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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. Gun show regulations
3. Spotsylvania County code
4. NOVA Firearms response to a previous article on the company in the Falls Church News Press
5. Speeding up your reaction time
6. Hinkle: Meth control and gun control
7. Issa to issue new Fast and Furious subpoenas
8. Editorial: Indict Eric Holder
9. D.C. concealed gun bill defeated
10. New law bans open carry of handguns in California
11. Cop uses finger to jam assailant's gun
12. LTE: Killing at Atlantic City shows need for gun control
13. Just give the criminal what he wants? I don't think so
14. 3 killed, 17 injured in overnight shootings in Illinois
15. CMP Shooter's News 10-06-11
16. Interesting statistics
17 Bedford County: Another reminder of our freedoms lost
18. Surprise! Another ODU student is robbed at gunpoint (with video)
19. Lord Fairfax Community College professor is changing her "Letter to Cuccinelli" assignment
20. Hats off again for York County Sheriff Danny Diggs!
21. Richmond PD to use gun-sniffing dogs in a parking lot
22. All kinds of coverage of Operation Campus Safety!
23. BREAKING: List of state CHPs that Wisconsin will honor
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1. Membership renewal reminder
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Renewal Season is in full swing and the Second Notices were 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:
http://ed.cx/vcdl/
and the gun:
http://serbu.com/top/bfg50.php
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2. Gun show regulations
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Jim Dinger emailed me this:
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Hi Mr. Van Cleave,
This might be of interest to the entire VCDL group who have children. My 12 year old son and I attended the gun show yesterday at the Showplace in Mechanicsville. One firearm's dealer asked me to pick up and hand guns to my son first, before allowing him to handle guns at the show, since the ATF would be all over him in his words if the parent didn't hand the child the gun. I will comment that my children are always under my direct supervision when handling firearms no matter where we are.
I politely asked the firearm's dealer to show me the written legislation in the 2nd amendment that prevents persons under the age of 18 from handling a firearm at a gunshow. Then he switched his statement claiming that it's Virginia law for children under age 16. I asked to see the Virginia law in writing since I've never heard of it. He was polite and stated that he saw it my way but he needed to comply with the ATF and VA laws. Additionally, the gun show did not have a sign at the entrance stating that children under age 16 are prohibited from handling firearms without a parent picking up the subject gun first and handing it the child.
It seems like everywhere I go, people are running their mouths and quoting laws, codes and/or ordinances to me that directly interfere with the constitution and my constitutional rights, but are unable to show me where they're written or who authorized them. I can't even get Eric Cantor, my elected official in the 7th District, to provide me with the written legislation that authorized the Census Bureau in 2010 to request more than the three questions that the constitution clearly dictates when conducting the 10 year census.
I would appreciate your providing clarification for me and VCDL members who have children in the email updates. Are there federal or state laws that prohibit children under the age of 16 from picking up or handling firearms at a gun show, with or without direct parent supervision? Incidently, my son had quite a wish list by the time we left, but I doubt that would have been the case if he hadn't handled the merchandise first!
As always, thank you for all of your hard work in running the VCDL and helping the membership with our questions and concerns.
Jim Dinger
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Federal law is one problem: 18 USC 922 (x) prohibits a person under 18 years of age to possess a handgun without the prior written permission of the parent or guardian. With the parent handing the gun to the child and not the dealer, that changes the situation. Although, technically, the parent should have a written note giving themselves permission to hand the gun to the child. Hey, gun laws are mostly stupid and this is another one.
State law requires the child must be in the presence of an adult while the child is in possession of a handgun. This one is kind of sticky, too, as gun shows are not specifically listed in the exemption - just shooting ranges and firearms education class. Code section is 18.2-308.7.
Thanks to Mike Stollenwerk for his guidance on the federal code section.
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3. Spotsylvania County code fixed
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Mike Plaugher, who has been notifying localities whose gun ordinances are not in compliance with Virginia law, sent me an email saying that Spotsylvania County's air gun ordinances are now in compliance. The Board of Supervisors voted to approve some amendments last week.
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4. NOVA Firearms response to a previous article on the company in the Falls Church News Press
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The owner of NOVA Firearms got a rebuttal printed of an earlier article printed in the Falls Church News Press.
Dennis Pratte emailed me this:
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From fcnp.com: http://tinyurl.com/4y864ox
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5. Speeding up your reaction time
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John Pepper emailed me this item which discusses how to improve your time to draw you gun in an emergency. John knows his stuff ("Pepper Poppers" that you have shot at in matches were the brain-child of John). I thought some of you might find this interesting.
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Practice and drill so you can get your pistol into action within one fifth of a second well within the reaction time of the bandit.
From concealment having to brush aside outer garment it takes much longer to get into action than the fifth of a second plus adding ones longer reaction time.
