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. Membership renewal reminder
2. VCDL Membership Meeting in Annandale on Thursday, October 20th
3. Bombshell: DOJ Considering Elimination of ATF
4. CBS uncovers documents showing Holder knew about F&F
5. ATF gun trafficking: "Wide Receiver", "Fast and Furious"
6. CBS reporter: White House, DOJ reps 'yelled' and 'screamed' at her over 'Fast and Furious' scandal
7. State lawmakers push to allow guns on college campuses
8. Campus gun ban ends
9. Washington Times series - "Emily gets her gun"
10. Who needs a gun near the Virginia Tech campus?
11. Gunmetal better than paper
12. Who needs a gun at home?
13. NRA Women On Target
14. Concealed weapons at county parks: Tazewell in compliance with state
15. House passes and Senators Webb and Burr introduce Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act
16. Another massacre in gun-unfriendly California
17. More coverage of Operation Campus Safety
18. Operation Campus Safety status report
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1. Membership renewal reminder
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Renewal Season is in full swing and the Second Notices are going in the mail the week of October 10.
***The information for the renewal had to go to the printers the week before so if you renewed anytime after 9/30, you may get a second notice.***
FYI, the Membership Processing Center closes for Thanksgiving Week (the Membership Director, Jacque Blundell, goes to visit her mother) and then shuts down for Christmas on Dec 14 (the Membership Director transforms to a Christmas elf).
If you need your membership card for those early in the year CMP purchases, renew NOW! Paypal renewals take appx 4 weeks, check/money order renewals take approximately 6 weeks and credit card renewals take approximately 8 weeks so the deadlines are getting close!
ALSO, don't forget that to qualify for the Serbu .50 BMG gun giveaway that EM Ed Levine has organized, you must be a member of record by midnight, December 1st, 2011. Oh, and we have gun dealers stepping forward to do the transfer FOR FREE to the lucky member! More on that later.
Here are the rules:
and the gun:
http://serbu.com/top/bfg50.php
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BTW, Andrew Goddard, with the Million Mom March (MMM), sent me an email with a correction. In a previous alert I had surmised that he was emailing his membership list with his displeasure over the Serbu giveaway in order for the MMM to raise money. In his email to me, Andrew said that there are no membership dues to be a member of the MMM and therefore they don't do fundraising emails to their membership.
I stand corrected and that actually makes sense. The MMM was basically about to fold in 2002. The Brady Campaign absorbed them to avoid the embarrassment of a national gun-control group folding. Basically no one wanted to pay dues to be a member then and I guess that is still the situation.
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2. VCDL Membership Meeting in Annandale on Thursday, October 20th
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VCDL is having its monthly membership meeting at the Mason Government Center in Annandale on Thursday, September 15th.
**NOTE: Attorney General Cuccinelli, who was originally going to address the group at this meeting has rescheduled to speak at the next meeting on November 17th. The late notice on this is my fault, not his.**
As with all VCDL membership meetings, this one is open to the public, so bring a friend or neighbor and don't be shy ;-)
The meeting will be called to order at 8 PM (fellowship starts at 7:30 PM). At 9:30 the meeting will end and we will head to a local restaurant for continued fellowship.
Directions to the meeting can be found on the VCDL web site:
http://www.vcdl.org/static/meetings.html
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3. Bombshell: DOJ Considering Elimination of ATF
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Mike G emailed me this:
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The ATF (has) done some major, bone headed stunts over the years, some got many innocent people killed. However, thinking the firing of 400 street agents will fix the ATF's systemic problem is a typical Washington reaction: reward & promote the guilty while punishing the innocent. The problem with ATF is, and always has been, their leadership. [PVC: Mike hit this square on the head. The agents getting fired most likely were just doing their normal jobs and may have had nothing whatsoever to do with Fast and Furious. The ones who thought up and put Fast and Furious into motion are keeping their jobs. I await the guilty to not only be fired, but to spend some quality time in jail.]
From Townhall: http://tinyurl.com/429smy5
By Katie Pavich
September 30, 2011
Multiple sources, including sources from ATF, DOJ and Congressional offices have said there is a white paper circulating within the Department of Justice, outlining the essential elimination of ATF. According to sources, the paper outlines the firing of at least 450 ATF agents in an effort to conduct damage control as Operation Fast and Furious gets uglier and as election day 2012 gets closer. ATF agents wouldn't be reassigned to other positions, just simply let go. Current duties of ATF, including the enforcement of explosives and gun laws, would be transferred to other agencies, possibly the FBI and the DEA. According to a congressional source, there have been rumblings about the elimination of ATF for quite sometime, but the move would require major political capital to actually happen.
"It's a serious white paper being circulated, how far they'd get with it I don't know," a confidential source said.
After a town hall meeting about Operation Fast and Furious in Tucson, Ariz. on Monday, ATF Whistleblower Vince Cefalu, who has been key in exposing details about Operation Fast and Furious, confirmed the elimination of ATF has been circulating as a serious idea for sometime now.
Sounds great right? Eliminating ATF? But there is more to this story. Remember, low level ATF field agents, like ATF whistleblower John Dodson, were uncomfortable conducting Operation Fast and Furious from the beginning, but were told by high level officials within ATF that if they had a problem with the operation, they could find a job elsewhere.
"Allowing loads of weapons that we knew to be destined for criminals, this was the plan. It was so mandated," ATF Whistleblower John Dodson said in testimony on Capitol Hill on June 15, 2011.
In fact, not only were the ATF agents forced to carry out the operation, they were told to go against what they had been taught in training.
"This operation, which in my opinion endangered the American public, was orchestrated in conjunction with Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley. [Emory Hurley is the same Assistant U.S. Attorney who previously prevented agents from using some of the common and accepted law enforcement techniques that are employed elsewhere in the United States to investigate and prosecute gun crimes.] I have read documents that indicate that his boss, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, also agreed with the direction of the case," Special Agent Peter Forcelli said in testimony on Capitol hill on June 15, 2011.
"I recall my first days at the ATF academy, where it was drilled into us as new agents that under no circumstances would any firearms, in any investigation, leave the control of ATF. Instructors stressed that even if a weapon was lost "by accident," the agent was still subject to termination," former ATF AttachÈ to Mexico Darren D. Gil said in testimony on June 15, 2011.
