----------------------------------------------------------------------
Not yet a VCDL member? Join VCDL at:
http://www.vcdl.org/join.html----------------------------------------------------------------------
VCDL's meeting schedule:
http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html----------------------------------------------------------------------
Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT:
http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Lobby Day almost here!
2. VCDL meeting in Richmond January 12th
3. University changes weapon policy for the worse
4. Fresh Va. Tech tragedy renews political gun debate
5. RT LTE: Va Tech President Steger blaming guns
6. Report: gun used in Tech slaying legally bought
7. LTE: Lawfully carried guns in schools will place no one in danger
8. UNC student asked captors to 'pray' with her before she was killed, according to testimony
9. Free staters protest anti-gun rules at PSU
10. Holder may be holding on to private emails about Fast and Furious
11. Fast & Furious: Obama's Watergate
12. Michael Bloomberg invites Congress to slain police officer's funeral
13. Video: Fairfax County Clerk of Court speaks at VCDL membership meeting
14. Who needs a gun in the country?
15. Emily Miller: Choosing a gun
16. Bedford shooting range gets final approval
17. RTD LTE: Libyans are no safer today
18. Handgunlaw.us: Update to Wisconsin and VA permit reciprocity
19. They've been mistreated and misunderstood for generations!
20. Funny video: Banjo needs a job
**************************************************
1. Lobby Day almost here!
**************************************************
Lobby Day is coming up soon! It is Monday, January 16th - be sure to get the day off so you can help us pack the General Assembly. This could be a good year for gun owners and we need to start that year off right with a strong presence at Lobby Day.
We plan on starting around 8:30 AM to 9:00 AM, with a rally at 11 AM. More details on this to follow.
TEAM LEADERS NEEDED
To make Lobby Day successful, we need volunteers to lead teams on Lobby Day. If you have attended Lobby Day in the past, or, better yet, if you were a team leader, we need you!
To volunteer to be a team leader, please contact Bob Sadtler at:
bob.sadtler@vcdl.org
** Let Bob know who your Senator and Delegate are. If you have already volunteered, let Bob know who your legislators are.
BUSES
The Roanoke Tea Party has chartered a bus to Lobby Day. The price is $30 per seat and that will cover your trip up and back and the tip for the driver. The bus will leave Tanglewood Mall at 5:30 AM. and may make a stop in the Charlottesville area for a pick up. Arrival in Richmond should be before 9AM., and the bus will leave for the return trip to Roanoke around 2:00 p.m.
You can sign up here:
http://www.roanoketeaparty.com/lobby-day-january-16-sign-up-here/
CARPOOLING
EM Ed Levine has set up a Facebook page for those with Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/129376037132262/
-
Michael Burnham is coordinating some carpooling on OpenCarry.org:
http://forum.opencarry.org/forums/showthread.php?t=97925
**************************************************
2. VCDL meeting in Richmond January 12th
**************************************************
There will be a pre-Lobby Day meeting in Richmond on Thursday, January 12, from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM at:
Glen Allen Library
10501 Staples Mill road
Glen Allen, VA 23060
Fellowship will start at 6:15 PM.
We will be discussing the January 16 Lobby Day agenda, and the bills VCDL is working on for the upcoming legislative session.
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.
**************************************************
3. University changes weapon policy for the worse
**************************************************
Yet another reason we must fight hard to take away the power of higher-ed to ban guns on campus.
Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
--
From The Highland Cavalier: http://tinyurl.com/btmemyd
By Jordan Fifer
December 9, 2011
Students and staff will no longer be able to store hunting weapons on campus under a revised University of Virginia policy set to formally take effect in Wise in January.
The University of Virginia's Board of Visitors approved a regulation Nov. 11 that bans weapons on its Charlottesville and Wise campuses, effectively reaffirming an existing policy that bans guns, fireworks, explosives and other weapons.
The revised regulation contains no exception for hunting rifles, which were previously allowed at UVa-Wise as long as they were stored unloaded and secured at the campus police office.
The new regulation took effect this month, but Wise's policy will be updated and formally put in place in time for the spring semester, said Steve McCoy, campus police chief and director of public safety.
UVa-Charlottesville and UVa-Wise both already had policies banning weapons, including guns, on their campuses and properties. But Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote in a July legal advisory opinion that the policies couldn't apply to people with concealed weapons permits because they did not have the force of law.
Nearly simultaneously, though, the Virginia Supreme Court upheld a regulation banning weapons at George Mason University after gun owner Rudolph DiGiacinto sued, arguing that the ban on guns in campus buildings violates the state's constitution.
A regulation, such as the one at George Mason, is enforceable because it undergoes a more formal process and must be approved by a university's governing body through the Virginia Register Act, the court and Cuccinelli said.