However if one has any warning due to their being "alert ", the first Principle Of Defense, they can reach under their outer garment to grasp the pistol grip yet still have it concealed so not brandishing as not drawn yet. Turning ones gun side away from threat aside from distancing the gun from threat somewhat hides the move. With the right rig on ones belt the pistol is still concealed. From this position already grasping the grip ones draw to firing is inside the one fifth of a second. For this desperation move the pistol starts firing as soon as it clears the holster at just above waist level continuing upwards as firing to get to alignment of either sights or point shooting. Effective at arms length to a few yards range. Very effective if close enough that muzzle is against the assailant as bonus of muzzle blast gas entering wound increasing cavity. Messy with muzzle against as you will be spattered with blood and matter. Most of a lifetime ago had this experience during a night encounter. Desperation would have one continuing to fire rapidly until assailant down and out of fight.
The above has to be practiced much dry then once confident of moves live fire.
Getting into action quickly practice consists of economy of motion. At intervals while practicing intentionally duplicate your moves in slow motion looking for unnecessary movement. It really helps if one has a buddy watching who may detect unnecessary movement then corrections made to eliminate them. Vice versa if your buddy is also improving his or her into action time. Done much as economy of motion improves muscle memory kicks in so under pressure one does as they conditioned via repeated self training drills. No buddy try a large mirror studying your movement from holster to firing.
Done right this is strenuous so after several drills a short break or switch over to buddies drills while you watch him or her for corrections.
To determine the one fifth of a second is fairly simple. A bit of math gives answer as follows.
Needed is a block of wood about one inch by one inch by five or six inches long.
Grasp the pistol grip under your outer garment simultaneously pinning the block of wood against the side of the holster with your extended trigger finger in what is called the index position. As soon as your hand starts motion to draw the block of wood will fall to the floor making a thump sound when it hits the floor. If the hammer or striker mechanism of the pistol goes click before the thump of the wooden block the time is less than one fifth of a second. Practice strives toward," Click - - Thump."
Now the math. A falling weighty object falls approximately 32 feet the first second of decent so convert into inches. Measure from your waist holster to the floor in inches. Divide this into one second. The answer will be close to one fifth of a second, a slight variation depending on ones height.
A drill for the younger who haven't yet suffered the ravages of age of being slower. - - - - Do not recommend this as live fire except for the highly experienced pistoleer.
For a title I always called this: " The Desperation Drill."
Done right it is very strenuous so after about six or seven attempts stop and take a brief break. It is only practical to do this from open carry. As follows.
Extend your gun hand out flat back of hand upwards at waist level. place a weighty block of wood on back of hand large enough it will make an audible thump when it hits the floor. Snatch your hand out from under the block, draw and fire. If your hear Click before the Thump of the block hitting the floor you are well within the reaction time of an adversary at less than a fifth of a second. Importantly no matter how you have grasped the grip of the pistol there is no time for adjusting or improving your grasp as you must accept any variations and continue the draw and firing. Many do a fractions of second time loss grip improvement as they draw which for this drill will not work. However your hand happens to grasp the grip is what you have to go ahead with.
Expect to not always beat the drop of the block thump, but strive for it sometimes having a simultaneous click and thump or thump click.
As previous the pistol has to fire as soon as it clears the holster as no time to raise it to alignment level. At arms length or so defense one should get a hit. Of course in actual fight continuing fire alignment is achieved.
For those who are always concealed carry this open carry drill would only serve as a confidence builder.
Repeat. Recommend this only be done dry fire unless highly experienced shooting many thousands of practice rounds each year for a lengthy duration of years before trying this live fire. - - - Even at that some hazard exists.
All of the above is predicated on an open holster without any retaining strap or flap.
Shape and fit of holster that has no strap or flap should retain the pistol firmly yet as soon as about a quarter of an inch or less movement break free for a smooth draw. A test we used here has one kneel on a mat then do a somersault forward. If the pistol falls out during this test the holster is unsatisfactory. Likewise for magazine or loader pouches on belt. Some holsters have an adjustable tension device that squeezes the holster which can correct the retention. As holster wears over time an adjustment of this device keeps it correct.
Another holster test some use is running and jumping yet not holding the pistol in the holster so it is hands free. If the pistol falls out it fails the retention test. Likewise for pouches on belt.
Either is usually called," The Vigorous Movement Test."
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6. Hinkle: Meth control and gun control
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From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/3fj8fl6
Hinkle: Got the sniffles? You must be a drug pusher!
By A. BARTON HINKLE
October 07, 2011
Authorities in Virginia think they may have found the solution to the meth epidemic: target people who have never made or used meth.
They don't put it in quite those terms. But that's precisely the effect if officials decide to start tracking every purchase of cold and allergy drugs such as Sudafed. Those over-the-counter nostrums contain pseudoephedrine, a component often used to make methamphetamine.
Why would this be a bad idea? Several reasons.
First, it's out of all proportion to the problem. Let's stipulate that meth is very bad and people should stay the heck away from it. But according to a story in last week's Times-Dispatch, only 487 out of 34,168 Virginia drug arrests in 2010 were for meth or amphetamine possession. That's a little less than 1 percent. (Note also the "or amphetamine.") By contrast, how many Virginians get colds and allergies in the course of a year?
