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. Help needed for the Fredericksburg gun show THIS weekend!
2. VCDL preparing to go after localities for preemption violations -
need plaintiffs
3. Newspapers publishing CHP holders names,etc.? Let us know!
4. VCDL meeting in Annandale March 21
5. Links to recent rulings in Maryland and Colorado
6. Fairfax County removes "no guns" wording from sign at Massey
government building
7. Both sides say the Castle Doctrine was rushed
8. Mexico unveils 'No More Weapons!' sign made of firearms along US border
9. Man shocked by arrest after daughter draws picture of gun at school
10. VA. Tech families urge Gov. McDonnell to meet about one-gun law
11. Disarming the myths promoted by the gun control lobby
12. New Hampshire man arrested for firing gun into ground while
catching suspected burglar
13. Second Amendment - Not just for whites only
14. Who needs a gun at the hospital?
15. RT Editorial: Keep guns away from convicted batterers
16. The facts about gun shows
17. Chicago: 7 dead, 19 wounded in weekend gun violence
18. "We don't need no steenking 2nd Amendment"
19. A law that gun-rights advocates should be fighting to keep? No thanks.
20. Video: Colonial Shooting Academy nearly complete
21. CMP Shooter's News
22. If you own a Talon handgun READ THIS!
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1. Help needed for the Fredericksburg gun show THIS weekend!
**************************************************
We need volunteers for all shifts!
FREDERICKSBURG http://www.guns-knives.com, March 17-18
Saturday, March 17 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, March 18 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Please contact Robert Herron at Fredericksburggunshows@vcdl.org
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2. VCDL preparing to go after localities for preemption violations -
need plaintiffs
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We've grown weary of localities that are keeping preempted firearm laws
on their books. If such an ordinance is on their books, we fear they
can unlawfully try to enforce it. Time to take them to court (there is
a provision in the preemption law that VCDL worked to get put into place
a few years ago that allows a judge to award attorney fees back to us
when we win these cases - and we will win).
If you live in one of the three counties below and want to be a
plaintiff in a lawsuit to force these localities to get unlawful
preempted ordinances off their books (at no cost to you), get in touch
with me at president@vcdl.org
These localities have been contacted, but have not made any attempt to
clean up their preempted firearms ordinances.
1. Accomack County: They still have an ordinance on their books
dealing with loitering with a firearm near a park or school
2. Brunswick County: They ban carry at a Music Festival
3. Poquoson: They have a whole bunch of ordinances, including those
dealing with carrying in a park or any place open to the public,
homemade guns, transferring a handgun to a minor, and carrying while
walking on a highway
When we are through with the above localities, we will reevaluate and
see if other localities are interested in going onto the next list.
**************************************************
3. Newspapers publishing CHP holders names,etc.? Let us know!
**************************************************
The representative of the Press told the Senate Courts of Justice
committee that newspapers are no longer publishing the names of CHP
holders. That has made EM Bob Sadtler a man-on-a-mission to make sure
their lie won't fly next year.
Delegate Cole's bill, HB 25, was killed by Senate Courts of Justice
committee in February. One of the reasons for this was that the
Virginia Press Association representative, Ginger Stanley, told the
committee that newspapers are NOT publishing lists of CHP applicants
when a number of newspapers clearly ARE doing so.
If you have proof that a newspaper is publishing CHP holder names,
either physical copies of the newspaper, links to their web site, links
to their archives, etc, please contact: bob.sadtler@vcdl.org
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4. VCDL meeting in Annandale March 21
**************************************************
The monthly membership meeting in Annandale will be held on Wednesday,
March 21, 2012 at the Mason Government Center.
The meeting will be called to order at 8 PM and run until 9:30 PM.
Fellowship starts at 7:30 PM.
The meeting is open to the public, so bring friends, family, and co-workers.
Afterward we will adjourn to a local restaurant for continued fellowship.
Directions to the meeting can be found at:
http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
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5. Links to recent rulings in Maryland and Colorado
**************************************************
Documents from the ruling in Maryland overturning their "may issue" CHP law:
http://vcdl.org/pdf/53.pdf
http://vcdl.org/pdf/52.pdf
http://vcdl.org/pdf/woollarddocket.pdf
Ruling in Colorado overturning university bans on carry by CHP holders:
http://vcdl.org/pdf/colorado.pdf
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6. Fairfax County removes "no guns" wording from sign at Massey
government building
**************************************************
A member notified us that there was a "No guns" sign at the Fairfax
Massey government building. EM Ed Levine took on the task of fixing
that problem and he did so in short order. Captain Michael Dittmer with
the Fairfax PD, when notified of the offending sign (such a sign and
policy are forbidden under Virginia's firearm preemption law), quickly
and professionally handled the matter.
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7. Both sides say the Castle Doctrine was rushed
**************************************************
This is a little dated...
From the Williamsburg/Yorktown Daily: http://tinyurl.com/6q2q8mo
Both Sides Say Castle Doctrine was Rushed
By Mehelle Hankerson, Capital News Service Tuesday, February 21, 2012
RICHMOND – Both sides in the Second Amendment debate in Virginia are
looking to combat Monday's Senate passage of House Bill 48, better known
as the "Castle Doctrine."
The bill, introduced by Delegate Richard "Dickie" Bell, R-Staunton,
passed the House on Feb. 9 on a 70-28 vote. On Monday afternoon, the
Senate voted 24-16 to approve a slightly different version of the bill.
The two chambers must resolve the wording before the bill can be sent to
Gov. Bob McDonnell to be signed or vetoed.
Both the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which supports gun rights,
and the Virginia Center for Public Safety, which campaigns against gun
violence, said they plan to take action against Virginia's Castle Doctrine.
VCDL President Philip Van Cleave said there were too many changes to the
bill without adequate time to consider what they would mean.
"You might fix one thing and break something else," Van Cleave said.
"You've got to be so careful … people's lives are on the line." The VCDL
decided to stay neutral on the various versions of the bill throughout
the session.
Andrew Goddard, president at the Virginia Center for Public Safety,
echoed Van Cleave and criticized lawmakers' hasty editing of the bill
during the Senate session Monday afternoon.
"It's difficult if you spend a long time on it," Goddard said. "It's
almost impossible on the fly."
The VCDL is in the process of drafting a bill for next year's General
Assembly session to make sure this year's Castle Doctrine doesn't affect
what Van Cleave considers fair and complete self-defense laws in the state.
Over the summer, Van Cleave said the organization will draft a
comprehensive bill that will attempt to address and codify all
self-defense common laws. He said the organization will ask for the help
of lawyers and attorneys to see where there may be potential legal holes.
Van Cleave pointed out that Virginia is already a "stand-your-ground
state" where citizens can defend themselves without criminal punishment
if they have not done anything to warrant an attack.
