Philip Van Cleave and the Richmond Tea Party

[Virginia Gent]

As some know, Peternap has done his part on reporting the rather anti-gun stance of the Richmond Tea Party and other pro-liberty groups here in, and around, the Richmond, Virginia area. I got a VCDL-ALERT from Philip Van Cleave of the VCDL and I thought I'd share his remarks. I also would like to say Kudos to Peternap for getting his attention. I know I wrote Philip and sent the articles Peternap linked from Old Virginia News. It would appear other readers of that site, who also happen to be VCDL members perhaps, have written him too ... enough for him to add it to his VCDL-ALERT e-mails. Here is the section from the e-mail, in whole; it is quite long by the way:

**************************************************
19. A risk and an opportunity involving the Richmond tea party
**************************************************

My suggestion to VCDL members and gun owners in general is to go easy 
on the Tea Party  folks.  Some Tea Party folks  are new to the fight 
for liberty, something we have been doing for a very long time, and 
are our natural allies.  They will make some mistakes, not think 
through how broad freedom really is, and so forth.  Their hearts are 
in the right place and most are willing and eager to learn.

A VA-ALERT reader who went to the recent Richmond tea party event 
emailed me this:

--

Philip,

Not sure how  aware you are that there is some friction building 
between some OC guys (also VCDL members) and the Richmond Tea party.

Apparently the venue the Tea Party chose, Baileys in Midlothian, was a 
Gun Free Zone and people were asked to leave or put guns in car.

Apparently worse, the self identified guy in charge for the Tea party 
at Bailey''s got very snippy when confronted about the decision to the 
point of saying that maybe "VCDL can choose the venue next time".

My take is, that the guy may not have really been that high up in the 
Tea Party Richmond, since so many went to DC he was just who was 
left.  The Tea Party folks aren't smooth PR people, nor most of them 
even business owners use to dealing with public complaints.

This is an OPPORTUNITY to educate people rather than isolate and 
squabble and divide.

Granted, it is a slap in the face that apparently they just never even 
thought of gun rights as well.  But if we can educate regular folks, 
we should be able to get these folks to understand and even embrace 
our cause.  Or else they are really lousy libertarian types lol.

Knowing a little (and I mean VERY little) about the decision process 
involved with the local  tea party and associated groups, it seems to 
me that  the idea of meeting at Bailey's was almost an afterthought.   
I have personally talked to several of the current and past founding   
types for the We Surround Them and the Tea Party groups.

They explicitly stated that their main focus would be to get as MANY 
people to go to DC as possible.

It may be they waited so long to get a place on Saturday that there 
were not a lot of choices?  They picked somewhere that would let the 
group in - on a college football Saturday even.  And in the  end, 
hadn't thought to consider everyone's rights or the importance of 
consistency when pursuing liberty.

- AJ

--

Here is a write-up on the event in Old Virginia News:

http://tinyurl.com/nwlkhe
http://news.oldva.org

Bailey's Pub and Grille.. A Haven for Criminals ?

Today is the D.C. march by the Tea Party. I always cover their local 
events, but you couldn't get me in Washington D.C. with a whip.The Tea 
Party people had arranged a remote viewing location:

Join We Surround Them - Richmond
at Bailey's Pub and Grille


TO WATCH GLENN BECK'S LIVE BROADCAST WITH MCS THE LEE BROTHERS FROM 
WRVA-AM AND LOCAL PATRIOTIC MUSICIAN KEVIN REYNOLDS.

DATE:    9/12/2009

TIME:   12:30 TO 3:00 PM

PLACE:  11581 ROBIOUS ROAD, RICHMOND, VA 23235

(CORNER OF HUGUENOT ROAD)

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO VOLUNTEER TO HELP WST, CONTACT:

WSTR.EVENTS@GMAIL.COM

Great! Now I can cover that event. The only problem is that I had 
heard rumors about Baileys being Anti-Gun. "No way" I said...the Tea 
Party wouldn't promote a business that had contempt for the rights and 
safety of Virginia Citizens.

LIKE HELL THEY WOULDN'T AND THEY DID!.... LOOK FOR PART TWO FOR THE 
STORY ABOUT THE TEA PARTY.

I walked into Baileys and there was NO SIGN. I had been told there was 
one. What there was though was a cute little bar type girl, who told 
me that firearms weren't allowed.

WHY, I asked?

"Because Virginia law prohibits firearms wherever alcohol is served" 
she answered.

I told her, she didn't know what she was talking about, that Virginia 
law prohibited the concealed carry of firearms in establishments like 
this. Open carry is legal. She said she'd get the Manager, and swished 
off.

The Manager came to the front and I asked why firearms weren't 
allowed, same answer. That's not true I told him. Then he said he had 
called the State Police and they told him that. "Let's call them now", 
I said.

Then the story changed to his legal department had called them. I 
repeated that Virginia law only prevented Concealed carry.

It was time to wiggle so he started being RATIONAL....sort of.

"Suppose I have a customer that has had too much to drink and you walk 
by. He grabs your gun and starts shooting. This is for your safety".

It was getting deep and I was sick of it, so I explained that if his 
customer had too much to drink, the Pub was in violation of ABC laws 
and if his customer grabbed my gun, he was the criminal, not me.

He didn't like that answer and said" I can refuse to allow entry to 
anyone I want".

Well praise the lord, he finally told the truth about something. He 
can and I support that right to the end. That doesn't mean I think 
it's right and I won't spend a dime there. I encourage every law 
abiding person in the state to stay away also. Bailey's thinks a lot 
more of drunken criminals than, they do of law abiding and sober, 
patrons.

Bailey' is definitely on the DON'T GO THERE LIST !

--

[PVC:  My comments:]

The common thread I see at many of these restaurants that prohibit 
firearms is the perception that "Virginia law prohibits firearms 
wherever alcohol is served". That's not true and we have these two 
official letters on our website as proof:

1. From the VSP:  http://www.vcdl.org/letters/VASP_OPEN.pdf
2. From ABC:  http://www.vcdl.org/letters/ABC_Letter.pdf

You should provide copies of those letters to any manager who believes 
"Virginia law prohibits firearms wherever alcohol is served".