ATF field agents weren't the problem with Operation Fast and Furious, high ranking officials within ATF and the Department of Justice were and still are. DOJ would eliminate ATF only to take the heat off of the Obama Administration. By eliminating the bureau, it makes it seem like DOJ is taking Operation Fast and Furious so seriously, they decided to "clear out the corruption, clean house," however, it would only be a distraction away from the people at the top of the investigation. In fact, evidence shows the DOJ has been stonewalling the Oversight Committee investigation into the operation to protect Obama political appointees.
"It was very frustrating to all of us, and it appears thoroughly to us that the Department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the Department," former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, who has since been moved to a position within DOJ, said of his frustration with the Justice Department's response to the investigation in transcribed closed door testimony with the Oversight Committee in July 2011.
When I called the Department of Justice last week (five times) to request the white paper and receive a comment surrounding the idea of eliminating ATF, I received the following response: "Everyone is away from their desk right now."
Up to this point, the Department of Justice has denied all allegations or involvement in Operation Fast and Furious, yet journalists and the House Oversight Committee have proved allegation after allegation to be true. For example, during a Congressional hearing in July, former ATF Special Agent in Charge William Newell, who has since been promoted to a position within the Justice Department, denied that his agency was trafficking guns to Mexico, despite overwhelming evidence and testimony from other ATF agents proving otherwise.
"At no time in our strategy was it to allow guns to be taken to Mexico," Newell said on July 26, 2011, adding that at no time did his agency allow guns to walk.
We've heard this was a low level, "rogue" operation, turns out high level officials in the Justice Department, DEA, FBI, DHS, and even members of the White House national security team knew about Operation Fast and Furious.
Last week, ATF offered 400 agents buy outs to avoid budget cuts and is expecting 250-275 agents to take the offer through Voluntary Early Retirement. These buyouts come at a convenient time for the Justice Department, which can eliminate ATF, then say it's because of budget cuts, when really, it's to cover their tracks.
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4. CBS uncovers documents showing Holder knew about F&F
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From examiner.com: http://tinyurl.com/3jpsoc8
By Dave Workman
October 3, 2011
[SNIP]
CBS News reported Monday evening that Attorney General Eric Holder apparently knew about Operation Fast and Furious months before he admitted to the House Judiciary Committee earlier this year under questioning from Congressman Darrell Issa.
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5. ATF gun trafficking: "Wide Receiver", "Fast and Furious"
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John Velasquez emailed me this:
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From New York Post: http://tinyurl.com/3g2xb7g
By Michael A. Walsh
October 2, 2011
Furiously unraveling
The joke goes that anything named Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms' ought to be a convenience store instead of an arm of the federal government, but what's going on in Washington these days with the embattled agency is no laughing matter.
Hardly a week passes now without some revelation about the Obama administration's complicity in what may yet turn out to be one of the worst and most lethal scandals in American history: Operation Fast and Furious.
In a classic Friday document dump -- a sure sign of an administration with something to hide -- the feds released to congressional investigators a month's worth of e-mail correspondence in the summer of 2010 between Bill Newell, then head ATF agent in Phoenix, and his friend Kevin O'Reilly, a former White House national-security staffer for North American affairs.
What do you know' Among the e-mails was a photograph of a powerful Barrett .50-caliber rifle that had been illegally purchased in Tucson and recovered in Sonora, Mexico, raising the possibility of a second 'gunwalking' program, this one called 'Wide Receiver.'
Like Fast and Furious, the ATF-supervised scheme that saw thousands of weapons 'walk' across the Mexican border for reasons no one in the Justice Department has yet satisfactorily explained, Wide Receiver was apparently a joint operation that also included the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the IRS and the US Attorney's office.
It's likely there have been others, in such states as Florida and Indiana.
While the back-channel e-mails don't explicitly discuss Fast and Furious, they do show the White House's intense interest in the ATF's and other federal agencies' activities in Arizona. In one message, O'Reilly asks Newell whether he can share some information with other officials. 'Sure, just don't want ATF HQ to find out, especially since this is what they should be doing (briefing you)!' comes the reply.
Despite whistle-blower testimony, Newell denies that his agents deliberately facilitated weapons transfers to Mexican drug lords, although he recently admitted in a supplemental statement to Rep. Darrell Issa's House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight that his July testimony 'lacked clarity.'
We've also just learned from documents that guns linked to Fast and Furious turned up in El Paso last year -- the first time such weapons have surfaced outside Arizona, where the guns were 'released.' A convicted drug felon was allowed to buy 40 AK-47-type rifles, which eventually wound up in Texas.
It's time for politicians on both sides of the aisle to demand answers from Justice and the White House. Issa and his colleague in the Senate, Chuck Grassley, have been doing yeoman's work, but there's only so much they can do without the wind at their backs.
A White House under investigation can delay, slow-walk documents, redact them in the name of national or operational security, and simply refuse to make witnesses available to investigators -- all of which the administration has done. Issa and Grassley had asked to interview O'Reilly before the end September, but the White House says he's on assignment in the Mideast and thus unavailable.
Short of a special prosecutor -- a move floated by Issa but one that the Justice Department, which is leading its own probe, would likely block -- the only hope we have that the truth will come out is public pressure.
So where are the GOP candidates? Where is a critical mass of journalists and commentators, who should be asking sharp, tough, pertinent questions in the national interest?
By now, it's clear that the US government is in Fast and Furious up to its ears -- with two, possibly three dead agents and more than 200 dead Mexicans to show for an operation that never had the slightest chance of success.
The only real question is: Why? [PVC: That I have an answer for: to facilitate more gun control in America because of all the American guns ending up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels. This was part of the "behind the scenes" efforts on gun control that Obama was referring to when he spoke to the Bradys last year.]
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Gunwalker: Under White House Control?
From Pajamas Media: http://tinyurl.com/3pg9exk
By Bob Owens
For months, congressional investigators have battled a recalcitrant White House and Department of Justice over Operation Fast and Furious, a conspiracy that had the apparent goal of sending thousands of guns from American gun stores into Mexico. Recovery of the guns could be used as evidence to support the Obama administration's 90-percent lie - and perhaps even serve a more nefarious goal.
That deception seems to be collapsing, as the long suspected proof of other gunwalking operations was confirmed by Sharyl Attkisson of CBS News:
An administration source would not describe the Tucson OCDTF case. However, CBS News has learned that ATF's Phoenix office led an operation out of Tucson called "Wide Receiver." Sources claim ATF allowed guns to "walk" in that operation, much like Fast and Furious.