"Virginia's already got very good laws on self-defense," Van Cleave
said. "Some states desperately needed a castle doctrine … We're a
stand-your-ground state: As long as you're not part of the problem, no
matter where you are, you can stand your ground."
Goddard also said the state's current common law offers enough rights
and protection to citizens.
"(The Castle Doctrine) has been the common law since before Virginia
became Virginia," Goddard said. "It was brought over from the U.K. It's
been the common law in Virginia since its founding, and it's
well-understood and it's well-applied."
"It's a complete fabrication that we need this," he said.
Goddard, whose son Colin survived the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting, said
the passage of the doctrine is the beginning of a "slippery slope."
"These kind of bills send the wrong message," Goddard said. "People know
they can defend their homes. People don't need the state government's
permission to defend their own home."
The Center for Public Safety won't be introducing any bills, but Goddard
said the organization will be sending a letter to McDonnell asking him
not to sign the bill into law.
Currently, 30 states have some version of the Castle Doctrine.
**************************************************
8. Mexico unveils 'No More Weapons!' sign made of firearms along US border
**************************************************
How about a sign on our side of the border: "No more drugs!" or "No
more political corruption!"
From CBS Houston: http://tinyurl.com/7n3prkj
February 17, 2012
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) - President Felipe Calderon on Thursday
unveiled a "No More Weapons!" billboard made with crushed firearms and
placed near the U.S. border. He urged the United States to stop the flow
of weapons into Mexico.
The billboard, which is in English and weighs 3 tons, was placed near an
international bridge in Ciudad Juarez and can be seen from the United
States.
Calderon said the billboard's letters were made with weapons seized by
local, state and federal authorities.
"Dear friends of the United States, Mexico needs your help to stop this
terrible violence that we're suffering," Calderon said in English during
the unveiling ceremony.
"The best way to do this is to stop the flow of automatic weapons into
Mexico," he added.
Before unveiling the billboard, Calderon supervised the destruction of
more than 7,500 automatic rifles and handguns at a military base in
Ciudad Juarez.
Calderon said more than 140,000 weapons have been seized since December
2006, when he launched a crackdown against drug traffickers. More than
47,500 people have been killed since then.
One of the cities most affected by the violence is Ciudad Juarez, where
more than 9,000 have died in drug violence since 2008.
Also Thursday, the country's Attorney General said a federal prosecutor
assigned to a northern state has been detained on suspicion of
protecting the brutal Zetas drug cartel.
Attorney General Marisela Morales said federal prosecutor Claudia
Gonzalez has been sent to prison. She didn't say when Gonzalez was
detained or give any other details.
Gonzalez was based in the city of Saltillo, capital of the border state
of Coahuila.
The state on the border with Texas has seen a spike of violence as the
Zetas and the Sinaloa drug cartel fight for control of drug smuggling
routes into the United States.
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9. Man shocked by arrest after daughter draws picture of gun at school
**************************************************
Deborah Anderson emailed me this:
--
This is one of those head-shaking kinds of story that just leaves you
going "huh?" No offense to many of my Canadian relatives and friends,
but this story is an example of why we don't want the U.S. to be like
Canada, with their anti-gun laws. Unfortunately, though, some places in
our country are so "anti" that I fear that in some places here in the
U.S. something like this could happen to an American parent, too (e.g.,
think places like Washington DC, NYC, Chicago, etc.).
Blessings,
Deborah Jane Anderson
From The Record: http://tinyurl.com/6or5sdr
By Dianne Wood
February 24, 2012
KITCHENER - A Kitchener father is upset that police arrested him at his
children's' school Wednesday, hauled him down to the station and
strip-searched him, all because his four-year-old daughter drew a
picture of a gun at school.
"I'm picking up my kids and then, next thing you know, I'm locked up,"
Jessie Sansone, 26, said Thursday.
"I was in shock. This is completely insane. My daughter drew a gun on a
piece of paper at school."
The school principal, police and child welfare officials, however, all
stand by their actions. They said they had to investigate to determine
whether there was a gun in Sansone's house that children had access to.
"From a public safety point of view, any child drawing a picture of guns
and saying there's guns in a home would warrant some further
conversation with the parents and child," said Alison Scott, executive
director of Family and Children's Services.
Waterloo Regional Police Insp. Kevin Thaler said there was a complaint
from Forest Hills public school that "a firearm was in a residence and
children had access to it. We had every concern, based on this
information, that children were in danger."
Their concern wasn't based on the drawing alone, he said.
Neaveh, the child who made the drawing, also made comments about it that
raised more flags.
Sansone thinks police overreacted. He didn't find out until hours after
his arrest what had actually sparked the incident.
He said he went to the school Wednesday afternoon to pick up his three
children. He was summoned to the principal's office where three police
officers were waiting. They said he was being charged with possession of
a firearm.
He was escorted from the school, handcuffed and put in the back of a
cruiser.
At the same time, other police officers went to his home, where his wife
and 15-month-old child were waiting for his return.
They made his wife come to the police station while the other three
children were taken to Family and Children's Services to be interviewed.
"Nobody was given any explanation," said his wife, Stephanie Squires. "I
didn't know why he was being arrested.
"He had absolutely no idea what this was even about. I just kept telling
them. 'You're making a mistake.' "
At the police station, Sansone talked to a lawyer who said only that he
was being charged with possession of a firearm, Sansone said.
He kept asking questions. He was given a blanket and told he would
appear before a judge in the morning to post bail.
"I was getting pretty scared at that point," Sansone said. "It seemed
like I was actually being charged at this point."
He was forced to remove his clothes for a full strip search.
Several hours later, a detective apologized and said he was being
released with no charges, Sansone said.
The detective told him that his four-year-old daughter had drawn a
picture of a man holding a gun. When a teacher asked her who the man
was, the girl replied, "That's my daddy's. He uses it to shoot bad guys
and monsters."
"To be honest with you, I broke down," Sansone said. "My character got
put down so much. I was actually really hurt, like it could happen that
easy.
"How do you recognize a criminal from a father?''
He said he thought he had good relations with the principal who offered
him a job last year counselling students at the school.
"We're educated,'' he said. "I'm a certified PSW (personal support
worker) and a life issues counsellor. I go into schools to try to make a
difference.''
After he was released, Sansone was asked to sign a paper authorizing a
search of his home. He signed, even though he didn't have to, he said.
"I just think they blew it out of proportion,'' Squires said. "It was
for absolutely nothing. They searched our house upside down and found
nothing. They had the assumption he owned a firearm.
"The way everything happened was completely unnecessary, especially
since we know the school very well. I don't understand how they came to
that conclusion from a four-year-old's drawing.''
Scott, of Family and Children's Services, said the agency was obligated
to investigate after getting a report from the school.
"Our community would have an expectation if comments are made about a
gun in a house, we'd be obligated to investigate that to ensure
everything is safe."
