have our patrolling police. We have undercover police. That's all because
that's exactly what we want. We want the safety measures intact at every turn."
*************************************************
16. Assault, sniper rifles stolen from Fort Irwin
*************************************************
If those rifles stolen from a government facility are used in a crime or terror
attack, guess who Senators Schumer, Boxer, and Feinstein are going to blame? The
Government for not securing them properly? Nah.
Rafael Pabon emailed me this:
--
Most Dangerous - someone's planning a party up here.
From armytimes.com: http://tinyurl.com/4ya8z93
Assault, sniper rifles stolen from Irwin
The Associated Press
Saturday Jul 30, 2011
FORT IRWIN, Calif. -- More than two dozen assault rifles have been stolen from this
base, and investigators sought the public's help as they looked to arrest suspects
and recover the weapons, federal officials said Friday.
Twenty-six AK74 assault rifles and one Dragunov sniper rifle were stolen from a
supply warehouse at Fort Irwin on July 15, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives says in a statement.
Some arrests have been made and one rifle has been recovered, but the agency is
offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to further arrests, the
statement said.
"Community participation is necessary to improve the likelihood that ATF and our law
enforcement partners will track down the firearms as well as the criminals who have
sought to destabilize our community through illegal activity," ATF Special Agent in
Charge John A. Torres said in the statement.
ATF spokesman Special Agent Christian Hoffman could not say when reached by phone
how many were arrested, whether they were military or civilian or what motive they
may have had.
He referred those questions to military officials, who made the arrests. Phone and
email messages left late Friday for a spokesman from the Army Criminal Investigation
Command, which is investigating the theft along with ATF and the FBI, were not
immediately returned.
Hoffman also could not say why word of the theft did not become public for two
weeks, but said his agency decided to issue a news release because of the potential
danger the weapons posed.
"We determined that there was a public safety issue with the guns getting out on the
street," he said. [PVC: Ya think so?]
*************************************************
17. CMP Shooter's News 08-01-11
*************************************************
Michael Irvin emailed me this:
--
From odcmp.org: http://tinyurl.com/3nz27gg
*************************************************
18. Reality check on knife attacks
*************************************************
This WILL open your eyes if you haven't studied knife attacks. You will no longer
wonder why it is generally legal to shoot someone brandishing a knife if they are 21
feet away or less.
From YouTube: http://tinyurl.com/6crmfwn
*************************************************
19. Norway gun laws
*************************************************
A VA-ALERT reader emailed me this:
--
Philip,
Something I'm not seeing in any media (mainstream or pro-gun) is information about
what people have to do to own a gun in Norway. See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Norway. And I'm not seeing any
information on whether the recent shooter went through all of this for his Ruger
Mini-14 and Glock handgun. (Online comments assume the Ruger was a .223, but from
my viewing of his picture in his "seal" outfit I think it may be one of a 30 caliber
in 7.62x39 - the barrel looks larger than a .223.) I assume our media and theirs
does not want to point out that all those regulations and requirements didn't do any
good.
Joe
*************************************************
20. Meeting recap for Charlottesville
*************************************************
From EM Patricia Webb:
On Thursday, August 4th we had a VCDL membership meeting at Rivanna Rifle and Pistol
Club. There was a respectable number attending, somewhere around 40 to 50 people.
Many traveled a good distance; we had folks from Harrisonburg, Roanoke and Fairfax.
Those who were able brought a dish to share and we enjoyed a delicious pot luck
dinner before the meeting began. One member brought delicious cupcakes decorated
with picture perfect and EDIBLE VCDL logos and the GSL emblems!
Our own Executive Member Mark Matthews was gracious enough to address the group
about the ins and outs of getting a record expunged. Many questions were asked and
answered and everyone who attended came away with a valuable education. In fact,
the comment was made that the information was so important that we may consider
having meetings about the same topic in other areas of the state! You see, you
don’t have to be convicted of a crime to have a record. In fact, if you have ever
been arrested or charged with a crime, that record stays out there where it can be
found by prospective employers or government agencies doing a background check.
Even if the charges were dropped, it is still on your record. In addition, if
something like this ever happens to you in the future, there are certain things you
can do that will make it impossible to get your record expunged, so knowing in
advance what NOT to do is extremely valuable. I urge you to watch the VA-ALERTS for
future meetings on this subject. Coming soon to a meeting near you!
*************************************************
21. Virginia Tech false "scare" spurs call for more gun control
*************************************************
I can't believe that there are any adults out there who think that we should pass
more gun control because of something that no one is even sure ever happened. It's
very possible the whole thing about someone carrying a gun on the Virginia Tech
campus is a figment of some children's imaginations. And on top of that, carrying a
holstered handgun on the campus grounds is legal anyway.
From nola.com: http://tinyurl.com/4xggyhn
Gun or not, Virginia Tech's frightful flashback forces new attention
to gun rights on campuses
RICHMOND, Va. — In July, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a
legal opinion that a University of Virginia policy banning concealed
firearms can't be enforced.
Weeks later, in early August, three teenage girls reported seeing a
possible gunman at Virginia Tech, setting off a swift lockdown on the
Blacksburg campus, an intensive police search and a cable-news feeding
frenzy that flashed back the still-fresh horror of a 2007 campus
massacre.
It raised a tough new question for Cuccinelli: Would you challenge a
gun ban policy at, of all places, Virginia Tech?
A police search found no one matching a description the teens
attending a Tech summer camp gave to authorities and a five-hour,
campus-wide lockdown was lifted.