"Wide Receiver" joins Operation Fast and Furious as the second named gunwalking operation based in Arizona, but they do not appear to be the only gunwalking operations that existed.
The White House has so far refused to answer inquires from Senator John Cornyn about two other suspected gunwalking operations based out of the Houston and Dallas field operations areas. Additional gunwalking operations supplied drug gangs in Honduras from Florida, and supplied Chicago-area gangs from a gunwalking operation in Indiana.
While administration officials have stuck to the cover story that these were law enforcement operations, there was never any possibility of them working. There were no mechanisms to track the weapons, personnel were ordered not to make arrests, and there was never any possibility of U.S. agents affecting arrests in Mexico.
The cover story was further demolished by recent revelations that the ATF supervisors directed agents to personally walk guns to cartel members, and refused repeated attempts by field agents to have smugglers arrested before they could carry firearms over the border into Mexico. Interdiction was never on the table. Creating and insuring a steady flow of U.S. weapons into Mexico must have been the goal.
The steady demolition of the administration's wall of silence continues. The White House finally responded - partially - to a request by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee for communications between ATF Special Agent Bill Newell and three members of the White House national security staff. The administration released 102 pages of emails, most of which were replies and copied replies to previous emails, but refused to hand over all of the requested communications. They claimed "significant confidentiality interests in its internal communications."
Attkisson noted:
The email exchanges span a little over a month last summer. They discuss ATF's gun trafficking efforts along the border including the controversial Fast and Furious case, though not by name. The emails to and from O'Reilly indicate more than just a passing interest in the Phoenix office's gun trafficking cases. They do not mention specific tactics such as "letting guns walk."
A lawyer for the White House wrote Congressional investigators: "none of the communications between ATF and the White House revealed the investigative law enforcement tactics at issue in your inquiry, let alone any decision to allow guns to 'walk.'"
The White House explanation does not match with the chart submitted by the ATF to the White House - the chart clearly shows that the weapons leaving Arizona were being recovered all over Mexico. The lack of interdiction was not just obvious, but glaringly so, and presented in the chart in such a way as to suggest that the spread of guns throughout Mexico was the operation's clear goal.
The entire executive branch involved in the scandal, from the White House down through cabinet-level agencies, has been evasive since the congressional investigations began. They have (illegally) fired and reassigned whistleblowers to undesirable posts. They promoted supervisors involved in the operation to management jobs in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, a long-time confidant of Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano, suddenly resigned. There is every indication that the weight of bureaucracy is being used to engineer a coverup - a sign that the "most transparent administration in history" may be among the most transparently corrupt.
The continual drip of evidence completely undermines the explanation that these gunwalking operations had any legitimate or lawful intent. These operations are only logical as a means of creating a reality to match the administration's political myth of an "iron river of guns" flowing into Mexico from American gun dealers.
Perhaps desperate to avoid the political and legal fallout from their actions, the administration seems ready to trigger a "nuclear defense" - burning down the entire ATF. Townhall's Katie Pavlich, who confirmed the existence of a white paper floating that exact plan, notes the self-serving goal:
ATF field agents weren't the problem with Operation Fast and Furious, [9] high ranking officials within ATF and the Department of Justice were and still are. DOJ would eliminate ATF only to take the heat off of the Obama administration. By eliminating the bureau, it makes it seem like DOJ is taking Operation Fast and Furious so seriously, they decided to "clear out the corruption, clean house," however, it would only be a distraction away from the people at the top of the investigation. In fact, evidence shows the DOJ has been stonewalling the Oversight Committee investigation into the operation to protect Obama political appointees.
"It was very frustrating to all of us, and it appears thoroughly to us that the Department is really trying to figure out a way to push the information away from their political appointees at the Department," former ATF Acting Director Kenneth Melson, who has since been moved to a position within DOJ, said of his frustration with the Justice Department's response to the investigation in transcribed closed door testimony with the Oversight Committee in July 2011.
The Obama administration had a direct line of communication to updates about a plot carried out by one of its agencies that had the apparent goal of supporting one of the president's favorite lies. It is unquestionable that the plot implemented to support this lie shipped thousands of weapons to the Sinaloa cartel and contributed to the deaths of many on both sides of the border, including U.S. law enforcement officers.
As critics of the administration have been repeating more frequently, nobody died in Watergate. The body count and damning evidence from Gunwalker continue to grow.
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6. CBS reporter: White House, DOJ reps 'yelled' and 'screamed' at her over 'Fast and Furious' scandal
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Looks like the Congressional and media spotlight on Fast and Furious has struck a nerve at the White House.
Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
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From Daily Caller: http://tinyurl.com/6kjtxhc
By Jeff Poor
October 4, 2011
Did the White House try to strong-arm a journalist in the wake of the Justice Department's "Operation Fast and Furious" scandal? CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson says government leaders took a very aggressive tack following her revelations earlier this year.
On Tuesday's Laura Ingraham Show, Attkisson said DOJ spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler and White House associate communications director Eric Schultz yelled and screamed at her over the story.
"The DOJ woman was just yelling at me," Attkisson said. "The guy from the White House on Friday night literally screamed at me and cussed at me. Eric Schultz - oh, the person screaming was Tracy Schmaler. She was yelling, not screaming. And the person who screamed at me was Eric Schultz at the White House."
Attkisson explained the vicious tongue-lashing:
"In between the yelling that I received from the Justice Department yesterday, the spokeswoman - who would not put anything in writing - I was asking for her explanation so there would be clarity and no confusion later over what had been said. She wouldn't put anything in writing," she said.
"So we talked on the phone and she said things such as 'the question Holder answered was different than the one he asked.' But the way he phrased it, he said very explicitly, 'I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks.'"
Attkisson also said the DOJ and White House representatives complained that CBS was "unfair and biased" because it didn't give the White House favorable coverage on the developing scandal.
"Is it sort of a drip, drip. And I'm certainly not the one to make the case for DOJ and White House about what I'm doing wrong," she added. "They will tell you that I'm the only reporter, as they told me, that is not reasonable. They say The Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, The New York Times is reasonable - I'm the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I'm unfair and biased by pursuing it."
Audio clip is in article: http://tinyurl.com/6kjtxhc
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7. State lawmakers push to allow guns on college campuses
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From USA Today: http://tinyurl.com/6accaj2
By Rick Jervis
October 3, 2011
State lawmakers across the USA are pushing a growing number of bills this year that would legalize carrying guns on college campuses, according to groups tracking the trend.