If there's a potential crime that's been committed, the agency must call
in police, she said
"In the end, it may not be substantiated. There may be a reasonable
explanation for why the child drew that gun. But we have to go on what
gets presented to us.
"I'm sure this was a very stressful thing for the family," she acknowledged.
The school principal, Steve Zack, said a staff member called child
welfare officials because the law requires them to report anything
involving the safety or neglect of a child.
The agency chose to involve police, he said.
"Police chose to arrest Jessie here. Nobody wants something like this to
happen at any time, especially not at school. But that's out of my hands."
Sansone says he got into some trouble with the law five years ago, and
was convicted of assault and attempted burglary. But he's put all that
behind him. He never had any firearms-related charges.
As for the strip search, Thaler said it was done "for officer safety,
because it's a firearms-related incident.
"At the point in the investigation when it was determined it was not a
real firearm, the individual was released unconditionally," he said.
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10. VA. Tech families urge Gov. McDonnell to meet about one-gun law
**************************************************
The Governor stood on his promise to gun owners to get rid of the One
Handgun a Month law and he did. The small group of anti-gun Virginia
Tech families didn't have a horse in the race based on the Tech
massacre, Cho followed the law, including waiting that month for his
second handgun. The law simply didn't make any difference.
From CBS6 WTVR: http://tinyurl.com/77mr8p2
By Angela Pellerano
February 24, 2012
RICHMOND, Va (WTVR)- We won't get him to stop, buy maybe get him to
change it, said Andrew Goddard.
He and other relatives of Virginia Tech shooting victims hope to
persuade Governor McDonnell not to sign a bill repealing Virginia's
one-handgun-a month law.
They hand delivered a letter to the governor today. The governor has
agreed to speak with them on Saturday.
All of the things, all of the arguments why we don't need this anymore
not one of them stand up to scrutiny, said Goddard.
Opponents of the current law say it is no longer necessary because
federal background checks have improved.
But Goddard argues that background checks are only applied to 60% of
sales. What about the other 40%
If that's what the Governor thinks, then we need to apply background
checks to all public sales, he said
He says background checks don't help police catch gun traffickers
because those checks are destroyed by the FBI after 24 hours, so you
can't see a pattern of behavior.
But, gun rights advocate, Philip Van Cleave says the law muddles our
right to bear arms.
Because it's rationing the number of guns you can buy at one time. None
of our other laws are rationed. You don't have the government telling
you that you can go to church once a week.
Governor McDonnell will discuss the one-handgun-a month law with the
Virginia Tech families during a conference call tomorrow morning at 11.
But, a spokesperson for the governor says McDonnell has already said he
will repeal the law.
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11. Disarming the myths promoted by the gun control lobby
**************************************************
EM Dave Hicks emailed me this:
--
From Forbes: http://tinyurl.com/6wgmau8
By Larry Bell
February 21, 2012
As much as gun control advocates might wish otherwise, their attacks are
running out of ammo. With private firearm ownership at an all-time high
and violent crime rates plunging, none of the scary scenarios they
advanced have materialized. Abuse of responsibility by armed citizens is
rare, while successful defensive interventions against assaults on their
lives and property are relatively commonplace.
National violent crime rates that soared for 30 years from the early
1960s began to decrease markedly since 1993. Last December the FBI
reported that murder and other violent crime rates fell again by 6.4%
during the first half of 2011 compared with the same period in 2010. A
Gallup poll indicates that "Americans' preference regarding gun laws is
generally that the government enforce existing laws more strictly and
not pass new laws."
Caroline Brewer of the anti-gun Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
has reported that "The research we've seen indicates fewer and fewer
people owning more and more guns." Yet one can only wonder where they
are getting that information. In reality, public support for personal
gun ownership is growing. According to Steve Sanetti, president of the
National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade group that represents about
7,000 firearms manufacturers and related companies, in 1959 some 70% of
the American public favored handgun bans, whereas today that number has
flipped. This support is reflected in the marketplace. Sanetti observes
that the $4.1 billion gun industry "has had nineteen months of growth in
an otherwise anemic economy."
Recognizing these positive trends, most states now issue permits
allowing qualified law-abiding people to legally carry handguns outside
their homes. Unprecedented numbers are becoming licensed to do so, now
totaling an estimated 10 million Americans, contributing, in turn, to a
dramatic growth in gun sales.
A record of more than 1.5 million background checks for customers
looking to purchase a firearm were requested by gun dealers to the
National Instant Background Check (NICS) system last December. About
one-third of these occurred during the six weeks before Christmas. They
had previously recorded a 49% rise in background checks during the week
before President Obama was elected in 2008 compared with the same week
one year earlier.
The Brady lobby is upset that there has been no progress in leveraging
tighter gun control legislation following the shooting January 8, 2010
rampage that killed 6 people and injured 13, including Democratic
Representative Gabrielle Giffords. That tragic incident raised serious
questions about background checks after it was determined that the
accused shooter, having previously exhibited erratic behavior, legally
purchased the weapon he "allegedly" used from a store.
The National Rifle Association clearly agrees that guns should not be
sold to individuals found to have serious mental problems, although many
states fail to provide mental health records to the federal computerized
background check system. According to a November, 2011 report by the
Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), 23 states have shown "major
failures" in complying, and four (Alaska, Delaware, Idaho and Rhode
Island) submit no records at all. (Although murder has been in decline
in New York and other major cities for years, a Pepsi and Honda Super
Bowl advertisement spot featured New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and
Boston's Thomas Menino on a couch calling for stricter government
measures to curb illegal gun sales.)
Dennis Henigan, the Brady group's acting president, told Reuters:
"Really it is a national disgrace that the only piece of gun-related
legislation to come to a vote since Tucson was this legislation that
would have enabled dangerous concealed carriers like Jared Loughner to
carry their guns across state lines." Referring to a proposed "National
Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011? (H.R. 822) which has passed the
House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate, the resolution would
require states to recognize one another's concealed carry permits the
same way they recognize one another's driver's licenses. The intent is
to eliminate confusion and potential legal problems for traveling gun
owners.
As pointed out in a recent paper titled "Tough Targets" released by the
Cato Institute, "The ostensible purpose of gun control legislation is to
reduce firearm deaths and injuries. But authors Clayton E. Cramer and
David Burnett believe these restrictions put law-abiding citizens at a
distinct disadvantage to criminals who acquire guns from underground
markets since it is simply not possible for police officers to get to
every scene where intervention is urgently needed. They also document
large numbers of crimes...murders, assaults, robberies...that are
thwarted each year by ordinary persons with guns.
A widely-known study conducted by Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz in the 1990s
found that there were somewhere between 830,000 and 2.45 million U.S.
defensive gun uses annually. A National Crime Victimization Study (NCVS)
which asked victims if they had used a gun in self-defense found that
about 108,000 each year had done so. A big problem with the NCVS line of
survey reasoning, however, is that it only includes those uses where a
citizen kills a criminal, not when one is only wounded, is held by the
intended victim until police arrive, or when brandishing a gun caused a
criminal to flee.
