Friday, November 30, 2007
Falls Church Wants More Gun Control - Supports D.C. Gun Ban
In a statement issued by the Council, the city officials said, “The City supports changes to state law to allow local governments to create a weapons-free environment in publicly owned facilities,” the Council statement said, noting that the position is supported regionally and is consistent with legislation Fairfax County pursued last year.
I've got some bad news for the folks in Falls Church. Even if they were successful in getting such a bill out of the State Senate (and I am not convinced that it would even with the new majority in the Senate), do they really think it will make it out of the House?
In a related action during the meeting, a member of the Council asked the City Attorney to draft an “amicus brief” from the City to support the District of Columbia’s gun ban as the case goes before the U.S. Supreme Court.
You can read more about the actions of the Falls Church City Council here.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Presidential Politics Hits Virginia on February 12, 2008
On the Republican side, there are several pro-gun candidates, some of which are what are known as "second-tier" candidates (candidates in single digits in the polls) but of the front runners, only former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson is truly pro-gun based on his past record. If former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee pulls an upset and finishes in the top three in Iowa on January3rd, he would vault into the first tier and join Thompson as a truly pro-gun candidate. Of the others in the top tier, I don't think I need to remind you of Giuliani's past where he called the NRA extremists or former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney's signing into law a so-called "assault-weapons" ban. Senator John McCain has generally been with us but even he has a couple bad votes - namely campaign finance reform that took away the NRA's ability to communicate with gun owners 60 days before a general election, and his vote to end gun shows as we know them.
Senator Thompson has not been shy about promoting his pro-gun record - visiting gun shows and gun shops while on the campaign trail. This Associated Press (AP) report talks about Thompson's discussion of the differences between him and his top tier rivals on the issue of the Second Amendment.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
DGIF Reviews Hunting with Hounds
Kaine Joins Attacks on Gun Shows
All of this of course flies in the face of three federal studies that provides convincing evidence to the contrary. And, never mind the fact that Cho, the Virginia Tech shooter, did not acquire his guns at a gun show, and he went through a background check.
The only possible thing that could have been done that might have prevented the shooting (and even this may have had little impact) must be done at the federal level. Laws known as Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), both of which have to do with what personal medical information can be provided to a family member, tied the hands of Virginia Tech in their ability to communicate with the parents of Cho that their were potential problems based on his behavior.
Cho had been receiving medical attention while he was in high school and his parents were happy with the progress he was making and they did not want him to attend Tech for that reason, believing that on such a large campus, he would regress. Unfortunately, because of FERPA, due to the fact that Cho was and adult, the school could not inform his parents about the incidents that led him to be referred for mental health treatment.
In short, gun shows had nothing to do with the events that led up to the shootings or the terrible events of April 16. Gun shows are simply an easy target upon which the gun banners have waived their sights.
The full article about Kaine's remarks can be found here.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Supreme Court and D.C. Gun Ban
Second Amendment Showdown
Guns and the Constitution
Court Sets its Scope on Handgun Ban
Justices to Weigh Handgun Ban (WSJ article on decision to hear case)
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Disney and Guns
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Red's Trading Post Saga
Readers of the VSSA blog may be familiar with the ongoing battle between BATFE and Red's Trading Post in Idaho but if you are not it is worth a few minutes visit tothe blog of Red's owner, Ryan Horsley. Red's Trading Post is a longtime staple of the business community in Twin Falls, Idaho and Ryan is continuing the family business against the unlimited wallet (i.e. yours and my tax dollars) of BATFE.
Ryan has been featured on NRA News several times as well as numerous other news outlets that report on gun related news. Check Red's blog for regular updates on this abuse of power by the ATF Seattle Field Division.
No news from SCOTUS on DC Gun Ban Case
VSSA will post any updates here as we receive them.
Chairman of Virginia Tech Panel Endorses Closing "Gun Show Loophole"
Former Superintendent Gerald Massengill spoke at a meeting of the Virginia Center for Public Safety, a gun control group affiliated with the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. Massengill gave an overview of the panel's report on the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech.
According to press reports in the Richmond Times Dispatch and the Newport News Daily Press, He focused his remarks on gun control laws, including requirements for purchasing firearms, and campus policy recommendations in the panel's final report.
Massengill has never been a proponent of gun control and he is quoted in the article as saying he has always been a strong supporter of the Second Amendment but he is now spitting our Brady Campaign talking points like he has been in the room when they are written.