UVa's revised regulation covers the Wise campus and applies to students, employees, volunteers and visitors - including those with concealed weapons permits. Because it doesn't include an exemption for hunting weapons, Wise's policy will have to be updated, McCoy said.
"I certainly stand behind the regulation," McCoy said. "It's with regret, but it's the times we're in."
But McCoy said he worries that the regulation will unduly affect a group of students who otherwise use guns in a safe manner.
"We have to have regulations, but I feel that the students that want to hunt are being limited," he said. "They're the ones that went through hunter safety programs ... they're safe around guns."
Three students currently store guns with campus police, McCoy said, a number down from previous semesters. Those students didn't immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
**************************************************
4. Fresh Va. Tech tragedy renews political gun debate
**************************************************
"Gun-toting disciples" - Gee, I wonder if this reporter is biased?
Roy B. Scherer emailed me this:
--
From WJAC TV: http://tinyurl.com/8ypta9m
By Bob Lewis - AP
December 11, 2011
BLACKSBURG, Va. ˘ Thursday's point-blank slaying of a Virginia Tech campus policeman is sure to renew the gun control battle in all its fury before the General Assembly next month.
The debate had quieted somewhat in the nearly five years since a student on a murderous rampage shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.
But with Republicans expecting House and Senate majorities and a pro-gun Republican governor, conservatives are taking aim at Virginia's 20-year-old one-handgun-a-month law. Only three other states still have such a law.
"Our agenda is fairly active this year," Philip Van Cleave told The Associated Press on Saturday as students placed flowers at an impromptu memorial to slain officer Deriek Crouse in a parking lot beside Tech's famed football stadium. [PVC: Poorly written sentence or twisted with intent. Mr. Lewis makes it sound like I was standing at the impromptu memorial when I was being interviewed. He called me on the telephone in Richmond to ask about VCDL's agenda in 2012.]
Van Cleave's organization, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and its gun-toting disciples who converge on Capitol Square each winter will lobby to prevent state agencies ˘ including colleges ˘ from banning guns on campus.
Also, prospects of closing Virginia's so-called gun show loophole appear to have slipped from slim to nil.
The day before Crouse was killed, the Defense League rallied on the campus of Radford University, about 12 miles from Virginia Tech. That was the day Crouse's killer, Ross Truett Ashley, a quiet 22-year-old part-time student at Radford, staged an armed robbery across the street from Radford's campus and stole the 2011 Mercedes-Benz that he abandoned on a road near Tech's campus.
For Van Cleave, the issue is simple. Free, law-abiding people have a fundamental right guaranteed in the Constitution to carry firearms to defend themselves and their homes.
"Our belief is that you have to protect yourself from crime. It again just reminds everybody that there's some awfully vicious people out there," Van Cleave said.
Among the most forceful voices against Van Cleave and his group are those who lost loved ones at Tech in 2007. And they face their hardest session ever before a Legislature more beholden to the gun lobby than any in modern times. [PVC: Hmmm. What about calling them "freedom-hating disciples, Mr. Lewis?]
Even when Democrats ruled the General Assembly, Virginia's pro-gun laws were among the most permissive in the country. Reverence for the 2nd Amendment only increased with the burgeoning Republican dominance. And rural Democrats - a vanishing breed in Virginia's Legislature - are still overwhelmingly pro-gun, a requisite for getting elected outside urban and suburban areas.
Besides the monthly single-pistol limitation and the guns-on-campus initiative, gun-rights forces hope to advance bills that would make it even easier to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons, eliminate state background checks, broaden the legal principle that allows people in their homes to shoot intruders and keep guns of unlimited firepower free of government oversight as long as they are wholly built in Virginia and never taken beyond its borders.
"All of these measures threaten law enforcement. They put law enforcement in danger," said Lori Haas, whose relentless efforts to restrict gun access began after her daughter Emily was shot in the head during Seung-Hui Cho's one-man massacre at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. [PVC: This is the same Lori Haas who rushed to dance in the blood of Officer Crouse. She wrote an anti-gun opinion piece based on Officer Crouse's sickening murder even before his body was cold. It was published early the next morning by Fox News. To add insult to injury, she even misspelled his name multiple times. Lori saw that tragic death as nothing more than an opportunity to push her agenda. VCDL stood silent during that time in respect of Officer Crouse.]
Little is yet known about what drove Ashley to shoot Crouse as he wrote someone else a traffic ticket shortly after noon Thursday, then to use the same gun to kill himself minutes later.
Haas doubts last week's events will change anything in the 2012 Legislature, no matter the circumstances behind Tech's latest gun violence. [PVC: Boy, not lack of trying on Lori's part.] House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford, agreed.