For these reasons, the Cato researchers investigated published news
reports which much more often reveal how Americans use guns in
self-defense. The data set is derived from a collection of nearly 5,000
randomly selected incidents published between October 2003 and November
2011. Still, the authors also recognize limitations with this approach,
since many defensive incidents are never reported by victims, or when
they are, never get published. In fact, the overwhelming majority of the
successful self-defense outcomes are those where the defendants' guns
are presented but never fired.
Most of the actual self-defense shootings in the Cato study didn't
involve concealed carry licenses, but more typically had to do with
responses to residential invasions. Of these, 488 involved home
burglaries. In addition, there were 1,227 incidents where intruders were
induced to flee the scene by armed inhabitants, circumstances that might
otherwise have resulted in injurious assaults including rapes and
murders. There were 285 news accounts indicating that the defender had a
concealed weapon license, which in the majority of these incidents took
place outside a home or place of business. Pizza delivery drivers were
common robbery targets.
Whereas gun control proponents often argue that having a gun put people
at risk because a criminal will take it away and use it against them, it
seems the reality is more often to be the reverse situation. The Cato
data contains only 11 stories out of 4,699 where a criminal took a gun
away from a defender, but 277 where the intended victim disarmed the bad
guy, although the authors acknowledge that these event reports may be
printed more frequently due to newsworthiness.
Still, it should also be remembered that the threatened party often has
more motivation to fight back than a criminal hoping for an easy score.
There were 25 news reports where armed rape attack victims ultimately
got the upper hand, and 65 where this occurred in carjacking attempts.
Then there is the argument that more private gun ownership will lead to
more accidents because the average citizen isn't sufficiently trained to
use a weapon defensively. While gun accidents do occur, the Cato study
indicates that they are the most overstated risks. There were 535
accidental firearms deaths in 2006 within a population of almost 300
million people. Although every lost life is tragic, the proportion is
not particularly startling.
On the other hand, Newsweek has reported that law-abiding American
citizens using guns in self-defense during 2003 shot and killed two and
one-half times as many criminals as police did, and with fewer than
one-fifth as many incidents as police where an innocent person
mistakenly identified as a criminal (2% versus 11%).
Finally, on the subject of public safety, just how well have gun bans
worked in other countries? Take the number of home break-ins while
residents are present as an indication. In Canada and Britain, both with
tough gun-control laws, nearly half of all burglaries occur when
residents are present. But in the U.S. where many households are armed,
only about 13% happen when someone is home.
Doesn't this comparison offer some indication that criminals are getting
the message? Don't you wish those bent on eliminating our Second
Amendment rights would also?
**************************************************
12. New Hampshire man arrested for firing gun into ground while catching
suspected burglar
**************************************************
Castle Doctrine laws, by definition, protect you while you are in your
"castle", not in someone else's yard or where an innocent life isn't in
immediate danger. What the man did in trying to stop a burglar in New
Hampshire fit neither of those criteria.
Here in Virginia you are protected outside your home by common law.
However, you or another innocent person must be in *immediate* danger of
death or grievous bodily injury before you can use deadly force. Firing
a shot into the ground or into the air is NOT recommended and certainly
shouldn't be done unless you have the legal right to shoot the person
you are threatening with that shot. Even brandishing shouldn't be done
unless you are in a legal position to shoot the other person.
Jim Dinger emailed me this:
From FOX News: http://tinyurl.com/6s5nmrd
By Joshua Rhett Miller
February 21, 2012
A New Hampshire man who fired his handgun into the ground to scare an
alleged burglar he caught crawling out of a neighbor's window is now
facing a felony charge -- and the same potential prison sentence as the
man he stopped.
Dennis Fleming, 61, of Farmington, was arrested for reckless conduct
after the Saturday incident at his 19th century farmhouse. The single
grandfather had returned home to find that his home had been burglarized
and spotted Joseph Hebert, 27, climbing out of a window at a neighbor's
home. Fleming said he yelled "Freeze!" before firing his gun into the
ground, then held Hebert at gunpoint until police arrived.
"I didn't think I could handle this guy physically, so I fired into the
ground," Fleming told FoxNews.com. "He stopped. He knew I was serious. I
was angry ‡ and I was worried that this guy was going to come after me."
No one was injured in the incident, but when the police arrived, they
made two arrests. Hebert was charged with two counts of burglary and
drug possession. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.
Fleming, meanwhile, is scheduled to be arraigned March 20 on a charge of
reckless conduct, which could potentially land him a sentence similar to
the one Hebert faces.
"I didn't know it was illegal [to fire into the ground], but I had to
make that guy realize I was serious," Fleming said. "I've got a clean
record. I really don't want to be convicted."
County Attorney Tom Velardi told Foster's Daily Democrat he will review
the case and determine if the charge against Fleming is appropriate
under the state statutes regarding self-defense and defense of property.
Fleming, meanwhile, is hoping to catch a break.
"I have 14 grandchildren, I don't want to be a felon and go to jail," he
said. "I'm kind of wound up about it."
Fleming's collection of seven rifles and a .38-caliber handgun were
seized by police. But Fleming said he's not entirely defenseless: "I've
got a Louisville Slugger here, but I would call the police," he said.
Calls seeking comment from Farmington Police Department Chief Scott
Roberge were not immediately returned.
Penny Dean, a spokeswoman for the Gun Owners of New Hampshire, said her
organization is "absolutely outraged" by Fleming's arrest.
"This homeowner fired at the ground, from all accounts, in a safe
direction and held a burglar for police and did things correctly," Dean
told FoxNews.com. "The fact that this man would be charged is an
outrage. Burglars in New Hampshire must know it's open season, since
homeowners cannot defend themselves, as evidenced by this case. This is
charging the victim."
Rick Pelkey, Fleming's longtime neighbor, said he's now worried how the
"straight-forward, working-class guy" will pay legal fees associated
with the arrest.
"I think it's outrageous," Pelkey told FoxNews.com. "He did the
community a service here. We ought to thank him for it."
**************************************************
13. Second Amendment - Not just for whites only
**************************************************
From Ammoland: http://tinyurl.com/7v4mltg
By Kenn Blanchard
February 21, 2012
Upper Marlboro, MD --(Ammoland.com)- There was a time in American
history when segregation was legal.
In our past separate but equal was even an accepted concept. Race is
still a delicate subject in some circles but what is worse is ignorance
and it is insulting when politicians and "authorized journalist" promote
that the right to keep and bear arms as only a "white man's" concern.
The Second Amendment portion of the Bill of Rights is for all Americans
regardless of race or political affiliation. Some people still think
that the only group that cares about gun rights is white republican men.
Those that spread this meme continue show their ignorance of our
inalienable rights.