This year, at least 14 states have introduced 35 bills that would allow students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on state colleges and universities or loosen restrictions on gun bans on campuses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Meanwhile, two states, Maryland and Washington, have introduced bills to prohibit guns on campuses. None of the bills has passed so far.
Last year, nine states introduced bills that would legalize gun carrying on campus while another nine states proposed barring the practice, according to the group. In Texas alone, six bills introduced this year would make it legal to bear arms on campus, says Brenda Bautsch, an education-policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.
"We're seeing more bills," she says. "And there are far more bills to allow guns than to prohibit them."
The emboldened effort to legalize guns on campuses comes on the heels of a ruling by the Oregon Court of Appeals on Wednesday that repealed a university gun ban. In that case, a student was suspended from Western Oregon University for possessing a handgun. The court overturned the university's ban on guns, saying the state university system did not have the authority to prevent students or faculty from carrying weapons on any of its seven universities if they were licensed to do so.
The Colorado Supreme Court is deciding on another case that would allow guns on university campuses. Utah so far is the only state with a law allowing concealed weapons on state campuses, Bautsch says.
The issue of whether to allow guns on campuses has been hotly debated since the 2007 massacre at Virginia Tech, where student Seung Hui Cho opened fire on campus, killing 32 people and wounding 25. Opponents say allowing guns would not make campuses any safer for students and the mix of guns with alcohol and drugs found on some campuses could lead to increased incidents involving guns.
People legally licensed to carry a gun shouldn't give up their Second Amendment right to bear arms just because they attend a university, says Kevin Starrett, executive director of the Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation, which represented the student in the Oregon court case.
"People who are licensed to carry guns in Oregon meet a certain criteria," Starrett says. "They do not suddenly lose their minds when they step on a college campus."
Two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings favorable to individual gun owners have emboldened states to introduce legislation that would allow guns on campuses, says Andy Pelosi, head of Gunfreekids.org, an advocacy group that opposes guns on campuses. The group has fought some form of guns-on-campus legislation in 23 states this year, he says. Since 2007, 65 similar bills have been defeated in 32 states.
"It's definitely been a very active year, to say the least," Pelosi says.
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8. Campus gun ban ends
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From Corvallis Gazette-Times: http://tinyurl.com/3uyjt5g
By Gail Cole
September 30, 2011
Even with a ban on carrying guns to campus overturned in court this week, Oregon's public university campuses will be kept safe, say state university officials. [PVC: Yes, they will. And all those permit holders carrying on campus will help with that effort just by their deterrent effect on crime.]
A three-judge panel from the Oregon Court of Appeals announced Wednesday that an administrative rule allowing the Oregon University System to effectively ban concealed weapons on the state's seven public campuses was invalid. The panel unanimously decided that only the state legislature can regulate the possession or use of firearms.
OUS chancellor George Pernsteiner said in a release Wednesday the university system was "disappointed" in the decision.
"Our greatest concern is for the safety of our students and the entire campus community. Whether accidental or intentional, firearms violence continues to hurt or kill thousands of Americans each year in this country," he said.
OSU spokesperson Todd Simmons concurred with Pernsteiner, adding that college campuses pose unique safety challenges due to their geographic size, openness and overall large number of students and staff.
"We have many more people coming and going on campuses than a K-12 setting might expect to see," he said. "You cannot lock down access to our campuses."
Di Saunders, Oregon University System spokesperson, said it's unclear whether OUS will appeal the court's decision, but she said they'll investigate ways to keep weapons off campus.
And while the university system undergoes talks to determine policy in light of the court's decision, OSU's public safety director, Jack Rogers, said the department of public safety and Oregon State Police will contact any groups or individuals who reportedly possess a weapon and are acting in a suspicious manner.
"Anytime we get a report of someone who's armed on this campus, we're going to at east check it out," he said. "We'd be negligent if we didn't follow up."
Extra security has been a priority for universities nationwide since after April 16, 2007. That was when student Seung-Hui Cho of Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., in two shooting incidents two hours apart, shot and killed 32 people and wounded 25 others before committing suicide.
OSU's response to the shooting was to organize an emergency alert system that contacts faculty, staff and students in case of such an emergency. Students and employees must register their phone numbers and email addresses with the system to be contacted.
Along with the alert system, in the summer of 2010 the university installed 120 red emergency telephones in classrooms throughout campus.
But Saunders said the administrative rule allowing universities to keep weapons off campus was in place long before the Virginia Tech tragedy. It was enacted in the late 1970s and revised in 1991.
The appeals court decision stems from a lawsuit filed by the Oregon Firearms Educational Foundation on behalf of Jeff Maxwell of Lebanon, who was detained by Monmouth police and suspended from Western Oregon University in 2009 for carrying a knife on campus and having an unloaded rifle in his pickup parked on campus.
Maxwell, who had a concealed weapon license at the time of the suspension, also was carrying a loaded pistol at the time, but his suspension was due to the discovered knife and rifle.
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9. Washington Times series - "Emily gets her gun"
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Deborah Jane Anderson emailed me this:
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Below is Part 1 of a new series by Washington Times senior editor, Emily Miller. It'll be interesting to see how this goes.
Blessings,
Deborah Jane
From The Washington Times: http://tinyurl.com/6hwksgx
By Emily Miller
October 5, 2011
I want a gun. I don't feel safe living in Washington, D.C. and want to protect myself. I'm starting today by going down to City Hall to find the gun permit office to tell them, "I want a gun." This series will follow me as I navigate the city bureaucracy and outdated rules in order to legally buy a firearm.
My desire for a gun started when I had to face down over a dozen criminals on an empty cul de sac in Washington, D.C., armed only with a Blackberry.
It was New Year's Day 2010, and I'd been staying in the house to dog sit for friends who were on vacation. I'd returned from walking the dog when I saw a man coming from the house. "What are you doing?" I asked, sensing something was off with the situation. The Golden Retriever just stood next to me with a slack leash.
"We're here to clean the pool," the man said. He looked nervous and his eyes were blood-shot.
I was pretty sure my friends hadn't called in a swimming pool emergency during the middle of winter. "No, we didn't call for you," I said.
"Oh, then it must be the house next door," he said, smiling nervously. He turned and walked away quickly.