For instance: "we cannot allow the proliferation of guns to continue like they're continuing" or "more-thorough background checks on gun-show purchases are needed in Virginia, if only to reduce the availability of guns for illicit purposes."
As former superintendent of the State Police, Massengill should be familiar with the fact that multiple federal government studies prove gun shows are not a source of "proliferation" for "crime guns." For instance :
- The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) 2001 report "Firearms Use by Offenders," the largest such study ever conducted by the government, found that less than 1% of U.S. "crime guns" come from gun shows.
- A 2000 BJS study, "Federal Firearms Offenders, 1992-98," found only 1.7% of federal prison inmates obtained their gun from a gun show.
- A National Institute of Justice (NIJ) 1997 study, "Homicide in Eight U.S. Cities," reported less than 2% of criminal guns come from gun shows.
Further, Second Amendment scholar David Kopel has written that all three of these studies are 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.
As to the claim in the RTD article that "35% of dealers at gun shows do not possess a federal firearms license" - you can only get to that number if you include all of the vendors who are not selling guns (e.g., vendors who are selling books, clothing, or accessories) as "dealers."
VSSA will continue to vigorously fight any attempt to regulate private sales at gun shows or anywhere else for that matter.
Thursday, November 8, 2007
VSSA on Cam & Company
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Election Post Mortem
There are two ways to look at the change of power in the State Senate. First, when you look at just the number of senators that are strong supporters of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, last night's results are somewhat a wash. We started with 21 Senators that were NRA "A" or "B" rated candidates that we could regularly count on (Bell, Blevins, Cuccinelli, Deeds, Edwards, Hanger, Hawkins, Houck, Martin, McDougle, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, O'Brien, Quayle, Reynolds, Ruff, Stolle, Stosch, Wagner, Williams) to support the rights of Virginia gun owners.
At the end of the night, we ended with 20 candidates that were rated by the NRA as either "A" or "B" candidates (Blevins, Cuccinelli, Deeds, Edwards, Hanger, Houck, Hurt, Martin, McDougle, Newman, Norment, Obenshain, Quayle, Reynolds, Ruff, Smith, Stolle, Stosch, Vogel, Wagner,). Plus you have to count the loss of "F" rated candidate Jeannemarie Devolites Davis to "C" rated Chap Petterson as a somewhat positive outcome. This means that should a gun control bill make it to the floor and it ends in a 20-20 tie, pro-gun Lt. Governor Bill Bolling will cast the tie breaking vote. Should one or two of the 20 mentioned above that are less firm in their support flip on one or two votes, as stated above, the House of Delegates will be our final firewall.
The second way to look at this is the committee structure. The Democrats will now control the committees. The two committees that see the most gun related bills are 1) Courts of Justice and 2) Local Government. The Democrats that are in line to take over the chairmanship of both committees are both anti-gun. The majority of the members of the Courts committee are pro-gun but the Republicans will loose one member and the Democrats will gain one. At this point it is any one's guess who they will put on the committee and if that will be one of the pro-gun Democratic senators not already on the committee, the "C" rated Chap Peterson, or a vehemently anti-gun newly elected Northern Virginia senator.
Local Government was more evenly divided among pro-gun and anti-gun senators. This is the committee that range protection bills are likely assigned. Last night's results could negatively impact the ability to control local governments with legislation at the state level as it relates to protecting gun ranges and the right to shoot on private property.
In the House of Delegates, "A" rated incumbent John Welch, III, lost to "F" rated Robert Mathiseson. In an open seat to replace retiring "B" rated Leo C. Wardrup, Joseph Bouchard, who did not return his NRA questionnaire, defeated "A" rated Chris Stolle. In an open seat that had been held by the retiring "B" rated Vincent F. Callahan, Jr., Margeret Vanderhye, who also did not return the NRA questionnaire, defeated "B-" rated Dave Hunt. Another open seat, "C" rated Michele B. McQuigg, who stepped aside to run for Clerk of Circuit Court, "D-" rated Paul Nichols defeated "A" rated Faisal Gill. On the positive side however, "B-" rated Manoli Loupassi defeated incumbent "F" rated Katherine Waddell. So, we have a net loss of three pro-gun House members, mostly in the northern Virginia area of the Commonwealth.