This inherent prejudice is what make it "funny" that I use the moniker,
"Black Man With A Gun." The reality is when it ceases to be amusing, we
will all be better off as a nation.
The Second Amendment and the US Constitution isn't about guns, it's
about freedom. That freedom is for all Americans not just whites only.
Celebrate Otis McDonald
This week I am celebrating the accomplishment of a person that made
history that is still living. This American of African descent lent his
face, name and reputation to the gun rights struggle. His name is Otis
McDonald. He's close to eighty years old now and takes his place in
history with Cruikshank, Presser, and Heller in the gun control argument.
In 2008, this retired maintenance engineer, Army Veteran, grandfather,
Democrat and long time hunter, agreed to serve as the lead plaintiff in
a lawsuit challenging Chicago's 28-year-old handgun ban.
At the direction of his attorney he walked into the Chicago Police
Department and applied for a permit to purchase a .22-caliber Beretta
pistol, a step required in Illinois and in many other sates, setting a
lawsuit into motion that went all the way to US Supreme Court.
The final outcome was that the Second Amendment now applies to the
individual states, and that the right of an individual to "keep and bear
arms" protected by the Second Amendment is incorporated by the Due
Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and applies to the states.
He is a sweet heart of a guy. He is a Christian man. He like many
of my family came from the South for work during the Great Migration.
When he was 17 he left Louisiana for Chicago working a number of
blue-collar jobs, marrying and living on the city's far South Side where
he bought his home in 1972.
It is still taboo in the majority of black community to advocate the
right for the right to keep and bear arms and public firearms' training
is not easily accessible or allowed in most of the urban areas.
Something that could save our children, our families and our own lives
is not provided. Instead a reinforcement of fear by anti-gun politicians
and anti-gun groups, that take advantage of this ignorance of the right
to keep and bear arms, then use the acts of criminals as examples for
the need for more gun control.
Whenever you hear of training being done or when you seek it out it
is usually from college educated, affluent, prior law enforcement,
military or those from the rural areas of the country that have been
taught the traditions of hunting, and responsibility from their family.
Otis McDonald is a living part of American History. He has overcome
segregation, discrimination, racism and more. Today, he may not be as
celebrated in his own community as Rosa Parks, but he has all the
qualifying elements and is held in highest regard by me.
He is still an unknown in his own community but you and I know
differently. Celebrate it with me and give thanks for a man like Otis
McDonald.
**************************************************
14. Who needs a gun at the hospital?
**************************************************
You are disarmed at Veterans Administration hospitals, but criminals
have their weapons - no problem for them.
Board member Dale Welch emailed me this:
--
From Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/7ft9nd2
February 22, 2012
RICHMOND, Va. --
10:11 p.m.
James Stephenson Lee has died of wounds he suffered in a shooting
Wednesday morning at McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center, according
to authorities.
4:59 p.m.
Federal court documents identified the suspect in this morning's
shooting at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center as Cornelius I. Hayes
and the victim as James Stephenson Lee.
Federal authorities said Hayes, 55, of Blackstone was charged with being
a felon in possession of a firearm after today's shooting, and he could
face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charge.
According to a criminal complaint affidavit, Hayes was seen firing shots
in a parking lot at the hospital and Lee was shot in his head and left
eye. He was taken to VCU Medical Center, where he is in critical
condition.
When Virginia State Police arrested Hayes later in Chesterfield County,
they saw a revolver in Hayes' lap that contained three spent cartridges
and two live rounds, according to the affidavit.
Hayes has two prior felony convictions in 2001 for assault and battery
of a law enforcement officer and for discharging a firearm at an
occupied buildilng, according to the affidavit.
11:07 a.m.
Virginia State Police said the suspect in this morning's shooting at the
McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center was captured after a pursuit
that lasted about 10 minutes and began in Charles City County, traveled
into Hopewell and ended in Chesterfield County.
Virginia State Police Sgt. Thomas J. Molnar said Trooper A. Doss Jr.
spotted the suspect vehicle, a blue Ford Explorer Sport Trac sport
utility vehicle, about 8:30 a.m. traveling eastbound on state Route 5 in
Charles City County.
Molnar said Doss was joined by other police while following the driver
to state Route 10, where the suspect stopped near Ruffin Road. As
officers approached him, he drove off again on westbound Route 10,
briefly crossing into the eastbound lanes while continuing to travel
west, Molnar said.
The suspect vehicle crossed back over into the westbound lanes before
finally being stopped and taken into custody in front of a Wawa
convenience store a short distance west of Interstate 295, Molnar said.
Speeds did not exceed 65 mph during the pursuit, which ended about 8:40
a.m., Molnar said.
Nobody was in danger, he said.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as
they become available. An earlier update is posted below.)
10:30 a.m.
The suspect vehicle in the pursuit of a man sought in connection with a
shooting at the McGuire VA Medical Center this morning was being
examined by law officers as it was being put on a tow truck on state
Route 10 near Interstate 295 in Chesterfield County.
Authorities had no immediate further comment about the case.
(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as
they become available. An earlier update is posted below.)
A man was shot and gravely wounded this morning on the grounds of the
McGuire Veterans Affairs Medical Center in South Richmond. A suspect was
arrested about 90 minutes later.
Police said the victim was taken to VCU Medical Center with
life-threatening injuries after the shooting, which occurred at 7:17
a.m. in one of the outer parking lots of the sprawling facility at Broad
Rock and Belt boulevards.
Authorities said initial indications were that the shooting was not a
random act and that there was no reason to either evacuate or lock down
the hospital and its related clinics.
"The medical center is fully operational," hospital spokeswoman Darlene
Edwards said about 8:40 a.m. as she stood near the scene of the
shooting, in a lot southwest of the main hospital building.
Immediately after the shooting, area police departments were asked to be
on the lookout for a 2005 blue Ford Explorer Sport Trac sport utility
vehicle that the shooter, also a man, was believed to be driving.
Shortly before 9 a.m., Richmond police spokesman Gene Lepley said
Virginia State Police had just taken the suspect into custody. Lepley
said the arrest was made "several miles" from the hospital, but he
declined to elaborate on the exact location of the arrest or to identify
the suspect.
"Virginia State Police arrested him after a pursuit. We're not releasing
anything else at this point," Dee Rybiski, spokeswoman for the FBI's
Richmond Division, said a short time later.
State police did not immediately comment.
Authorities had earlier reported that the victim was a woman, but said
that information was mistaken.
Because the hospital is federal property, authorities said the FBI would
be the lead investigative body for the shooting. Rybiski said federal
officials likely would have more to say about the case this afternoon.
**************************************************
15. RT Editorial: Keep guns away from convicted batterers
**************************************************
More silliness from the Roanoke Times Editorial Staff. They want to
take a person's right to own a gun FOREVER for a MISDEMEANOR conviction
of domestic violence. VCDL fought to get SB 224 killed and we will
continue to fight future attempts to do such a thing.