I'd left the front door unlocked since I was walking the dog for less than ten minutes. (I know, lesson learned.) After the man left, I was still suspicious so I went inside, grabbed my Blackberry and clicked on the icon for the camera. I walked down the street, and as I turned the corner, I saw about 15 scruffy young men standing around two pickup trucks. We were at the end of a woody, dead-end road.
I nervously held up my Blackberry to take a quick photo of them and the license plates. Suddenly, the blood-shot-eyed guy darted out, blocking the shot. "What are you doing?" he asked. I looked around at all the men staring at me and was suddenly scared. "Nothing, I'm um, just going now," I said as I put my Blackberry down instead of taking the picture around him and went home.
Hours later, I was at a New Year's Day party when my phone rang. It was my credit card company asking if my card was in my possession because there were odd charges on it. I looked at my wallet and saw that all my cash was gone and the cards. It suddenly dawned on me that the "pool guy" had been inside the house.
I called 911 and the D.C. police met me at the house.When they heard the story, they called in a detective. I got a long lecture about facing down criminals alone. They searched the big house top-to-bottom to look for windows or doors left unlocked by the bad guys to come back for more. Now I was scared. I had promised to watch my friend's dog, which meant I was spending the night.
I was alone in an empty house with a useless dog. I spent the night in the master bedroom with a dresser pushed up against the inside of the door. I didn't sleep much. I kept thinking how safer I would feel if I had a gun next to the bed.
The next day, I took to Twitter to ask about how to get a gun. The replies were disappointing: "No 2nd amend in D.C." "Only one guy can sell weapons in DC- good luck with that." "Call the NRA." I knew that the Supreme Court had recently overturned the Washington's gun ban, so I didn't understand why gun owners were so down on my idea. My friends came back the next day, but I sill wondered why I couldn't get a gun.
The following summer, D.C. mayoral candidate and then-city council Chairman Vincent Gray was at my neighborhood picnic. I approached Mr. Gray as he was glad-handing in the basketball courts and told him that I wanted two things: to stop the parking ticket assault in this city and a gun.
His smile faded. "A what?" he asked, leaning down to hear me.
"A GUN. I want a gun." I said emphatically. "I don't know what's going on in this city, but apparently no one is listening to the Supreme Court."
"Well, um, Emily is it? Let me introduce you to my campaign chairman," Mr. Gray said, leading me away toward a guy with a clipboard. That would be the politician's equivalent of "talk to the hand." Mr. Gray went on to be elected mayor of D.C.
Recently, current city council chairman Kwame Brown came to The Washington Times for a roundtable interview. After he'd been asked about the budget, lottery, ethics and education, I raised my hand. "Can I ask you about guns in DC?"
"You say guns?" the chairman asked.
"Guns," I replied as I held up both of my hands in the shape of a handgun, like they do in "Charlie's Angels."
"Oh you used both your fingers," Mr. Brown said, laughing. "You're a shooter, you use both of them."
I didn't laugh with him. "Well, I'm trying to get a gun," I said.
"You're trying to get a gun?" he repeated.
This is not going to be easy.
I want a gun to protect myself, but it seems my city government officials may work against me. There's only one way to find out if that's the case and that by going through all the hoops. Keep watching this space or follow me on Twitter to see how the story unfolds.
"Emily gets her gun" is a new series following senior editor Emily Miller as she legally tries to get her hands on a gun in the nation's capital. You can also follow her live tweets from inside the city bureaucracy at @EmilyMiller.
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Below you'll find Part II of the series - "Inside D.C.'s Gun Registry"
October 6, 2011
From The Washington Times: http://tinyurl.com/674ov96
The D.C. Gun Registry office is not where you go for help getting a legal gun; it's where you go to get more confused by bureaucracy.
After going thorough the magnetometers at D.C Police headquarters on Wednesday, the first door I saw said "GUN REGISTRY." That was easy, I thought. I went through the glass doors and entered a narrow office with a desk in front manned by a single female unformed police officer.
"I'm here to get a gun," I told her. I was the only one there. Her name tag said "D.A. Brown."
"You want to register your gun?" Officer Brown asked.
"No, no, I don't have a gun yet. I mean I'm here to get a gun permit," I said.
"This is D.C., you can't get a gun permit. You can't be carrying a gun around with you. It's for home protection," she said. I was totally confused. I asked what was the difference. "You can't carry it around like I do," she said, pointing at the gun in her holster. "You can't get a license. You can buy a gun and register it."
She started putting piles of paper on the desk between us. "Here's everything you need to know," she said. "You fill out this form. This one has a trick question so be careful. This one you give to Sykes."
"What do I do first?" I asked picking up all the papers.
"You get a gun and then get it registered," she said.
"Oh, okay, well where do I go to buy the gun?" I asked.
The officer seemed very annoyed with my questions. "You can go to any licensed dealer in another state or on the internet," she said. "But you can only get a gun on the DC approved list."
"Where do I see the list? And can I get any gun?"
"You can get a Glock if that's what you want," she said. I'd heard of a Glock on TV. "You just buy it. Then give the form to Charles Sykes downstairs and he'll go pick it up for you and transfer it. And if you get a semi-automatic, you can only get a 10-round magazine."
"A ten what?"
"Magazine, magazine, where the ammunition is," she said, clearly tired of the question. "Look it's all in the packet here. I'm only telling you these things to help you, but you need to go through the packet."
I thanked her and sat outside her door for a while to go through the piles of paper. A few minutes later, Officer Brown came out and handed me another piece of paper. "Here, you need to take a safety class, these people teach them. It's all in your packet but here are some names."
I added the paper to the pile and kept reading. In all the time I was there, only one other person came into the office. It seems there is no rush in Washington to register legal guns. At 3:15pm, she walked briskly out of the office, carrying a large black folder. She locked the door and posted a sign that said: "OUT OF OFFICE BE BACK SHORTLY."
Since I still didn't know what to do next, I set out to find the one man in Washington who can actually get me a gun, Charles Sykes. His company was not housed inside the government building.
Up next in the series.... an interview with D.C.'s one licensed gun broker.
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10. Who needs a gun near the Virginia Tech campus?
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Dave Hicks emailed me this:
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From WDBJ 7 News: http://tinyurl.com/4ylc2kb
By Kimberly McBroom
October 5, 2011
Authorities report armed robbery near Virginia Tech campus Wednesday
Virginia Tech is correcting the location for the armed robbery which happened Wednesday Morning.