Second, it almost certainly will not impede the meth trade; it will only increase consumption of meth from Mexican narco-labs. This isn't mere speculation. It's exactly what happened in Oklahoma, which imposed restrictions on the sale of cold and allergy medication several years ago to combat meth trafficking there.
Result? "Six and a half pounds of Mexican meth, also known as 'Ice,' has been taken off the street by the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics," reported an Oklahoma City TV station last year. "It's the second meth bust in the last week." The story quoted the head of the state narcotics bureau, who said, "The No. 1 threat to the citizens in the state of Oklahoma is the Hispanic sell groups that have infiltrated rural Oklahoma." Oklahoma did not reduce consumption -- it outsourced production. Some victory.
Third, the proposal targets the wrong thing. The problem is meth, not meth precursors. Cold and allergy remedies can be used to make meth, but so can soda bottles and coffee filters. Applying the fanatical logic of the nation's drug war, if restricting the sale of allergy medicines does not stop meth use -- and it won't -- the next step should be to track the sale of 2-liter soda bottles.
Fourth, limiting the sale of over-the-counter medicines, as Virginia officials are considering doing, almost inevitably will entrap law-abiding citizens who unwittingly violate purchase limits. Consider what happened to Sally Harpold, an Indiana grandmother who was hauled off in handcuffs, booked and embarrassed on the front page of the local paper a couple of years ago. As Reason magazine's Jacob Sullum reported, her crime -- if you want to call it that -- was "buying a box of Zyrtec-D allergy medicine for her husband, then buying a box of Mucinex-D decongestant for her daughter at another pharmacy less than a week later. That second transaction put Harpold six-tenths of a gram over Indiana's three-gram-per-week limit" for pseudoephedrine.
Fourth, proposals such as these accelerate a regrettable trend recently reported in The Wall Street Journal: the diminishing emphasis on mens rea, or "guilty mind." Once upon a time, legal standards in America generally required a person to know they were committing a crime in order to find them guilty. Increasingly, individuals can be convicted for violating statutes they did not even realize existed.
Among other examples, the story cites Gary Hancock of Flagstaff, Ariz., who was convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence in the early 1990s. Congress later passed a law forbidding people with such convictions to own firearms. Hancock hadn't been told about the law, so he hadn't sold his guns -- and ended up with a five-year prison sentence. As his lawyer said, prosecutors "did not have to prove he knew about the law. They only had to prove that he knew he had guns."
You can easily see how this would apply to pseudoephedrine. Nobody who buys cold medicine is unaware that he has bought it.
Fifth, and perhaps most perniciously, the proposed limits on over-the-counter medicine amount to dragnet surveillance. Dragnet surveillance -- roadside checkpoints, NSA wiretaps, random drug testing and so on -- not only abandons the notion of reasonable suspicion. It abandons the concept of suspicion altogether, enabling the authorities to monitor and investigate ordinary citizens as they go about their daily lives, on the mere off chance that a few here and there might do something criminal.
The logic behind Virginia's anti-meth measures is the logic of gun control. That warped reasoning goes like this: Millions of Americans use a lawful product in a lawful manner, but because a minute fraction use it unlawfully, everyone else will have to submit to government monitoring, inconvenience and constraint. Including you, dear citizen. Because while you have given no one any grounds to think you have broken the law, it is theoretically possible that you might do so at some point in the future. You are not to be trusted.
Is this the message Virginia really wants to convey?
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7. Issa to issue new Fast and Furious subpoenas
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Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
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From news.yahoo.com: http://tinyurl.com/5w8ho4l
Issa to issue new Fast and Furious subpoenas
By Matthew Boyle
The Daily Caller
Oct 9, 2011
House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa announced plans Sunday to issue more subpoenas to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department in the ongoing Operation Fast and Furious congressional investigation.
"We want to know: what did they know and when did they know it," Issa said on "Fox News Sunday." "But, more specifically, we have to understand, at what level did the authorization come? It wasn't an ATF operation -- they were part of that."
"It was a joint operation, the DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration] knew more than ATF knew," Issa continued. "And, of course, these are all part of the Department of Justice, and as we're beginning to see, and we're not talking about Eric Holder at this moment, people at the top of Justice were well-briefed, knew about it and seemed to be in command and controlled funding of this program."
It's unclear if Holder and the DOJ will comply with this round of subpoenas. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler did not respond Sunday to The Daily Caller when asked if the administration will respond to Issa's new subpoenas.
But Issa hopes they will.
"Any law enforcement person who's been asked under oath, or not under oath, comes back and says, 'this wasn't the right way to do it,'" Issa told Fox News. "Well, when did they know it wasn't the right way to do it and why did they keep doing it?"