EM Dave Hicks emailed me this:
--
From Roanoke Times: http://tinyurl.com/7fxztcb
February 21, 2012
Add a gun to a volatile relationship that has already erupted in
violence and the danger escalates to include not only the target of the
attack but potentially children and responding police officers.
Firearms and domestic violence are a deadly combination. That's why
federal law prohibits individuals from possessing guns if they have been
convicted of certain domestic crimes.
A bill intended to make sure the law is properly enforced in Virginia
has so far been noncontroversial. S.B. 224 passed the Senate
unanimously. It should remain noncontroversial now that it is before the
House of Delegates, but there are signs that this public safety measure
could be sacrificed to appease gun rights groups.
The legislation, supported by the Virginia Association of Commonwealth's
Attorneys and the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance,
addresses a federal court ruling in the 4th U.S.Circuit Court of
Appeals. The court declared that federal firearm prohibitions apply only
to misdemeanor assault convictions involving physical force.
The federal definition for assault and battery is clear, but Virginia
law relies on a broader definition that includes unlawful touching.
Because of the court decision, Virginia State Police must seek details
about the nature of the charge when conducting a background check on
someone who has been convicted of assault in a state court and is
attempting to buy a gun. That information is often lacking.
S.B. 224 takes the guesswork out of the process going forward by
creating a new misdemeanor category, assault and battery through
physical force against a family or household member. The House Militia
and Police Committee, notoriously subservient to gun rights activists,
refused to act on an earlier version of the measure.
Delegates should reconsider their decision now that the Senate bill is
before them. This legislation is not an attack on the rights of
law-abiding gun owners. It is a public safety measure to protect the
lives of Virginians and their children already brutalized by domestic
violence.
**************************************************
16. The facts about gun shows
**************************************************
From CATO Institute: http://tinyurl.com/clj3yu
By David Kopel
"Close the gun show loophole," demands Handgun Control, Inc. The major
obstacle to Congress's complying with HCI's wishes appears to be the
desire of many Democrats to preserve gun shows as a campaign issue in
the 2000 election. But if the voters learn the facts about gun shows,
they will discover that there is no gun show loophole, no gun show crime
problem and no reason to adopt federal legislation whose main effect
would be to infringe on First and Second Amendment rights.
Despite what some media commentators have claimed, existing gun laws
apply just as much to gun shows as they do to any other place where guns
are sold. Since 1938, persons selling firearms have been required to
obtain a federal firearms license. If a dealer sells a gun from a
storefront, from a room in his home or from a table at a gun show, the
rules are exactly the same: he can get authorization from the FBI for
the sale only after the FBI runs its "instant" background check (which
often takes days to complete). As a result, firearms are the most
severely regulated consumer product in the United States -- the only
product for which FBI permission is required for every single sale.
Conversely, people who are not engaged in the business of selling
firearms, but who sell firearms from time to time (such as a man who
sells a hunting rifle to his brother-in-law), are not required to obtain
the federal license required of gun dealers or to call the FBI before
completing the sale.
Similarly, if a gun collector dies and his widow wants to sell the guns,
she does not need a federal firearms license because she is just selling
off inherited property and is not "engaged in the business." And if the
widow doesn't want to sell her deceased husband's guns by taking out a
classified ad in the newspaper, it is lawful for her to rent a table at
a gun show and sell the entire collection.
If you walk along the aisles at any gun show, you will find that the
overwhelming majority of guns offered for sale are from federally
licensed dealers. Guns sold by private individuals (such as gun
collectors getting rid of a gun or two over the the weekend) are the
distinct minority.
Yet HCI claims that "25-50 percent of the vendors at most gun shows are
unlicensed dealers." That statistic is true only if one counts vendors
who aren't selling guns (e.g., vendors who are selling books, clothing
or accessories) as "unlicensed dealers."
Denver congresswoman Diana DeGette says that 70 percent of guns used in
crimes come from gun shows. The true figure is rather different,
according to the National Institute of Justice, the research arm of the
U.S. Department of Justice. According to an NIJ study released in
December 1997 ("Homicide in Eight U.S. Cities," a report that covers
much more than homicide), only 2 percent of criminal guns come from gun
shows.
That finding is consistent with a mid-1980s study for the NIJ, which
investigated the gun purchase and use habits of convicted felons in 12
state prisons. The study (later published as the book Armed and
Considered Dangerous) found that gun shows were such a minor source of
criminal gun acquisition that they were not even worth reporting as a
separate figure.
At the most recent meeting of the American Society of Criminology, a
study of youthful offenders in Michigan found that only 3 percent of the
youths in the study had acquired their last handgun from a gun show. (Of
course some criminal gun acquisition at gun shows is perpetrated by
"straw purchasers" who are legal gun buyers acting as surrogates for the
individual who wants the gun. Straw purchases have been federal felonies
since 1968.)
According to the educational arm of HCI, the group's own survey of
major-city police chiefs found only 2 out of 48 who said that guns from
gun shows (both "legal and illegal sales" according to the
questionnaire) were a major problem in their city.
Although the horrible murders at Columbine High School have energized
anti-gun activists, no proposed federal law would have made any
difference. The adults who supplied the Columbine murder weapons (Robin
Anderson and Mark Manes -- the latter a son of a longtime HCI activist)
were legal purchasers.
Since every gun show takes place entirely within the boundaries of a
single state, Congress has no legitimate constitutional basis, under its
"interstate commerce" power, to attempt to control gun shows.
Nevertheless, both houses of Congress have passed gun show legislation.
The House bill does only what the gun control advocates claim to want:
the imposition of federal background checks on personal sales at gun shows.
The Senate version -- passed 51-50 thanks to Vice President Gore -- goes
much further, setting the stage for gun shows to be outlawed. The Senate
bill gives the secretary of the Treasury nearly unlimited power to
regulate gun show sales.
In the past, Treasury has abused its administrative authority over
firearms to ban certain guns, so, similar treatment for gun shows can be
expected. For example, the Treasury banned the import of various rifles
that were popular for competitive target shooting. Although a federal
statute specifically orders Treasury to allow the import of "sporting"
firearms, Treasury claimed that only firearms that were recommended by
hunting guides were "sporting."
The Senate version also imposes a tax on gun show promoters and allows
the secretary of the Treasury unlimited power in setting the tax level.
One can bet that, in this case, the power to tax really will be the
power to destroy.
Gun shows are huge gathering points for people who are interested in
Second Amendment issues. Gun rights groups frequently set up booths at
gun shows to distribute literature and recruit members. Gun shows are
places where Americans properly exercise their First and Second
Amendment rights, and neither gun show patrons nor vendors deserve the
mean-spirited campaign of abuse to which they have been subjected.