"I don't think it will make a big difference one way or another," Howell said.
Maybe, Haas says, what matters isn't the number of people slain by those who never should have access to guns, but who those people are ˘ particularly whether they're close to state policymakers.
"Are we going to wait to react when it's one of their colleagues, their loved ones, their family members?" she said. "Frankly, 'how many have to be killed to get their attention' hasn't worked." [PVC: And, Lori, how many have died because campuses are mostly gun-free zones in Virginia?]
"It's just shocking to me how legislators just pander to the leadership to the gun lobby," she said. [PVC: Oh, that's rich! Saslaw, McEachin, and other anti-gun legislators pander to the anti-freedom lobby. But, that's different, isn't it, Lori?]
Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was wounded during Cho's 2007 rampage, said it's time lawmakers paid at least as much attention to those who wear badges and face the risk of gun violence every day as they do to pro-gun lobbyists. Perhaps Crouse's slaying gives that message more currency. [PVC: Rank-and-file police are not that stupid, Andrew. They know it is the murderer, and not the tool he uses, that's the problem. You're fixated on the tool and are blind to everything else.]
"When our police officers go to the General Assembly and say something about public safety, they should listen to them," Goddard said. [PVC: I'm confused. First Andrew is talking about police safety. Now he is talking about public safety. Public safety and police safety are simply not the same thing. Drunk driving is illegal for public safety reasons, but that law doesn't do a thing to protect police or make them safer. News flash for Andrew: Police are paid to put their lives on the line to protect the public. The public is not paid to give up their freedom to protect the police.]
**************************************************
5. RT LTE: Va Tech President Steger blaming guns
**************************************************
This LTE covers the despicable comments of the President of Virginia Tech, Charles Steger, which he made within just a couple of hours of Officer Crouse's death. Another person dancing in blood to make a political statement. Steger should step down.
From The Roanoke Times: http://tinyurl.com/7fll8w8
December 13, 2011
People, not guns, are the killers
I just watched a replay of Virginia Tech President Charles Steger's statement about the shooting of two men at Virginia Tech.
He stated, "In light of the turmoil and trauma and the tragedy suffered on this campus by guns." This shows just how ignorant he is. The murders were not caused by a gun; they were caused by an evil person.
The fact that the president of Virginia Tech did not know that it is impossible for a gun to shoot someone to me shows his ignorance. Or just maybe he was using the opportunity to express his advocacy for gun control.
Why do these left-wing liberals keep saying guns kill people? Guns don't kill people; people kill people.
I'll bet that the police officer's family would have appreciated it if a citizen with a legal weapon had seen this confrontation taking place and had stopped it. [PVC: Sadly, it happened so fast, and with absolutely no warning, that I don't think anyone could have stopped it.]
JIM LAYMAN
ROANOKE
**************************************************
6. Report: gun used in Tech slaying legally bought
**************************************************
EM Ian Branson emailed me this:
--
From WTOP: http://tinyurl.com/bl6v5r3
By Steve Szkotak
December 13, 2011
RICHMOND, Va. - As WTOP first reported, the man who fatally ambushed a Virginia Tech police officer before killing himself legally purchased the .40-caliber handgun used in the shooting, Virginia State Police confirmed Tuesday.
Ross T. Ashely, 22, purchased the semiautomatic weapon gun down officer Derick Crouse in January from a licensed Virginia gun dealer, state police investigators said in a statement. The name of the dealer was not released.
Investigators also said they still have found no link between Ashley and Crouse. Ashley was a part-time student at nearby Radford University.
"Despite investigators' non-stop pursuit of this case, there still remains no prior connection or contact between Ashley and Officer Crouse," the statement said.
Crouse was gunned down on Tech's Blacksburg campus during a routine traffic stop on Thursday. Ashley was found a short time later, dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The shooting sent tremors through the Virginia Tech campus, which saw the deadliest U.S. mass shooting in April 2007 when a gunman killed 32 and them himself. [PVC: Of course it did - everyone there is still unarmed and helpless, totally dependent on a rapid response by police for survival if another Cho shows up.]
**************************************************
7. LTE: Lawfully carried guns in schools will place no one in danger
**************************************************
From The Laconia Daily Sun: http://tinyurl.com/cz2mo9h
December 16, 2011
To the editor,
When will the educrats and activist judges learn that THEY, not guns, put young folk in harm's way?
When "gun free school zones" were created, huge targets were painted on every child and young adult that goes to public school or attends our universities. In some places, since Gun Free School Zones Act took effect persons intent on mayhem have murdered innocent students and teachers. Because of the law, children died, with nobody prepared and able to defend them.
