Thursday, January 2, 2014

VA-ALERT: Important: Getting ready for the legislative session

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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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LEGISLATIVE SESSION IS ABOUT TO START - WHAT TO EXPECT

The all-important legislative season in Virginia is about to start. Consequently I have some information to cover.

My schedule is about to really explode, from meetings across the state promoting Lobby Day, to the start of the 2014 General Assembly session on January 8th. I plan on being at the General Assembly pretty much every day starting on January 8th.

Here is what will be happening over the next two months:

1. VA-ALERT email volume is going to go way up, especially starting January 8th. I will need to reach all of you about a host of events and many will be time sensitive. Bills will begin moving and we will need to flood the General Assembly with emails and phone calls to support good bills and to kill the bad ones.

Starting January 8th, please get in the habit of checking your emails frequently - many times a day. That is important because we might only have a small window of time to react to events at the General Assembly. This is where the rubber meets the road, folks. VCDL will make it as easy as possible for you to get those emails out and into the in-boxes of the legislators.

2. VCDL Updates will most likely come with few or no comments from me on the various items. However, I will be in full communication mode when it comes to Alerts dealing with legislative issues in Virginia.

3. I may not be as responsive as usual to emails. If you have any kind of membership question, please send them to membership@vcdl.org

That does not mean you can't contact me, especially if you have intelligence on legislative issues that you think I need to know about.

4. If gun bills are going to be heard in a subcommittee or a committee, feel free to come to the General Assembly and attend those hearings! The more Guns Save Lives stickers we have in the room, the better!

5. For those following me on Twitter, I will be tweeting out the status of bills as they are voted on in committee, subcommittee, or the Floor. So if you are interesting in getting the news on gun bills quickly, follow me on Twitter (Phil Van Cleave VCDL@VCDL_ORG)


LOBBY DAY - JANUARY 20TH

On Monday, January 20th, at 8:30 AM Lobby Day will begin. We want to have the largest Lobby Day ever as we stand unified to fight for our right to keep and bear arms!

Lobby Day is fun - you won't want to miss it!

Those with a CHP can carry at the General Assembly building. There will be an express entrance for CHP holders on the west (9th Street) side of the General Assembly Building. The only restriction on CHP carry is that no one can carry in the Senate balcony that overlooks the Senate Floor. That restriction does not apply to the House balcony. However, you will NOT need to go to either of those locations during Lobby Day, so it's nothing to be concerned about.

When you arrive at the General Assembly Building, go to the south side of the building, as that is where we will be marshaling.

You will be put into teams, each having an experienced team leader. Your team will then go into the General Assembly to lobby the delegates and senators assigned to it. Your team leader will handout VCDL's Firearm Bill Analysis document to each legislator or to the legislator's aide.

Everyone will be sporting a Guns Save Lives sticker to remind those at the General Assembly of our message and to show the sheer size and determination of our membership.

At 11 AM, everyone will head to the Bell Tower, which is on the southwest side of the Capitol grounds. There we will have a rally with various speakers from 11 AM to 12 Noon.

Once the rally is over, if you haven't yet been to your senator and delegate's office, you can head back into the General Assembly Building to do so. If you have seen them, then you are finished for the day.

I recommend business casual dress to give a professional image to the group, but it is not a requirement by any means.

DRESS WARMLY!

Here is a spectacular video from the 2010 Lobby Day. This will show you want it's all about:

http://vimeo.com/34618841

Here is the Facebook page on Lobby Day:

https://www.facebook.com/events/212177935538984/

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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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