**************************************************
17. Chicago: 7 dead, 19 wounded in weekend gun violence
**************************************************
Chicago continues to make gun ownership extremely difficult and carry is
out of the question. And, no surprise here, they are one of the most
dangerous cities in America as a consequence.
Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
--
From CBS Chicago: http://tinyurl.com/7pxes8a
February 20, 2012
CHICAGO (CBS) - Seven people were killed and 18 more were wounded -
including a Chicago Police officer - in a violent weekend on the streets
of Chicago.
One of the incidents left two people were dead, and five others injured,
at a South Shore neighborhood liquor store Sunday evening.
As CBS 2's Susanna Song reports, the shooting happened just before 7
p.m. Sunday at a liquor store in the 2500 block of East 79th Street, at
the intersection with Essex Avenue.
Police say a beige vehicle pulled up to next to the liquor store, and
someone inside opened fire.
Responding paramedics found two people dead on the scene, and five
teenagers wounded. Jamal Harris, 19, was killed inside the store, and
Greg Glinsey, who went by the nickname "Alamo," was killed outside.
Family members of the 54-year-old say the father of four was just in
the wrong place at the wrong time. They say he had left a family dinner
to run to the store. Next thing his mother remembers is a commotion in
another room.
"I heard noise and crying and I said, 'What is going on down there?'
When I came downstairs, they were crying and said that he was dead,"
Bertha Glinsey told CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez.
The family matriarch turned 80 on Saturday and is thankful her son was
around to mark the milestone. She says she'll focus on the good times.
"Just think about the good things, the good memories," she said.
Five others survived Sunday's shooting - ranging in age from 13 to 16.
The most seriously injured was a 14-year-old boy, who was taken to Comer
Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago in critical condition
after being shot in the abdomen. The other four surviving victims were
shot in the leg.
Just eight minutes after the liquor store shooting, on the very same
block on 79th Street, police say a 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg.
The shootings do not appear to be related.
And less than an hour before the liquor store incident, a group of men
chased down and killed another man in a gangway in the Back of the Yards
neighborhood.
The man, identified as Clifton Harlson, 27, was shot in the neck in the
5300 block of South Hoyne Avenue, around 6:25 p.m. Sunday, police said.
Sources said his assailants chased him into the gangway and shot him in
close range.
Around 5:45 p.m. Sunday, a man was shot and killed near his home in the
Little Village neighborhood.
Rogelio Servantes was pronounced dead after being shot in the 3000 block
of West 25th Street, police said.
Earlier Sunday, one man was killed, and another was injured, in separate
shootings in the 5100 block of South Hermitage Avenue in the Back of the
Yards neighborhood. Tytus Harris, 22, of the 7800 block of South Wolcott
Avenue, was killed in a shooting at 12:30 p.m., and about four hours
later, a 37-year-old man was shot in the hand on the same block and
taken to Holy Cross Hospital in good condition.
In the wee hours Sunday morning, a man was shot and killed outside a
nightclub on Elston Avenue, in the largely industrial zone between the
Kennedy Expressway and the Chicago River's North Branch.
Police say someone approached two men standing near a car and started
shooting outside the Krush nightclub, a weekend-only venue at 1675 N.
Elston Ave., around 3 a.m. Sunday.
Asif Memon, of the 4800 block of North Winthrop Avenue, was later
pronounced dead after suffering a gunshot wound to the chest, according
to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office. A 23-year-old man suffered
several gunshots to the lower part of his body, and was hospitalized in
critical, but stable, condition at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
And in yet another deadly shooting, Edgar Delgado, 17, was shot at
Monticello Avenue and Roscoe Street in the Avondale neighborhood around
7:50 p.m. Saturday. He was dropped off at Our Lady of Resurrection
Medical Center in an older-model station wagon, and was pronounced dead
at the hospital Saturday evening, police said.
In other incidents:
- A robbery suspect was shot, and a 10-year-old boy suffered a graze
wound, when an attempted holdup spilled into a corner store around 5:40
p.m. Sunday in the 700 block of South Pulaski Road, also in the North
Lawndale neighborhood.
The suspect, in his 30s, attempted to rob someone, but the victim fought
back when the would-be robber - along with a second suspect - approached
him, police said.
A struggle continued into a nearby corner store, when the gun went off
during the fight. One of the suspects was hit in the leg, and was placed
into police custody at the scene before being taken to Mount Sinai in
critical condition.
The 10-year-old boy was a customer at the store, and he was grazed in
the leg either by a bullet or a bullet fragment, police said. He fled,
but his mother later took him to the hospital for treatment of the minor
wound.
- A man shot a Chicago Police officer during a chase on busy Stony
Island Avenue on Sunday afternoon. Calumet Area gang officers responded
at 3:56 p.m. to a call of a person with a gun in the 6800 block of South
Stony Island Avenue, on the cusp of the Grand Crossing and South Shore
neighborhoods.
The suspect ran off, and officers pursued him to the 6700 block of South
East End Avenue, where a struggle began between the suspect and one of
the officers. During the struggle, the suspect pulled a gun and shot the
officer, police said.
Fraternal Order of Police spokesman Pat Camden said officers then shot
the suspect, a boy in his late teens, three times.
The 35-year-old officer was reported in good condition with a gunshot
wound to the hand.
Police hope to have the gunman charged with attempted murder of a police
officer.
- Around 3:15 a.m. Sunday, a man was shot and wounded in the thumb in
the 2200 block of North Milwaukee Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood.
- A 24-year-old man was shot and wounded in the neck around 1:50 a.m.
Sunday as he sat on the front steps of a house in the 5200 block of West
Quincy Street, in the South Austin neighborhood. The gunman was driving
past in a light-colored sedan, police said.
The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in serious condition.
- Around 7 minutes later, a 27-year-old man was shot and wounded in the
1500 block of South Pulaski Road in the North Lawndale neighborhood. He
heard shots, and noticed he had been wounded in the abdomen, police said.
- Around 10 p.m. Saturday, two men were shot and wounded as they stood
on the sidewalk in the 1400 block of East 67th Street, on the cusp of
the Woodlawn and Grand Crossing neighborhoods, when someone in a passing
vehicle opened fire.
One of the men, 21, was shot in the right leg and was taken to
Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition, while the other,
33, was shot in both thighs and was reported in stable condition in the
hospital.
The victim was also taken to Mount Sinai in serious condition.
- Just after 2 a.m. Saturday, a 33-year-old man was shot and wounded as
he walked in the 6000 block of South Racine Avenue in the Englewood
neighborhood. He heard shots and felt pain, and was taken in serious
condition to Stroger Hospital of Cook County.
- A man was shot in the hand early Saturday during a robbery in the
North Lawndale neighborhood. The 23-year-old victim was walking in the
1500 block of South Millard Avenue around 12:30 a.m. when he was
approached by another man who pulled out a gun and demanded money,
police said.
The gunman fired several shots and wounded the man in the hand. He was
taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.