The school says the victim of this crime was confronted by the suspect at the 1300 block of Mary Jane Circle, not the Math Emporium parking lot.
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Update: The school says the robbery happened around 4am Wednesday.
A woman says she was leaving the Math Emporium, headed toward her vehicle, when a man walked up to her with a hand gun.
She says he forced her to take him to several ATM locations to take out money.
He let her go around Tom's Creek Road and Patrick Henry Drive in Blacksburg.
She was not hurt.
The man was last seen in that area around 5am.
Virginia Tech says classes will be held as normal.
=======================================
Authorities say a man with a gun robbed a woman outside the Virginia Tech Math Emporium in Blacksburg on University City Boulevard, near the Virginia Tech campus.
Police say the suspect is carrying a gun, and has not been found.
They describe the suspect as a black male, about five feet, four inches tall. He was wearing a black coat with a white scarf.
The Math Emporium is a computer lab for students open 24 hours a day.
Virginia Tech police ask that the public be on the lookout for the suspect, and to call police if they see anything.
We'll bring you more information as it comes into the News7 newsroom.
Here's the official alert from Virginia Tech:
Armed Robbery at the Math Emporium. Suspect description: Black male 5'4'' with a hand gun, wearing a black coat with a white scarf. Call police if sighted.
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11. Gunmetal better than paper
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Tom Mosca emailed me this:
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From Daily Press: http://tinyurl.com/5sohuc3
By Tamara Dietrich
October 1, 2011
Years ago, a friend was stalked by an ex-boyfriend. He'd call out of the blue, and even phone her new boyfriend, never shy about saying howdy.
He'd pop up out of nowhere - at her workplace, her apartment. Once he surprised - and terrified - her sister by following her and her small kids around a grocery store.
Late one night as my friend left a small theater where she'd just appeared in a play, he showed up again. He just wanted to talk, he said. Maybe they could go sit in his new van, parked in a nearby alley.
But this girl's mama didn't raise no fools. Of course she refused.
Shortly after that, one of her older brothers paid the ex a return visit, wearing his state trooper uniform. They had a chat, and the ex soon faded from the landscape. Maybe he got a clue. Maybe he got bored.
Before he faded, though, he incited months of fear, plus more revenge fantasies than he'll ever know. I won't recount them here as creative as they were, most weren't very nice and some were most certainly illegal.
But that's what happens when you realize there are crazy-bad people out there, and the law has its limits.
One of those limits is the piece of paper issued by a judge to order individuals away from the people who rightly fear them.
The best protection offered by a protective order is minimal. At worst, it can set a bad guy off like a dirty bomb.
A local example recounted in an earlier story is the guy who was handed a no-contact order as he was released from jail in 1998. He drove straight to the bakery where his ex-girlfriend worked and stabbed and bludgeoned her to death. Then he sat outside waiting for the cops to arrive, the blood-spattered order still in his pocket.
More recently is Crystal Ragin, the 32-year-old mother stabbed to death in August, along with three of her children, then their bodies set on fire in their Denbigh apartment.
Her husband, John Moses Ragin, 36, faces four counts of first-degree murder, four counts of using a knife in a felony, and a felony count of arson. He denies any involvement in the killings.
At the time of the deaths, a protective order Crystal took out against John was still sitting at the Newport News Sheriff's Office. It was still sitting there that evening when Crystal called police again, saying John wouldn't let her leave a Denbigh intersection. Responding officers checked their records and saw the no-contact order was still awaiting service.
It wouldn't be served till the next afternoon, nearly 24 hours after it was issued by a judge. The serving deputy arrived at Crystal's apartment to find homicide investigators already there.
The lag time in serving that order has drawn criticism, as it should. Law enforcement officers know how combustible domestic conflicts can be. A no-contact order shouldn't sit on a desk all night till the day shift gets around to it.
Just as egregious is that the prosecutor apparently never told the judge who issued the order that John Ragin had a history of killing somebody.
In South Carolina in 1995, when he was only 15, John Ragin was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 30 years. He was paroled in 2005, just before he met Crystal.
A few days after the Ragin family was killed, the prosecutor handling that case lost her job.
If any good comes of this, it's that the sheriff's office says it will treat all no-contact orders as priority in future, not just those marked as urgent by court officials. And Commonwealth's Attorney Howard Gwynn has resolved "to try to figure out what we can do to fill the gap."
Any woman who fears for her life can try to fill the gap, too. Domestic violence experts urge such women to take precautions but they can also be proactive.
It's no revenge fantasy to buy a handgun, learn how to use it, then keep it close at all times.
Crystal Ragin was found with a cell phone in her lifeless hand.
A pity she didn't have something more substantial.
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12. Who needs a gun at home?
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Tom Mosca emailed me this:
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From WFMZ-TV News: http://tinyurl.com/6xu7tql
October 3, 2011
Bear chases dog into home, attacks owners
A Pennsylvania couple was hospitalized Monday after they were attacked by a bear that got into their home.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission said the attack happened in Oliver Township, Perry County, in Central Pennsylvania.
They said the couple's dog was outside, and ran back into the home, and the bear followed it.
Once inside, they said the bear scratched and bit a man, and then attacked a woman as she tried to chase it out of her home.
Both were taken to the hospital with unspecified injuries.
Oliver Township is about 20 miles northwest of Harrisburg.
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13. NRA Women On Target
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Michelle Brown emailed me this:
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One hundred ladies attended the 3rd annual NRA/Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinic sponsored by Green Top Sporting Goods on Saturday, October 1, 2011 located at Black Creek Shooter Association in Mechanicsville, Virginia beginning at 8:30 a.m. for check-in. With a small registration fee, the cost included eye/ear protection, use of 22lr, 9mm, 38 special caliber pistols, clay targets using 12 and 20 gauge shot guns, targets, ammunition and lunch. Included a safety briefing from a NRA Certified Instructor, by 9:00 a.m. the range was hot!
This educational program is designed to help women explore the outdoor shooting sports, and to continue to develop their marksmanship skills and recreational opportunities. Additionally, some women consider how firearms may become a part of their personal protection plan, or take hunter education course and learn to hunt. The clinic often is the first place a woman looks for firearm instruction, offering a gateway to the enjoyment of recreational shooting, plus provides as a public service benefit for all women of the community. Volunteer certified firearms instructors and other highly qualified individuals accept the responsibility of fulfilling the goals and objectives of the NRA Women On Target program, by presenting and teaching a safe friendly marksmanship training of ages 18 years and older. The backgrounds with the techniques, experience, education, skill and other options that are available to help participate in the shooting sports. Unlike other sports, success in shooting is not dependent upon physical strength. Concentration, timing, and coordination are more important, and most women excel in these areas.
