Gun Owners Lobby Day 2010

[peternap]

http://news.oldva.org/blogroll/gun-owners-lobby-day-2010/

[Redoverfarm]

Peter I was expecting your great commentary to accompany the photo's.

[peternap]

Peter I was expecting your great commentary to accompany the photo's.

I left the commentary to VCDL. I'm having enough trouble photographing, I actually passed out twice yesterday before I went to lunch at 3:00.

http://blog.vcdl.org/index.php?/archives/786-VA-ALERT-Lobby-Day-draws-more-than-1,000!.html

Two years ago we had 400 show up for Lobby Day, last year it was 600, this year we broke 1,000!  Gun Save Lives stickers EVERYWHERE you looked!  The General Assembly was packed and whenever I talked to a Delegate or a Senator in the afternoon they all made a point to say that they had lots and lots of gun owners visiting with them that morning.

That, ladies and gentlemen, was music to my ears.

A fantastic job done by all and I wish to thank all of you who turned out on a beautiful winter day to protect all of our rights!

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As I was afraid, the anti-gun Senate Democratic leadership (lead by Senator Saslaw) put anti-gunner McEachin on the Senate Courts of Justice committee, making it that much harder for pro-gun bills to pass.

But VCDL and its members only climb higher and harder when faced with a taller wall.  By getting those thousand people to the General Assembly today, we showed that we are in this to win.

Lives are at stake and every gun ban must ultimately be repealed.

Tomorrow and for several days this week, I will be talking to key Senate members about VCDL's bills.

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I want to thank our hard working Executive Members and Board members for making everything go as smoothly as it did.  Dennis O'Connor, John Fenter, and Bruce Jackson were a particular blessing to have working on this.  Chip Fetrow had the PA system up and running flawlessly, making it easier for such a large crowd to hear everything being said clearly.

Of course with such a large influx of people, coordination got dicey at times, but in the end it worked out great!

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The Tea Party rally, which started at 10, graciously allowed me to speak and we let them use VCDL's PA system, making life simpler for them and us, since our rally immediately followed their rally and we didn't have to waste time switching in a PA system.

The Tea Party ended up running about 20 minutes into VCDL's time slot, but we still ended up squeezing in all our scheduled speakers.  I looked at it this way: the Tea Party was talking about guns for those 20 minutes anyhow ;-)

I would like to thank the following for speaking at the rally:

Delegate Mark Cole
Delegate Bill Carrico
Scott Lee of WRVA's Lee Brothers Talk Show on Saturday mornings (1140 AM on the radio dial)
Ted Deeds, Law Enforcement Alliance of America (who reminded the crowd that law enforcement's Amicus Brief on McDonald v. Chicago started with the words "Guns Save Lives" )
Patrick McSween, ex-Chairman for the Republican Party of Virginia and a Constitutional lawyer
Donna Holt with the Virginia Campaign for Liberty
Tricia Stall, who graciously volunteered to not repeat the invocation that she had done for the Tea Party rally an hour earlier so we could squeeze in all of our speakers on our shortened time slot.

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Media coverage:

Channel 12 in Richmond:

http://tinyurl.com/ybpxphv

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Virginian-Pilot:

http://tinyurl.com/yatwymf

Groups rally for and against gun control in Richmond Posted to: General Assembly News Virginia

The Associated Press
© January 18, 2010
By DENA POTTER

RICHMOND

Those on both sides of the gun rights issue fired their first shots Monday, with battles being declared both inside and outside the state Capitol.

Several hundred rallied for gun rights on the morning of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, followed by an afternoon rally attended by dozens calling for stricter gun laws.

Inside the Capitol, Democrats pushed through committee changes that will make it more difficult to advance looser gun laws, while Republicans cried foul.

So far, 30 bills have been filed that would allow concealed handguns to be carried in more places and make it easier to get both guns and the permits. Gun supporters had hoped to get more bills enacted this year because Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who took office on Saturday, supports gun rights. Former Gov. Tim Kaine often vetoed pro-gun bills.

"That pen is out of ink," said Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot four times in 2007 when a gunman opened fire at Virginia Tech, killing 32 students and faculty. "We know that we're going to be going backward. It's just a case of how many of those bills are going to get through, not whether they get through."

Democrats in the Senate made that a little more difficult.

Senate Democrats gained one seat in special elections to fill those of two departing Republican senators, so that their majority now stands at 22-18. On Monday, they adjusted the makeup of several powerful committees, including the Courts of Justice Committee that hears virtually all gun-related bills, to give themselves a 10-5 majority.

Still, at least three Democrats on that committee have supported gun rights bills in the past.

"We're going to have a battle in front of us, however we've fought battles before and won them," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League. "If they're going to put the odds against us, that's fine, because we're not going to walk away disenchanted. The more obstacles they put in front of us, the harder we'll fight."

Some of the pro-gun bills include:

—Repeals of the prohibition against buying more than one gun per month.

—Allowing those with concealed handgun permits to carry weapons into places of worship, courthouses when courts aren't in session; but while city councils or county boards are meeting, emergency shelters, in school parking lots or into schools when not in session and by faculty at colleges and universities.

—Requires guns acquired in gun buyback programs to be sold at auction to licensed gun dealers instead of destroyed.

—Allows concealed guns to be taken into bars and restaurants as long as the gun owner doesn't drink alcohol.

—Allows court clerks to grant a concealed carry permit without a judge's approval.

—Prohibits property or business owners from banning a gun owner from keeping the weapon in a locked vehicle.

—Prohibits Circuit Court clerks from releasing information on those who have concealed handgun permits.