With the exception of the suspect accused of shooting the police
officer, and the robber who was shot, no one was in custody in any of
the shootings as of Monday morning.
**************************************************
18. "We don't need no steenking 2nd Amendment"
**************************************************
Joe Ferguson emailed me this:
--
Philip -- Have you ever seen this article on our cause? It is excellent,
and teaches some things I still did not know at 50 now! Check it out.
Maybe you can use it for VCDL. Gives ideas on how we can teach
moderate-antis why we believe what we believe, IF they are willing to
listen for a few minutes . . . . .
From Backwoods Home Magazine: http://tinyurl.com/2n3om2
By John Silveira
[SNIP]
I usually get up to the magazine from southern California in plenty of
time for the bimonthly deadline. Not this issue. I was late and way
behind. But getting up here late doesn't lessen my workload; it just
stretches out the number of hours I have to work each day. There's less
time to relax, visit, or spend with friends. That said, three of us,
Dave Duffy, O.E. MacDougal, and I went shooting anyway and depreciated a
huge amount of ammunition on a hillside up behind Duffy's house. Duffy,
of course, is the fellow who publishes this magazine. Mac is Dave's
poker-playing friend from the old days.
After a hard day of knocking down cans and collecting brass, we got back
to the office and discovered that Dave's old college buddy, Bill, had
stopped by. Dave and Bill began talking about old times, but the phone
rang and took Dave out of the conversation.
I, in the meantime, had disassembled my rifle and there were pieces in
my lap and some on my desk. Mac was off in the corner reading a copy of
the last issue of BHM.
"What are you doing with that?" Bill asked.
I looked up. He was talking to me. I looked down in my lap at the gun
parts I had there. "I'm cleaning it," I said.
"What do you need it for?" he asked.
"I don't usually clean them but..."
"No, not why do you need to clean it, why do you need a gun?"
"Why do I need it?"
"Yes."
"I want it," I said.
"But why do you need one?" he persisted.
"Need one?" I asked again, not understanding his question. "I don't
follow you."
"How many guns do you have?"
"You mean 'own' or how many did I bring up with me?"
My question seemed to put him off.
"How many do you own?" he asked in a voice that was tinged with
exasperation. "How many guns do you have here, there, and everywhere?" I
thought a minute. "About a dozen."
He screwed up his face. "What do you need 12 guns for? If you need a
gun, one should be enough."
"Enough for what?"
"What do you need a gun for?"...
**************************************************
19. A law that gun-rights advocates should be fighting to keep? No thanks.
**************************************************
Nice try, but no cigar, Mr. Weil. On July 1st gun owners will be
celebrating the demise of the useless One Handgun A Month law here in
Virginia.
From The Washington Post: http://tinyurl.com/86pv6vh
By Douglas Weil
February 17, 2012
In July 1993, a Virginia law took effect limiting the number of handguns
an individual could purchase to one gun every 30 days. Not to one gun a
year, or one gun a lifetime - but one gun a month. The impact of this
law on interstate gun trafficking was immediate, it was significant and
it is impossible to refute. Prior to the law, Virginia gun dealers were
the most important source of crime guns illegally trafficked along
Interstate 95, also known as the "iron pipeline" from the Southeast to
the states in the Northeast corridor.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) routinely
traces the origin of crime guns from the location where they have been
recovered by the police back to the firearms dealers who first sold the
guns. In the 5 1 / 2-year period beginning in September 1989, 14,606
guns that were sold by dealers in one of the eight southeastern states
were later recovered by the police and traced to their origin by ATF. An
analysis of the trace data that I conducted with my colleague Rebecca C.
Knox revealed that the odds that any of these guns would be traced back
to a Virginia gun dealer fell by a third after the one-gun-a-month law
took effect.
Our analysis, published in 1996 in the Journal of the American Medical
Association, showed that the impact of the law on gun trafficking was
even more dramatic along the iron pipeline. Specifically, the odds that
a crime gun used in the Northeast would be traced to a gun dealer in
Virginia fell by two-thirds.
Despite this, the Virginia General Assembly has voted to repeal the
one-gun-a-month restriction, and Gov. Robert F. McDonnell has indicated
that he will sign the legislation. Their logic appears to be that since
exemptions to the law have been created (e.g., for law-enforcement
officers and holders of concealed-carry permits), the state should
exempt everyone. But there is simply no public health or public safety
rationale for repealing the law.
The gun lobby is fond of saying that gun laws only burden law-abiding
citizens - that criminals will always be able to get guns. The analysis
of ATF's gun-trace data proves that proposition is not true. The
Virginia law applies to retail gun sales, but the impact, both large and
immediate, was on illegal gun trafficking. The law places virtually no
burden on individuals who are legally entitled to purchase a handgun. It
isn't a prohibition against the purchase or possession of firearms. It
doesn't limit the number of guns an individual can own. It doesn't
increase the time needed to complete a background check. The law burdens
gun traffickers and the straw purchasers they hire to supply them with
guns, and it makes it more difficult for the rare dirty gun dealer who
is willing to look the other way when a single individual walks in to
his store asking to buy five or 10 or even 20 or more inexpensive
handguns to be sold on the street.
One-gun-a-month's fate is now in McDonnell's hands, and one hopes he
will take an objective look at the impact of the law before acting.
Rather than repealing this law, Virginia should be touting its success
to encourage other states and ultimately the federal government to
follow its lead and enact similar legislation.
The writer was research director for the Center to Prevent Handgun
Violence, which is now known as the Brady Center, from 1994 to 2001.
**************************************************
20. Video: Colonial Shooting Academy nearly complete
**************************************************
Roy Scherer emailed me this:
--
From NBC12: http://tinyurl.com/8xz2lnq
**************************************************
21. CMP Shooter's News
**************************************************
Michael Irvin emailed me this:
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From CMP February Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/7lwqjn2
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22. If you own a Talon handgun READ THIS!
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The Lafayette Gun Club put out a warning to its members about a
dangerous firearm (Talon T200 9mm) that has a habit of coming apart when
fired. I checked out the gun online and feel this warning is valid.
Thanks to Michael Nelson for forwarding this:
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Members of Lafayette Gun Club,
Last Thursday, a member had a firearm fail. The slide broke in half,
and a piece lacerated his cheek, requiring 9 stitches. It's a Talon
T200 9mm. He was using Federal factory loaded ammo. As you can see
from the attached pic [PVC: I can't attach pictures on VA-ALERT, but
the photo shows the slide completely broken in half widthwise at the
ejection port. This exact problem has been reported by others. Some of
the injuries have been pretty bad.], no barrel damage, the slide just
broke in half. The slide looks like it was made of cheap casting. This
firearm has a track record of the same failure, and we have heard that
the company has gone out of business.
You can still find it for sale on the Internet.
Sending this as a caution to all members.
Don Streater, Corresponding Secretary
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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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