The Women On Target Instructional Shooting Clinic is a safe, friendly, and a wonderful introduction to recreational shooting. Safety is paramount and can never be compromised.
Many women who came to the clinic may never have seen a firearm aside from television and movies. They may never have handled a firearm before and required undivided attention. Some beginners were skittish about handling firearms. Once the ladies learn the necessary skills to enjoy shooting, the reward was seeing their apprehension look, change to smiles, enthusiasm, and eagerness for more experience. Same time, same place next year. Always the first Saturday in October. We also had a wonderful raffle give away by Smith and Wesson BodyGuard 38, which benefited the local Disabled Veterans.
Michelle Brown
NRA Women On Target
Clinic Director
P.S. List of Vendors:
Mr. Young owner of Black Creek
Black Creek Shooters Association
NRA (National Riffle Association)
Green Top
Bass Pro Shop
DeGoffs
Volunteers - Instructors, Jr., Admin, Pistol & Shot Gun
Smith & Wesson
Winchester Ammuntion
Glock
ATK Federal Ammo
Springfield Armory
4H Club
IDPA (International Defence Pistol Assoication)
On Target Virginia, LLC
My First Shots
Carry Chic
Loosen Up Massage
D.L. Design
Pat Harman
VCDL (Virginia Citizen Defense League)
Second Amendments Sister, Inc.
Costco
James Allyn - lunch
Anton J. Kothe, Jr. - Chief Range Officer
Michelle Brown - NRA Women On Target - Clinic Director
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14. Concealed weapons at county parks: Tazewell in compliance with state
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Good follow up by members John Wilburn and Theron P. Keller helped get Tazewell County in compliance with Virginia state law on the lawful carry of handguns in County parks.
Mark Myers emailed me this:
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From Bluefield Daily Telegraph: http://tinyurl.com/3nstesq
By Charles Owens
October 6, 2011
TAZEWELL, Va. - Tazewell County is now in compliance with state code as it relates to persons legally permitted to carry a firearm as a concealed weapon at county parks.
An earlier ordinance was requested by Northwestern District board member Seth White last year after he noticed a no firearms symbol at the entrance to the Lake Jack Witten/Cavitts Creek Park. At the time, White said the sign represented a violation of his second amendment rights to keep and bear arms.
However, after reviewing state code, County Attorney Eric Young found a change in the 2004 state legislation that prohibits counties and towns from regulating firearms. As a result, the county's present ordinance was ruled obsolete.
"We had the public hearing last year on that ordinance, but we didn't take action to repeal the ordinance at that time," County Administrator Jim Spencer said Wednesday. "We just took the sign down at the park. Last night (Tuesday) we actually repealed the ordinance. We just needed to get that off the books so we are in compliance (with state code). State law supersedes local ordinances anyway. So we just repealed our ordinance to be in compliance with state law."
The original ordinance stated it was unlawful for any person to carry or discharge any firearms, firecrackers, rockets, torpedoes or fireworks of any kind at a county park or recreational facility without the written consent of Spencer, but with the exception of duly authorized law enforcement officials on official due and those persons legally permitted to carry a firearm as a concealed weapon."
Based upon existing state code, Spencer said citizens can still carry a firearm as a concealed weapon as long as they are complying with state law.
The signs prohibiting firearms at the Lake Jack Witten/Cavitts Creek Park are no longer displayed.
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15. House passes and Senators Webb and Burr introduce Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act
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The House passed the Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act and Senator Webb has co-introduced it into the Senate. This bill strives to protect the Second Amendment rights of veterans who have a fiduciary appointed to act on their behalf.
So far Senator Mark Warner has not signed on to the bill.
Senator Burr's Press Release: http://tinyurl.com/3n3pvmc
Burr, Webb Introduce Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act
Legislation would end arbitrary process that strips veterans of rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senators Richard Burr (R-NC) and Jim Webb (D-VA), along with 10 other cosponsors, introduced legislation that would end the arbitrary process through which the government strips veterans and other Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) beneficiaries of their Second Amendment rights. Currently, veterans who have a fiduciary appointed to act on their behalf are deemed "mentally defective" and are reported to the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), a system which prevents them from being able to purchase firearms in the United States. The Veterans Second Amendment Protection Act would require a judicial authority to determine that VA beneficiaries pose a danger to themselves or others before they can be added to the FBI's NICS.
"Taking away a Constitutional right is a serious action, and veterans should be afforded the same due process under the law as all other American citizens," Burr said. "This legislation would protect the rights of veterans and their families by ensuring that only a proper judicial authority is able to determine who is referred to NICS. Our veterans took an oath to uphold the Constitution and they deserve to enjoy the rights they fought so hard to protect."
"As a matter of fairness, a veteran should be permitted to purchase a firearm under the same conditions as every other American," said Senator Webb. "This bipartisan bill ensures consistent guidelines are used for reporting citizens to the FBI, and that no veteran is needlessly stripped of their Second Amendment rights."
The Federal Gun Control Act prohibits certain individuals who have been deemed a "mental defective" from purchasing a firearm. Currently, around 114,000 people who are receiving VA benefits have been reported to NICS, stripping them of their constitutional rights simply because VA appointed a fiduciary to act on their behalf. A fiduciary is assigned to handle disability compensation, pensions, survivors' compensation, and other VA payments on behalf of a veteran, surviving spouse, dependent child, or dependent parent. VA's review process for assigning a fiduciary is meant to determine one's ability to manage VA-provided cash assistance. The process does not determine whether they are a danger to themselves or others.
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16. Another massacre in gun-unfriendly California
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California has just passed a bill into law that will ban open carry in California. Disgustingly, the police chiefs and sheriffs helped push this legislation through. The nation stopped following California's lead years ago and we now watch as California, sadly, continues to sink into a very deep cesspool.
And, yet again, in a lesson that will surely be lost on the fools that run California state government and that head up California's police agencies, there was another massacre of a group of unarmed, helpless victims.
From WWBT, Channel 12, Richmond: http://tinyurl.com/3hrwb7m
Suspect's ex-wife worked at salon where 8 killed
By GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press
SEAL BEACH, California (AP) - Every hair-dressing station was full at Salon Meritage Wednesday when a gunman burst through the door and began shooting, sending terrified customers diving for cover in the upscale salon tucked just blocks from the beach in this quaint seaside town.