—Allows concealed carry permit renewals through mail, removes the requirement for fingerprints and allows permits to be granted for life.

Another bill, sponsored by Del. Charles Carrico, declares that the federal government has no authority to regulate firearms that are made and sold in Virginia.

Carrico told boisterous supporters of the bill, dubbed the Firearms Freedom Act, it is "more than just about your Second Amendment rights, it's about Virginia standing up to the federal government and saying we're going to exercise our Tenth Amendment rights," which guarantees states' rights.

Robert Sadtler, 42, of Richmond, was one of several hundred people who attended the morning rally, carrying a pistol and saying he was there "defending liberty." Sadtler said efforts at gun control show fear and ignorance on the part of politicians.

"The fact of the matter which gun control just blatantly ignores is that evil will do evil things and banning particular tools is not going to change things," he said.

Later in the day, far fewer gun control supporters wrote the names of those killed or injured in gun violence on hearts made from construction paper and placed them into a basket before lying on the grass outside the Capitol for three minutes to signify the time it takes to purchase a gun. As they lay, some weeping softly, about a dozen gun rights advocates, many with guns in holsters on their hips, watched nearby.

"It should not be a party issue. It should be a public safety issue," Lori Haas, whose daughter Emily was shot and wounded at Virginia Tech, said about gun control. "And we should be able to count on our legislators to vote on laws that protect the public."

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WTOP:

http://wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1866778

Gun rights supporters rally at Va Capitol January 18, 2010 - 12:56pm
By DENA POTTER
Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. - Hundreds of Virginians rallied in support of bills that would allow concealed handguns to be carried in more places and make it easier to get both guns and the permits.
Guns rights advocates who rallied Monday at the Capitol decried Senate Democrats, who planned to put at least one more anti-gun Democrat on a key committee that hears all gun bills. Gun supporters had hoped to get more bills enacted this year because Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, who took office on Saturday, supports gun rights.

Former Gov. Tim Kaine often vetoed pro-gun bills.

Bills have been filed to repeal the law that limits gun purchases to one a month, to allow concealed guns on school property, in courthouses and in restaurants and to make it easier to get a concealed carry permit.

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NBC:

http://tinyurl.com/yhcl4j4

Packing Heat at the Va. CapitolGun owners push to loosen laws

By JULIE CAREYUpdated 6:41 PM EST, Mon, Jan 18, 2010

David Sutherland
It was easy to spot one group lobbying in Richmond today -- they were the folks with loaded handguns at their sides.

Every year the Virginia Citizens Defense League holds its pistol-packing lobby day to push for gun law reforms.

With Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell freshly sworn in, gun rights advocates see this session as their best chance in years to push for less regulation. Sporting fluorescent stickers that declared "Guns Save Lives," they said it's high time to repeal the law that bans concealed weapons in restaurants that serve alcohol.

They also want lawmakers to lift the ban on buying one handgun a month. And they'd like to be able to apply for a concealed weapons permit by mail, without the messy requirement of fingerprinting.

Typically, bills pushed by the gun rights activists win approval in the Republican-dominated House but end up being spiked in the Democratic-controlled Senate. It remains to be seen whether having the first GOP governor in eight years will help the cause of gun owners in the 2010 session.

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Richmond Times-Dispatch:

http://tinyurl.com/y9h2dem

Pro-gun, states-rights rally draws 1,000 to Capitol
BOB BROWN/TIMES-DISPATCH
Gun rights advocates turned out in force on Capitol Square today. Several in the crowd were seen carrying weapons. [PVC:  Several?!!???!!! ;-) ]

A pro-gun, pro-states rights rally at the state Capitol this morning drew roughly 1,000 people who were encouraged afterward to file into the General Assembly Building to lobby their legislators.
They are among several groups lobbying state lawmakers today, including mental-health and public safety advocates and the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity.

The rally crowd is interested in two bills in particular. House Bill 10 "protects an individual's right and power to participate, or to decline to participate, in a health-care system or plan."

House Bill 69 says firearms and ammunition made in Virginia and retained here are not subject to federal law or regulation under the authority of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

"I support freedom," said Harry Holt, a Midlothian resident, who was handing out stickers. "I think the federal government is overreaching their power too quickly and too pervasively."

Del. Charles W. Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, stood before the crowd and recited the words of Patrick Henry, echoing sentiments written on several signs: the states have rights.

"Are we going to be free men or are we going to be slaves to the federal government of the United States?" he asked.

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Photos courtesy Old Virginia News (news.oldva.org):

http://news.oldva.org/blogroll/gun-owners-lobby-day-2010/

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[harry51]

Peter, even though I live in Kalifornia, I want to thank you and your colleagues for all your hard work to restore, protect, and preserve our God-given, constitutionally guaranteed rights. 

It's really a shame that some of those who lost loved ones in the Virginia Tech disaster (as mentioned in the press stories you shared) can't see how easily the carnage could have been stopped (or likely never would have been attempted) if the right of faculty and students to possess the tools of self-defense had not been stolen from them by their gov't.

It appears that you had a very successful event. PLEASE keep on keepin' on!

Harry

[peternap]

This year Old Virginia had enough members to actually split into teams and hit the legislators after VCDL. I sent Jane with a VCDL team and I went with an Old Virginia group. We wore the orange Guns save lives stickers like everyone else, but also had the Old Va Guns save lives badges I designed.



Thank You Harry but the real credit goes to Philip Vav Cleeve, President of VCDL. He's the gun lobby. Old Va is just a Rural Affairs group...with guns