Last week, briefing memos surfaced showing that Holder was personally informed about the details of Operation Fast and Furious as early as July 2010. Holder received at least five written briefings containing Operation Fast and Furious details last summer and was sent another detailed memo in November 2010. Emails between other top Justice Department officials show they were concerned about the consequences of allowing a significant number of guns to "walk" into the hands of Mexican drug cartels via "straw purchasers."
Letting guns "walk" means that Justice Department officials allowed "straw purchasers" to buy weapons and sell them, without any tracking or surveillance, to Mexican drug cartels. Straw purchasers are people who could legally buy guns in the United States but were doing so with the known intention of selling them to drug cartels.
After the latest documents pertaining to the investigation were released, Holder was accused of potentially misleading Congress about his knowledge of the program. During testimony before the House Judiciary Committee on May 3, Holder said multiple times during the hearing that he had only learned about Operation Fast and Furious within the last several weeks. The DOJ subsequently told CBS News that Holder learned about the operation much earlier, just not in significant detail.
In light of the seeming contradiction, three Republican congressmen have called for Holder's immediate resignation.
On Friday, Holder pushed back against allegations that he misled Congress about his knowledge of Fast and Furious.
"Much has been made in the past few days about my congressional testimony earlier this year regarding Fast and Furious," Holder wrote in a letter to Issa and other top members of Congress. "My testimony was truthful and accurate and I have been consistent on this point throughout. I have no recollection of knowing about Fast and Furious or of hearing its name prior to the public controversy about it."
That statement contradicts what the DOJ told CBS News last week -- that Holder did know about Fast and Furious, just not the intricate details of the program. Now, Holder is again claiming he did not know about Fast and Furious, or even hear its name, prior to the public controversy that erupted over the program in the spring.
The DOJ has refused multiple requests from TheDC to explain the inconsistency.
Though details about Operation Fast and Furious were included in his weekly briefings, Holder told Congress in a letter he doesn't always read entirety of his briefings, which are often in excess of 100 pages. In a Saturday morning interview, Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar told TheDC that Holder's admission that he doesn't read his briefings was "very troubling."
"They [the memos] ought to have been [read by Holder] and this ought to have been a high priority," Gosar said. "I don't give anybody any kind of relay, the buck stops here."
Issa was asked on Fox News whether he plans to subpoena Holder to testify before the House oversight committee. Issa didn't say definitively whether he would or wouldn't, but he did say the Judiciary Committee has offered Holder an opportunity to correct the record.
"The Judiciary Committee, on which I also serve where that question got asked, has invited him to come and clear the record," Issa said. "Clearly he knew, when he said he didn't know, now the question is what did he know and how is he going to explain that answer?"
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8. Editorial: Indict Eric Holder
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Monty Oakes emailed me this:
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Indict Holder for BATFE fast & furious...
From investors.com: http://tinyurl.com/4yg2q6g
Indict Eric Holder
10/04/2011
Scandal: A major-league pitcher was indicted for lying to Congress about steroid use. Administration memos show Eric Holder lied about what he knew about Fast and Furious and when he knew it. What's the difference?
Somewhere, Scooter Libby must be scratching his head. He was indicted and convicted simply because his recall of when a meeting occurred differed from others. He didn't lie about a gun-running operation that led to the deaths of two American agents and at least 200 Mexicans.
But Attorney General Eric Holder did, according to memos obtained by CBS News and Fox News.
They show Holder lied to Congress on May 2, 2011, when he was asked about when he knew about the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Fast and Furious gun-running operation. He told House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa he was "not sure of the exact date, but I probably learned about Fast and Furious over the last few weeks."
Holder learned of the operation as early as July 2010 in a memo from the director of the National Drug Intelligence Center informing him of an operation run by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force out of the Phoenix ATF office, under which "straw purchasers are responsible for the purchase of 1,500 firearms that were then supplied to Mexican drug cartels."
On Oct. 18, 2010, one of Holder's chief deputies, Lanny Breuer, chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, told Holder in a memo that prosecutors were ready to issue indictments of a few gun traffickers involved in Fast and Furious.
A memo the day before from Deputy Attorney General Jason Weinstein to another lawyer in the Criminal Division, James Trusty, asked if Breuer should do a press conference when Fast and Furious became known.
"It's a tricky case," Weinstein wrote, "considering the number of guns that have walked." Trusty replied, "It's not going to be any big surprise that a bunch of guns are being used in MX (Mexico), so I'm not so sure how much grief we'll get for 'gun walking.'"
Fast and Furious became known two months later when Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed at the hands of an illegal immigrant working for the Sinaloa cartel just 10 miles from the Mexico border near Nogales, Ariz. Guns found at the scene were traced to Fast and Furious. In addition to Terry, Immigration Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata was killed in a separate incident by a weapon allowed to "walk" into Mexico from the U.S.
Holder, quite simply, has lied to Congress, although the defense now being offered is he didn't understand Issa's question, doesn't read all the memos sent to him or was otherwise out of the loop.
It is perhaps the first time incompetence has been offered as a defense to possible charges of criminality.