The loss of the Senate means it will be a challenge to advance pro-gun legislation. VSSA will be watching as legislation begins to be filed and will be working with the Association's lobbyist to map out a strategy for the next two years.
The support of VSSA by Virginia's gun owners is even more important than ever given last night's results. In the coming days I will be posting about the outlook for gun rights in Virginia as the demographics continue to shift in the state. If you are not a member of VSSA, you can join by downloading an application and mailing it today. Our strength is in our numbers and we need everyone to let their voice be heard.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Talk Show Host Glen Beck on Gun Control
Richmond Ice Cream Store Manager Not Charged
Fielding fired 11 shots at Davis, who entered the store waving a BB-gun version of a 9 mm handgun and demanded money. Two of the shots struck Davis, one of them in the back, fatally wounding him as he fled the premises.
Yesterday, the Richmond commonwealth's attorney's office presented evidence for a charge of reckless discharge of a firearm. The five-member panel concluded that Fielding's actions were a justifiable and excusable form of self-defense. At least four grand jurors must vote for an indictment.
According to police, Davis entered the Baskin-Robbins about 9 p.m. on Sept. 6 and demanded money from the register. Fielding, the shift manager, handed over bills and change totaling less than $100.
Investigators said Davis ordered Fielding, another employee and the lone customer in the store to move back toward the storage area. Nobody realized Davis' gun was a fake, Herring said.
Once in the back of the store, however, Fielding produced his own 9mm gun from his waistband. Fielding then moved toward the front counter of the store and opened fire, causing Davis to flee.
Herring said there was no evidence that Davis turned around once he fled.
Davis, whose extensive criminal history included several robbery convictions, was found by police a couple of blocks away, bleeding to death near the front porch of his home in the 2900 block of Cherokee Road.
While the media likes to portray people who carry a firearm for self defense as trigger happy cowboys, the fact is, we never make the take the decision to do so lightly and if we are forced to fire, it has implications that could haunt us the rest of our lives. So is the case with Mr. Felding who Herring said was "extremely remorseful and crying," upon being told that Davis had died.
The panel's decision ends one of the most hotly debated shooting cases in the city's recent history. After the shooting, a neighborhood watch representative in Stratford Hills gathered more than 500 signatures on a petition supporting Fielding. The South Richmond business corridor has been hit by a surge in armed commercial robberies this year.
Prosecutors initially considered pursuing manslaughter charges in the case, but they decided to present evidence of reckless discharge when it could not be determined whether the fatal shot that killed Davis was one of three fired inside the store or among the eight fired when Fielding ran outside to pursue Davis.
Herring is apparently no fan of people defending themselves. He was quoted in the RTD saying "I think everyone understands that having more people firing more weapons increases the probability of unintended harm."
I was not in the store when this occurred. All I know is what was in press accounts. If they are accurate, Felding likely would have benefited from additional firearms training before deciding to carry a firearm. But, most "BB" guns look very real these days and I am not going to condemn his actions to protect himself and those in the store against a repeat offender.
You can read the complete RTD report here.
Today is the Big Day
Monday, November 5, 2007
VSSA Supported Candidates
The following is a list of districts that have contested races. VSSA supports the candidate listed in these important contested races and we urge all gun owners to vote for these candidates if you live in one of the House of Delegates or State Senate Districts listed below.
State Senate Contested Races
District 1 - (R) TRICIA STALL
District 11 - (R) *STEPHEN MARTIN
District 13 - (R) *FREDERICK QUAYLE
District 15 - (R) *FRANK RUFF
District 17 - (D) *R. EDWARD HOUCK
District 19 - (R) ROBERT HURT
District 20 - (D) *W. ROSCOE REYNOLDS
District 22 - (R) RALPH SMITH
District 23 - (R) *STEPHEN D. NEWMAN
District 24 - (R) *EMMETT HANGER, JR.