It was like a kick in the stomach to Lori Haas, who relived the terror
of the April 16, 2007, massacre in which her daughter, Emily, was shot
in the head during Seung-Hui Cho's murderous rampage. Emily Haas
survived and became a teacher, but the heavily armed student gunman
killed 32 people on campus that day before he shot himself to death in
Tech's Norris Hall as police officers closed in.
Now a fulltime gun-control advocate, Haas on Thursday asked the
question that the day's false alarm at Virginia Tech begged so soon
after Cuccinelli's pro-gun legal guidance on UVa's policy: Does the
Republican attorney general with his eyes on an eventual gubernatorial
run believe Virginia Tech has the right to ban guns from its campus?
"It's unacceptable, allowing the carry of guns on campus, concealed or
otherwise. It puts the community into a panic," Haas said.
Cuccinelli's opinion, sought by state Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta,
held that UVa can ban people from wearing guns that are in plain
sight, but that the university's policy doesn't apply to holders of
permits to carry concealed weapons. The key distinction, Cuccinelli
said, is the word "policy."
Shortly before Cuccinelli issued his opinion, the Virginia Supreme
Court had upheld a seemingly comparable gun ban at George Mason
University in Fairfax County. But GMU's ban was a "regulation," which
Cuccinelli says is more formal than a university policy and carries
the force of law in Virginia.
Tech's ban, however, is also a policy, one that school officials are
revising into a regulation. So, Cuccinelli was asked, Can Virginia
Tech, scene of the worst campus mass killing in U.S. history, keep
guns off a campus so traumatized by them?
"That's a pretty radical question," he said. "The law is the same everywhere."
"The law can be adjusted by the General Assembly and the governor and,
to a certain extent, by the universities themselves acting as agencies
using their regulatory power," he said. "But the law doesn't change
because it gets more or less sensitive in one place or another."
As a state senator, Cuccinelli introduced pro-gun bills, but he's not
a 2nd Amendment absolutist. His present job confines him to
interpreting and defending Virginia's laws, not setting policy. But,
he was asked, what would you prescribe for campus gun policy if you
were in charge?
"Faculty and staff should be able to fully exercise their
concealed-carry rights. Period," Cuccinelli said. "But I am of a mind
to let boards of visitors deal with their own student bodies."
For students, it's largely a moot point because concealed weapons
permits are issued only to residents 21 and older, Cuccinelli said.
"So nobody's going to roll out of high school and have a
concealed-carry permit."
Philip Van Cleave of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League says
his organization's counsel doesn't believe that even regulations put
in place by boards of visitors can trump a concealed carry permit.
"We're not so sure he's right about the regulation part of it applying
to students, either," said Van Cleave, himself a permit holder who
commonly wears his firearm while lobbying all over Capitol Square each
winter.
He also contends that schools can't ban carrying guns, either openly
or under clothing, on campus grounds outside of buildings or at
designated events. And it was a man with what appeared to be a gun
concealed by some sort of cloth that the teenage girls saw, triggering
hours of chaos, fear and dread at Virginia Tech on Thursday.
*************************************************
22. Video coverage of the Students for Concealed Carry on Campus event last week
*************************************************
Good stuff. Coverage of entire event is here:
http://www.C-SpanArchives.org/program/Carryo
*************************************************
23. VCDL member works successfully to get local park rules fixed in Pearisburg
*************************************************
Thanks to John Wilburn for discovering and, with VCDL's help, getting Pearisburg to
fix their firearms policy in Whitt-Riverbend Park. The new rule now reads:
Firearms: Persons using the park shall be responsible for compliance with all state
firearms laws. The following are prohibited in the Park: hunting, target shooting,
or other recreational shooting.
*************************************************
24. Another tantrum on the new BB gun law
*************************************************
This time it's Staunton City Council crying in their beer. Darn those uppity
citizens and their silly rights!!!
From the News-Leader: http://tinyurl.com/3syz4ym
Staunton protests state's air-gun law
STAUNTON — City Council wants the state legislature to repeal a law overturning
local ordinances that limit use of air-guns.
A Staunton ordinance bars people from shooting air-guns, BB guns — in addition to
throwing stones or shooting arrows — "so as to endanger life or property," but a
state law that took effect July 1 overrides it. [PVC: Unless I'm missing
something, it sounds like the old ordinance and the new state law are pretty much
the same - you can't shoot a pneumatic gun so as to endanger a person or property.
What is City Council crying about?]
"Once again the state has seen fit to mandate how this issue will be dealt with — or
not dealt with — throughout the Commonwealth in a one-size fits all approach,"
councilman Bruce Elder wrote in background briefing. [PVC: When it comes to guns,
a one-size-fits-all is perfect, keeping laws simple and easy to understand. I've
long since discovered that some of the worst tyranny can be found in local
government. City Council just doesn't like being told what to do by the General
Assembly, even if it is something they are already doing. The real issue is egos
that are too big for their britches.]
Though the state law says air-gun shooters can shoot their weapons "with reasonable
care," the city resolution said that requirement "works only so long as a shooter
doesn't miss the backstop."
In its petition, the council said air-guns include weapons that fire 0.22 caliber
pellets, which reportedly have killing power at close range. [PVC: It's true -
mice tremble in fear of pellet guns
]The legislation passed with large majorities in both the House of Delegates and the
state Senate.
Senators Emmett Hanger, R-Mount Solon, and Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, along with
delegates RIchard P. "Dickie" Bell, R-Staunton, Ben Cline, R.-Amherst, and Steve
Landes, R.-Weyers Cave, all supported it. [PVC: And VCDL thanks all of them.]
-------------------------------------------
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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/]
***************************************************************************