ATF agent testimony, last Friday's document dump, communications between National Security council staffers and the ATF, and now this demonstrate that Holder and the White House knew that guns were deliberately being allowed to "walk" into the hands of murderous Mexican drug cartels.
As Issa told radio talk show host Laura Ingraham last month: "We have a paper trail of so many people knowing that the only way the attorney general didn't know is he made sure he didn't want to know. ... But if you don't want to know something of this sort, then you shouldn't have the job he has."
We'd go a step further. Baseball star Roger Clemens was equally vehement when he told a House committee in 2008: "Let me be clear. I have never taken steroids or HGH." Clemens was indicted for lying to Congress.
The same should go for Eric Holder.
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9. D.C. concealed gun bill defeated
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Tommy Carroll emailed me this:
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From wamu.org: http://tinyurl.com/6k94rve
D.C. Concealed Gun Bill Defeated
By Matt Laslo
October 14, 2011
An amendment concerning the District's concealed weapons law has been shot down. The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday defeated the effort, which would have allowed some people visiting D.C. to carry concealed weapons in the city.
D.C.'s strict gun laws continuously rile lawmakers from states with what critics say are loose gun laws. This latest attempt to change the District's firearms restrictions would have allowed people with concealed weapons permits in other states to conceal a loaded gun while out and about on city streets.
Rep. Louis Gomert (R-Texas) sponsored the effort, arguing it's a Second Amendment issue. In a statement, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray called the legislation a blatant attack on the autonomy of District residents. His sentiment was echoed by Northern Virginia Democrat Gerry Connolly.
"I think Louis Gomert should stick to his business in Texas, and shouldn't be telling the people of the District of Columbia what they can or cannot do or should or should not do," says Connolly.
The amendment was soundly defeated in the committee, with only three lawmakers supporting it and 24 members helping reject it.
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10. New law bans open carry of handguns in California
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Ben Piper emailed me this:
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Brown, a Democrat, told The Associated Press that "he listened to the police chiefs and they were concerned" about the open carry laws. [PVC: And those chiefs should be fired for either incompetence or lying.]
From google.com: http://tinyurl.com/5sdfoag
Gov. signs bill banning open carry of handguns
By SHEILA V KUMAR
Associated Press
Oct 10, 2011
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A new ban signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown prohibiting the open carry of handguns in public could lead to an unintended proliferation of rifles and other long guns in public if gun enthusiasts continue to fight for their Second Amendment rights.
Brown signed AB144 by state Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-Pasadena Monday morning. The bill will make it a misdemeanor to carry an exposed and unloaded handgun in public or in vehicles. Violators could face up to a year in prison or a potential fine of $1,000 when the law takes effect Jan 1.
Gun owners have been protesting the legislation since it was introduced in January, a few days after a shooting in Tucson, Ariz., killed six people and wounded 13, including U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords. In April, gun owners began carrying unloaded handguns in public places and restaurants as a political statement in Pasadena.
The ban may push gun activists into openly carrying rifles in protest of the handgun ban, National Rifle Association civil rights attorney C.D. Michel said.
"You're not going to stop people from having these demonstrations," he said.
The bill exempts hunting and shooting events and doesn't apply to those are given permits to carry a concealed weapon by law enforcement authorities.
Sheriff's departments in most major cities in California, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego, make it difficult for citizens to get concealed carry permits, said Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California. The association, which has 33,000 members in California, is a pro-gun lobbying association based north of the state capital.
"This is a ridiculous law," he said. "This is an immense infringement on the right to bear arms."
The bill is an opportunity to prevent tragedy before it happens, Portantino said.
"It's not if somebody is going be shot, it's when somebody is going to be shot," he said. "We have the opportunity to avoid that, and that's why this is so critical."
He said law enforcement officials have been concerned about the proliferation of guns in public and the tense situations that arise when someone sees another person carrying a firearm in public. He said the encounters can escalate quickly because others don't know whether the gun is loaded or unloaded.
One of the first rules of firearms safety is to always assume a weapon is loaded.
"Main Street California is not the Old West, and you don't need a gun to buy a cheeseburger," Portantino said.
Top California law enforcement groups, including the California Police Chiefs Association and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, supported the legislation.
Brown, a Democrat, told The Associated Press that "he listened to the police chiefs and they were concerned" about the open carry laws.
"By prohibiting the open carry of guns, we can now take our families to the park or out to eat without the worry of getting shot by some untrained, unscreened, self-appointed vigilante," Dallas Stout, president of the California chapters of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement.
The Brady Campaign, which sponsored the legislation, said California joins Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas as the only states to ban the open carry of handguns. It said 33 states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Louisiana and Colorado, do no prohibit open carry. Twelve states, including South Carolina, Tennessee, Minnesota and Massachusetts require permits for open carry.
Alaska, Arizona and Vermont are the only states that don't require concealed carry permits.
The group viewed the open carry of unloaded handguns as a safety threat to communities and their officers. He said the bill will help assure that felons and gang members cannot openly carry an unloaded gun with impunity, said David Maggard Jr., president of the California Police Chiefs Association.