District 26 - (R) *MARK OBENSHAIN
District 27 - (R) JILL HOLTZMAN VOGEL
District 29 - (R) ROBERT FITZSIMMONDS
District 33 - (R) PATRICIA PHILLIPS
District 37 - (R) *KEN CUCCINELLI
District 39 - (R) *JAMES K. O'BRIEN
House of Delegates Contested Races
District 1 - (R) *TERRY KILGORE
District 5 - (R) *BILL CARRICO
District 6 - (R) *ANNE CROCKETT-STARK
District 7 - (R) *DAVE NUTTER
District 8 - (R) *H. MORGAN GRIFFITH
District 9 - (R) CHARLES D. POINDEXTER
District 11 - (D) *ONZLEE WARE
District 13 - (R) *ROBERT MARSHALL
District 14 - (R) *DANNY MARSHALL
District 16 - (R) DONALD MERRICKS
District 19 - (I) *LACEY PUTNEY
District 21 - (R) *JOHN WELCH, III
District 26 - (R) *MATT LOHR
District 28 - (R) *WILLIAM J. HOWELL
District 31 - (R) *L. SCOTT LINGAMFELTER
District 34 - (R) DAVE HUNT
District 40 - (R) *TIMOTHY HUGO
District 52 - (R) *JEFF FREDERICK
District 56 - (R) *BILL JANIS
District 59 - (I) *WATKINS ABBITT
District 67 - (R) MARC CADIN
District 72 - (R) JAMES MASSIE
District 78 - (R) *JOHN COSGROVE
District 83 - (R) CHRIS STOLLE
District 87 - (R) HENRY GIFFIN
District 88 - (R) *MARK COLE
District 94 - (R) *GLENN ODER
District 96 - (R) BRENDA POGGE
(*indicates incumbent)
Please go to the polls and vote for the pro-gun candidate tomorrow. Turnout is projected to be extremely low and your vote will be more important than ever.
Friday, November 2, 2007
More on Roanoke Times Banning Gun Ads
Now a trade journal covering the newspaper industry has picked up the story. The Editor and Publisher wrote that the Roanoke Times' marketing director, Nan Mahone explained “Our tightening policy ensures that firearms advertising in our newspaper is restricted to licensed dealers who are subject to these background checks. The Editor and Publisher story noted that the NRA called the policy “blatantly discriminatory” and urged members and pro-gun citizens to contact the newspaper “to express their outrage.” Like VSSA, the NRA did not call for canceling subscriptions. You will recall that rather than urging a boycott of the newspaper, I suggested that pro-gun advertisers take their business somewhere else and then fax a copy of their invoice to the Times every time they purchased advertising from an alternative source so the paper would see a tangible loss of income.
The Editor and Publisher continues that a newspaper statement on the policy says: “The decision to restrict firearms advertising to licensed dealers was made by the advertising department, with the support of the president and publisher and independent of the news and editorial departments. It was made after careful examination of a loophole in a federal law and consideration of the safety of our community.” As I mentioned in my previous post, the new policy comes months after the paper got in hot water with pro-gun advocates…when it published a list of 135,000 Virginians who had earned Right-to-Carry Permits.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Bloomberg Comes to Virginia to Endorse Davis
A little background on the state senator; when she was first elected to the House of Delegates, she ran as a right of center Republican and supported the agenda of the conservative House Republican Caucus. Much has changed however since she was elected to the State Senate. For one, her district has voted for Democrats in the last three statewide elections. Rather than make her case as to why a Republican position on issues important to the district would be better than those proposed by Democrats, she has positioned herself as "Democrat Lite." It has been my experience that when voters are given a choice between the real thing and a "knock off" they choose the real thing every time.
It has been proven more than once that people who support gun control do not base their vote on that issue alone. However, it has been demonstrated that a lot of pro-gun voters do base their vote for or against a candidate solely on the gun issue.
Gun owners in the district have a hard choice in a year that conventional wisdom says it is 50/50 that the Senate may flip party control. They have to choose between a Democratic candidate that received a "C" rating from the NRA but if elected would likely flip the State Senate to anti-gun leadership, or an "F" rated candidate that will continue to push gun control but keep the key leadership positions like chairmanship of Courts (the committee where most all gun bills are assigned) in pro-gun hands and thus neutralizing Davis' anti-gun positions.
It should be noted that Devolites Davis was one of only 10 senators (and the only Republican) that voted against HB 2653 - Delegate Scott Lingamfelter's Illegal Conveyance of Firearms bill that put an end to Bloomberg's questionable sting operations against Virginia Gun Owners.
You can read the NY Times coverage of Bloomberg's endorsement here.
Senate District 13 and Guns
You can see the video of the Quayle race here. Click the "enter" button then click the "District 13" tab at the top of the video viewer.
UPDATE:
The NRA Political Victory Fund (PVF) has downgraded Heretick's rating from "A" to "C" based on the fact that what he said in the video referenced above is different that what he said on his questionaire.