The shooter then stepped outside, shot a man sitting in a truck in the parking lot and sped off.
Six women and two men died. Their identities were not officially released, but owner Randy Fannin's niece, Tami Scarcella, told the Los Angeles Times her uncle was among the dead.
Police arrested 42-year-old Scott Dekraai about a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) from the scene. He did not struggle, police said. The gunman wore body armor and had several guns, police and witnesses said.
Police did not release a motive for the shooting. However, court records and acquaintances said he and his ex-wife, Michelle Fournier Dekraai, of Huntington Beach, who worked at the salon as a licensed cosmetologist, had been locked in a bitter custody battle over their son since he filed for divorce in 2007.
It was unclear whether Fournier Dekraai was among those killed.
A woman who was wounded in the rampage remained in critical condition Thursday, police said. Sgt. Steve Bowles said the woman was showing some signs of improvement. Her name was not released.
The crime scene tape around the salon was gone early Thursday, with blinds on the side windows drawn and black plastic bags taped over the front windows and door.
A memorial to the victims early Thursday started with two candles, some pink Hybiscus blooms and a handwritten poem called "The Day After."
Written on line notebook paper and signed only Laurie, it was "dedicated to all who lost and a most precious Seal Beach that didn't deserve this carnage."
Mary Stearns of Huntington Beach came by to show her respects and leave a red candle. She knew Fannin, the salon owner, for more than 30 years, following him to three different salons over the years to get her hair done every eight weeks.
"I was going to have him over for Christmas. I just saw him on Saturday. I had a bottle of wine I brought back from Australia. He loved wine," she said.
A woman who gave her name only as Cindy told the Orange County Register that she was in the salon, having her hair colored, when the gunman came in, went up to a woman stylist and fired.
At first, the customer said she thought it was a Halloween prank.
Then the man shot a woman who was having her hair shampooed, and then shot the salon owner, who was coloring Cindy's hair, she said.
"I just kept hearing boom, boom, boom, boom," she said. "I ran out. I didn't see his face. I just saw the gun in his hand and him shoot (everybody)."
Cindy said she ran next door to another business, where she went into the bathroom, closed the door and turned out the light.
"There was like a 'pop pop' ... and my receptionist screamed out, 'He just shot that man' and we all went into the bathroom and called 911," said Kimberly Criswell, who owns a salon two doors away and knew many hairstylists at Salon Meritage. "I'm sure I've lost some friends today."
It was the worst mass shooting in Orange County history since July 12, 1976, when custodian Edward Allaway killed seven people and wounded two others at California State University, Fullerton. Allaway was convicted of murder but later found to be insane.
Glenn Zachman, who owns a video news-gathering service, said he arrived at the scene of the arrest shortly after police and saw they had placed plastic bags over the man's hands to preserve possible gunshot residue.
The man, in handcuffs, was placed in a patrol car and taken away about two-and-a-half hours after the shooting. A new white pickup truck that was believed to be his was parked on the modest residential street with its doors open.
The man was cooperative when officers, working from a description of the shooter, stopped him near the salon, Bowles said.
Neighbors said they were aware Dekraai was in a custody battle with his ex-wife over their son, who neighbors said is 7 or 8 years old.
"It was a very difficult battle and he was trying to get more time" with his son, said Jo Cornhall, who lives across the street from Dekraai.
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17. More coverage of Operation Campus Safety
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Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/6hhvvtk
Pro-gun group plans demonstrations protesting efforts to ban concealed
weapons on Va campuses
By Associated Press, Published: October 11
ROANOKE, Va. — A pro-gun group says it's planning demonstrations next
month at state universities to protest efforts to bar concealed
weapons permit holders from carrying guns in campus buildings.
The Roanoke Times (http://bit.ly/os5oOW ) reports that the Virginia
Citizens Defense League advised its members of the plans Monday.
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said in a recent opinion that to ban
legal concealed carry in campus buildings, a university's board must
pass a state regulation instead of just a policy. But in January, the
Virginia Supreme Court upheld George Mason University's prohibition
against guns in campus buildings and at sports and entertainment
events. The policy does not bar guns from open campus grounds.
Virginia Tech's board of Visitors is expected to consider a regulation
banning concealed guns from buildings and events.
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Also from the Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/44soz9x
Gun rights group plans protest at George Mason University
By Anita Kumar
The Virginia Citizens Defense League will hold a demonstration this fall at George Mason University in Fairfax to protest rules that make it more difficult to carry firearms on campuses.
"Higher-education 'no gun' policies do not make the innocent any safer,'' the group wrote in an e-mail to supporters. "Those policies disarm students, faculty and staff not only on campus, but going to and from campus."
The protest follows a Virginia Supreme Court decision earlier this year that George Mason University's ban on guns in campus buildings and events, such as football games, is permissible.
Gun owner Rudolph DiGiacinto, who is not a student, had sued the school, arguing the prohibition violates the state constitution.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli filed a brief in that case — DiGiacinto v. The Rector and Visitors of George Mason University — defending George Mason's position, earning him criticism from the Citizens Defense League.
But Cuccinelli in July issued an opinion saying that a school may restrict people from openly carrying weapons but it can't limit the rights of permit holders.
Citizen Defense League President Philip Van Cleave says an armed student could have prevented the 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech, which claimed more than 30 lives.
"Just who exactly do those who live in the Ivory Towers think they are to dictate what your life or mine is worth?'' the group writes. "Where do they get the authority to do so? Gun laws are strictly controlled by the General Assembly and there is NO enabling legislation giving higher-ed the authority to have gun-control on campus. Too many of those in the Ivory Towers are so lost in the alternate world of academia, they become isolated from reality."
The group is urging alumni to withhold its donations from schools until they allow guns on campus.
Other protests will take place around the state at the University of Virginia, the College of William & Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, James Madison University and Radford University.
Dates for the protests have not been set.
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18. Operation Campus Safety status report
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Plans are progress for the protests at Virginia Tech, ODU, JMU, VCU, UVA, GMU, and Radford. In some cases we have multiple campus organizations stepping up to help us.
HOWEVER, we will still need a group at William & Mary to coordinate with.
I expect to have some dates firmed up for at least two schools next week and that information will be announced as soon as I get it.
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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/]
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