The organization represents the state's 336 municipal police chiefs.
Gun advocates and most Republican lawmakers have criticized the law, saying it targets law-abiding citizens. State Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, R-Hesperia, said Brown sent the message that he has no respect for the Constitution.
"There are risks to living in a free state, and for the governor to take away and chisel away at the Second Amendment right when he claimed to respect it, it just kind of shows his true colors," Donnelly said.
"It's really a form of tyranny," he said of the ban.
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11. Cop uses finger to jam assailant's gun
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For a revolver, there is a much easier way to disable it than the police officer's method below. Just grab the revolver frame and cylinder so that the cylinder cannot rotate. Voila! The gun is useless for as long as you can keep your grip on that cylinder. No need to break your thumb.
From policeone.com: http://tinyurl.com/3epetdd
NY cop uses finger to save self from being shot
Sgt. Michael Miller jammed his ring finger under the hammer of a felon's revolver
October 10, 2011
NEW YORK -- A New York Police Department cop jammed his ring finger under .38 revolver's hammer to save himself from being shot in the gut.
Sergeant Michael Miller and Officer William Reddin were patrolling when they noticed the beige Lincoln Towncar speeding on Quincy Street near Malcolm X Boulevard.
The cops also noticed that one of the passengers in the back seat, Eugene Graves, was making suspicious movements near his waistband.
Miller felt the gun underneath Graves' clothes when he reached towards his waist.
"He told him to put his hands behind him, and that's when he started to fight," the New York Post quoted a police source, as saying.
Graves pressed his Taurus .38 revolver into Miller's stomach, but Miller grabbed the gun, and put his right ring finger between the gun's hammer and cylinder to prevent Graves from firing a shot.
"This guy pulled the trigger so many times he broke the sergeant's finger," a police source added.
Uniformed police officers quickly arrived on the scene to overpower Graves.
Graves has been charged with attempted murder of a police officer, assaulting a police officer, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a controlled substance, menacing, and resisting arrest.
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12. LTE: Killing at Atlantic City shows need for gun control
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Another, [yaaawwwwnnnn], misguided soul who thinks laws will make him safe.
Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
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From app.com: http://tinyurl.com/3pcfubn
Killing at Atlantic City shows need for gun control
Oct. 7, 2011
The senseless killing in an Atlantic City carjacking at the Taj Mahal omitted a key question by the media. Who is selling the guns that continue to flood our state?
Reasonable citizens didn't need shotguns or AK-47 assault weapons for protection. The loose state laws have created senseless killings as we've seen at Virginia Tech and Columbine in previous years.
Gun show advocates with easy regulations in several states also contribute to the slaughter of innocent people. The National Rifle Association also contributes to congressional campaigns in support of easy regulations.
Our police departments should campaign for better federal regulations to tighten gun laws.
George Young
Lakewood
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13. Just give the criminal what he wants? I don't think so
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Last week one of the VA-ALERT items pointed out the logical flaw of "just giving the criminal what he wants." The UVA police chief had actually suggested that as an approach to crime. I suggested that if someone wanted your child that such advise was clearly stupid (and dangerous).
Well, guess what? A criminal wanted this woman's child. Yep, you guess it - the criminal is now deceased.
From cnn.com: http://tinyurl.com/42jcjmy
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14. 3 killed, 17 injured in overnight shootings in Illinois
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Ah, the safety of gun-free Chicago! [PVC: The idiots they have in Chicago's government will never get it.]
Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
--
From chicagotribune.com: http://tinyurl.com/3ckhcnx
3 killed, 17 injured in overnight shootings
By Peter Nickeas
Tribune reporter
October 8, 2011
At least three people were killed and at least 17 others wounded, including nine teenagers, in shootings across the city late Friday night and early Saturday morning.
* Two sisters were shot in the head in the 2300 block of North Harding Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood at about 4:40 a.m., police said. One woman, identified as Isabella Martinez, 22, of the Harding Avenue address, was found dead at the scene and the other sister, 35, was hospitalized in serious condition, police said, citing preliminary reports. The age of the deceased victim was not immediately available. Police were speaking to another family member as a person of interest in the attack, which was believed to be domestic-related.
* A security guard was shot in the chest and possibly stabbed at a gas station in the 400 block of South Pulaski Road at about 4 a.m., police said, citing preliminary reports. Dennis Fox, 53, was dead on the scene, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. A suspect was being questioned.
* A 29-year-old man was shot and killed across from the Lake View High School at the intersection of Ashland Avenue and Irving Park Road early this morning in the city's Lake View neighborhood, according to police. The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the man as Louis Cotto. Cotto was standing on a corner when shots were fired in a possible drive-by shooting at about 1:20 a.m, police said. He was shot in his chest and back and was pronounced dead at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, police said. Nobody is in custody, police said.
* A boy and a girl, both aged 17, were shot at about 2:15 a.m. in the 7500 block of South Dante Avenue in the Grand Crossing neighborhood, Chicago Police News Affairs Sgt. Al Stinites said. The boy was shot in his leg and the girl in her foot, and both were transported to Jackson Park Hospital, he said.
* A 25-year-old man was shot in his back at 71st and Halsted Avenue Street at about 2:15 a.m., police said. He was initially listed in serious condition. Additional details weren't immediately available.
* A 56-year-old man was shot in the 4100 block of West Adams Street in the West Garfield Park neighborhood at about 1:30 a.m., police said. He was walking with a friend when someone approached him and shot him in the arm and leg. He's in stable condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said.
* A 20-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were shot in the 13200 block of South Langley Avenue in the Altgeld Gardens housing complex on the Far South Side at about 1:30 a.m., police said. A group of people was chasing a second group and someone in the first group shot at the victims while they were running away, hitting the 16-year-old in his leg and hitting the 20-year-old in his abdomen, according to Chicago Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. The teen was taken to Roseland Community Hospital and the older man was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in suburban Oak Lawn, Mirabelli said.
* A 17-year-old boy was shot in the back in the 7400 block of South Blackstone Avenue at about 1:20 a.m. and is in serious condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. He was sitting in the back seat of a vehicle when someone approached and shot into the car. The boy was driven to the University of Chicago Hospital and then transferred to Mount Sinai, police said.
* At about 12:30 a.m., a 22-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were shot in the 2600 block of South Ridgeway Avenue in the Little Village neighborhood, police said. The man was shot in his chest and ankle and the teen was shot in his leg, police said. Both victims are in stable condition at Mount Sinai Hospital, police said. They were standing in a backyard and were shot after a gun was fired from inside a light-colored SUV in an alley behind the house, police said. The SUV fled north in the alley.
* A 41-year-old man was shot in his forearm, buttocks and suffered a graze wound to his head on the 3900 block of South Indiana Avenue in the Bronzeville neighborhood at about 11:30 p.m. Friday. He was involved in an argument with the person who shot him, police said. The shooter pulled out a gun, opened fire and fled the scene. The victim was transported in serious condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Mirabelli said.
* A 24-year-old man was shot in the 8400 block of South Carpenter Street at about 11:10 p.m. in the city's Gresham neighborhood. He was transported to Advocate Christ Medical Center after being shot in his abdomen, Mirabelli said. The shooting followed an altercation between the victim and the offender, who isn't in custody, Mirabelli said.
* A 17-year-old boy was shot in his neck while sitting in a car at a stop light on the 7600 block of South Chicago Avenue at about 11:10 p.m., police said. It wasn't clear whether the boy was transported to the hospital by the Chicago Fire Department or whether he was driven in the same car, police said.
* A 37-year-old man was shot in his groin in the 800 block of North Noble Street at about 10 p.m. in the Noble Square neighborhood, police said. Police responded to a shots fired call and found someone yelling that his friend had been shot, Mirabelli said. Police caught two "persons of interest" and recovered a handgun. The victim was shot once in the thigh and once in the wrist, Mirabelli said, and transported to Stroger Hospital.
* Two other boys, age 16 and 17, were shot as they left a restaurant on the 3200 block of West Cermak Road at about 9:40 p.m. on Friday in the Little Village neighborhood, police said. The 16-year-old was in stable condition at Mount Sinai Hospital and the 17-year-old was in stable condition at Stroger Hospital, police said.
* A 15-year-old was accidentally shot in the 7900 block of South Christiana Avenue in the Ashburn neighborhood at about 9:30 p.m. Friday, police said. He was standing with a man who was showing him a gun when the gun went off. The man will likely face gun charges, police said.
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15. CMP Shooter's News 10-06-11
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Michael Irvin emailed me this:
--
From odcmp.org: http://tinyurl.com/5wylf6v
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16. Interesting statistics
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Jim Dinger emailed me this:
--
From lewrockwell.com: http://tinyurl.com/23brcng
[SNIP]
Coinciding with a surge in gun purchases that began shortly before the 2008 elections, violent crime decreased six percent between 2008 and 2009, including an eight percent decrease in murder and a nine percent decrease in robbery.
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17 Bedford County: Another reminder of our freedoms lost
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Last Monday I attended the Bedford County Planning Commission hearing on the zoning change and special use permit for a shooting range used for training purposes. The range is owned by Timothy Hooper, who is a police officer in Lynchburg. The range has been there for 28 years and without a single complaint for all that time. Due to some extensive improvement that Timothy did to the range, it was not grandfathered and he has to get permission to continue operating it.
A couple of notes: it is a training range - for military, police and citizens, as well as used to host some shooting matches. It is an extremely nice and very safe facility, with the ranges cut into the ground so one is shooting into the actual earth and not a berm.
The room was packed with both those in favor of the range and those opposing it (all of a sudden after all these years). Those speaking for/against were fairly evenly represented.
After the public hearing, as I sat there and listened to the arguments back and forth between the Commission members, all I could think about was that even someone with 150 acres of land (!) can't have a shooting range in the middle of it without begging for permission from the Government. And the Commission gave no weight to the range being used to train those who protect us and to citizens who want to improve their skills. Very sad - a sheep herder in the Middle East has more freedom than that.
The end result is the matter was set aside temporarily until the Sheriff can report on whether he thinks the range is safe or not.
I expect it to come up before the Board of Supervisors later in November.
ACTION ITEM
If you would like to contact the Bedford County Board of Supervisors in support of Mr. Hooper's shooting/training range, here is a link with their contact information:
http://www.co.bedford.va.us/Res/Supervisors/index.asp
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18. Surprise! Another ODU student is robbed at gunpoint (with video)
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VCDL's Operation Campus Safety will be at ODU ***soon*** - watch for the announcement on Monday.
From wavy.com: http://tinyurl.com/3q45qvg
ODU student, 1 other robbed near campus
ODU sends "Safety Timely Warning"
Updated: Friday, 14 Oct 2011, 9:26 PM EDT
Published : Friday, 14 Oct 2011, 10:42 AM EDT
NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - Police are looking for three suspects who robbed two men walking near Old Dominion University Thursday night.
Jennifer Mullen Collins with ODU says one of the victims was an ODU student.
According to an ODU campus alert, the robbery occurred near 49th Street and Killam Avenue around 11:15 p.m.
"It's concerning because I'm paying $20,000, and I'm suppose to feel safe. I should not be afraid to walk the streets here at night," Jasmine Bundick, a junior at ODU, said.
Police said three suspects in a silver Toyota drove up to the victims, displayed a weapon and demanded money.
The suspects were last seen driving on Killam Avenue.
The crime statistics are alarming. According to Crimemapping.com, from May 1 until October 14 there have been 297 violent crimes within a one mile radius of the campus, 70 crimes within a half mile of the campus.
"That is crazy...297 and 70, that just says enough," student Nia Sheridan said.
Two ODU police officers patrolling on foot said, "we have definitely beefed up patrols." Both felt the campus was safer now.
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19. Lord Fairfax Community College (LFCC) professor is changing her "Letter to Cuccinelli" assignment
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Emails from the College's President, Dr. Cheryl Thompson-Stacy, says the teacher, Professor Cassel, is changing the assignment. However, we don't know yet how it has been changed.
She originally assigned her students the task of writing a letter to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli about keeping guns off of LFCC's campus and to tell him what they would do if people were carrying guns.
Many of you sent emails to the school's administration and it looks like perhaps it worked. We'll know soon.
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20. Hats off again for York County Sheriff Danny Diggs!
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EM Doug Peterson sent me a status report on York County fixing some of its gun ordinances to comply with state law (which they did on 10/18/2011).
Doug noted this in his email:
"Sheriff Diggs was asked to comment [on the ordinances being fixed], and he recommended that the BoS repeal the requirement for fingerprints, as he does not consider it necessary. He said that although he had actually supported it when it was first proposed, he did so as a new sheriff, erring on the side of caution.
The BoS seemed willing to draft another ordinance to repeal the fingerprint requirement and schedule it for public comment at a future BoS meeting."
What can I say? Sheriff Diggs should make those of you in York County proud.
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21. Richmond PD to use gun-sniffing dogs in a parking lot
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Member Kent Jennings Brockwell sent me this email:
Say what you will about the savagery in the Bottom these days, but
this part of the TD article struck an off note for me.
"We spoke to him about hiring a security officer and bringing a
weapons dog onto the lot," said Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley.
"He has granted us permission to run our weapons dog through the lot."
If they are going to run the gun dog through the lot, what will keep
them from walking it everywhere? Then, if the dog makes a hit, what is
the following action of the police? I can imagine a lot of 2A abuses
coming from this sort of thing.
From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/3qq6lef
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22. All kinds of coverage of Operation Campus Safety!
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"Virginia Tech students fire back on gun debate"
Anti-gun hysteria from the Roanoke Times: http://www.roanoke.com/columnists/casey/wb/299773
--
"Va. gun-rights group plans protests at universities"
Virginian-Pilot coverage: http://tinyurl.com/43oejfx
--
"At UVA, fewer weapons arrests, but more protests"
This covers some of my comments about the UVA Police Chief
Charlottesville News and Art: http://tinyurl.com/3q8vyuc
--
"Concealed carry group to visit Tech"
Er, we are not a "concealed carry group." We support open carry, too.
VT Collegiate Times: http://tinyurl.com/3lucv2c
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23. BREAKING: List of state CHPs that Wisconsin will honor
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Virginia is not on the list at this time. However, for those of you with a Utah permit, you are good to go starting November 1st!
From the Wisconsin Department of Justices web site:
http://www.doj.state.wi.us/dles/cib/ConcealedCarry/ConcealedCarry.asp
Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands
Thanks to Ethan Reed for the link.
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(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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