The proof is written in blood; since the law took effect 1/29/1991, and reported through 2010, here in the United States there have been 43 school shooting sites with 312 direct victims resulting in 128 deaths. Universities, colleges and schools with the help of judges intent on legislating from the bench, in defiance of state law, are upholding unlawful bans on firearms that might have saved lives. Where there is a chance of someone being armed and capable to defend themselves and others, these events do not happen.
Look to Israel, and how they responded to school shootings; teachers were armed (yes, with GUNS) and charged with the safety of the children in their care. They also train the upper classmen in the use of firearms so that they, too, could protect their fellow students. That successfully prevented the kind of bloodshed that America has dealt with. This is how America should have handled school shootings.
People lawfully carrying guns to school will not place anybody in danger. It will make our campuses safer places. It will remove the target that the educrats and activist judges want to keep painted on our most precious resource, our children.
Antonet C Piper
Ashland
**************************************************
8. UNC student asked captors to 'pray' with her before she was killed, according to testimony
**************************************************
If you are unfortunate enough to be a selected victim of a sociopath, the only way you will survive is if you can defend yourself. Begging, pleading, even asking them to pray with you, will not save your life. They are not like you and me, don't make the fatal mistake of thinking they are. They feel no guilt for committing murder or rape. None at all. In the sociopath's eyes, their victims deserved everything they got.
Rich DeStefano emailed me this:
--
From FOX News: http://tinyurl.com/7gfas8s
December 14, 2011
A popular North Carolina college student gunned down three years ago pleaded for her life in the moments before her death and asked her assailants to pray with her, according to testimony at the murder trial.
Eve Carson, student body president at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, died from multiple gunshot wounds on March 5, 2008, after she was allegedly kidnapped and robbed by two men.
Prosecutors say 21-year-old Laurence Alvin Lovette Jr. and 25-year-old Demario James Atwater kidnapped Carson from her home sometime after 3:30 a.m., took her in her SUV to withdraw money from ATMs and then shot her five times, WRAL-TV reported.
Atwater pleaded guilty last year to state and federal charges in the case and is serving two life sentences in federal prison. Lovette, who is now on trial, faces life in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Jayson McNeil, a lifelong friend of Lovette's, testified Tuesday about a conversation he says he had with Lovette about the crime on March 12, 2008. McNeil said Lovette called him the day a warrant was issued for his arrest.
"Before (Lovette) even shot her, he explained, she was saying, 'Let's pray,'" 20-year-old McNeil told the courtroom. "She wanted them to pray together."
McNeil, whose testimony was part of a plea deal in a federal drug case, said Lovette told him that he and Atwater went to Chapel Hill to rob and that they saw Carson getting into her SUV, according to WRAL.
"They rushed her," McNeil testified.
Lovette got into the driver's seat, and Atwater got into the backseat with Carson and held a gun to her head, McNeil told jurors.
"He said the whole time that Eve Carson was in the backseat that she was pleading for her life and explained that they didn't have to do what they were doing," McNeil testified. "Demario was feeling her clothes and touching her in certain parts of her body."
Lovette said they killed her because she had seen their faces.
Carson was shot four times with a .25-caliber to her right cheek, back, right arm and right buttock. She also was shot through her right hand and right temple with a sawed-off shotgun.
The medical examiner who performed an autopsy on Carson testified Tuesday that the young woman could have survived the four handgun wounds with appropriate medical care, according to the station. [PVC: This is why I do NOT recommend a .25 caliber gun for self-defense - the cartridge is extremely anemic.]
"Only one of these wounds was immediately fatal, and that was the shotgun injury to the head," Dr. Cynthia Gardner reportedly told jurors.
**************************************************
9. Free staters protest anti-gun rules at PSU
**************************************************
Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
--
From New Hampshire Public Radio: http://tinyurl.com/75mw86x
By Sam Evans-Brown
December 9, 2011
Two men who had been threatening to bring guns to Plymouth State University's campus directed a protest today against the school's no-firearm policy.
Former cop, Bradley Jardis and Veteran Tommy Mozingo arrived at PSU with an entourage of activists from the Free State Project, who sang Libertarian Christmas Carols.
They came to say that the University does not have the right to ban firearms on campus.
When asked if anyone was carrying weapon as they had said they would, Jardis responded it would be up to the state to prove that.
Jardis, who was in charge of organizing the event, said it was in the works long before yesterday's shooting at Virginia Tech.
Jardis: The incident that happened yesterday at Virginia Tech is just even more of a reason why the campus system in New Hampshire should not be known as a victim disarmament zone.
Teachers organized a silent counter-protest, and the administration told students who did not feel safe on campus to stay home. [PVC: Hah! I agree with the administration on this one: the whole student body should have left and not come back until otherwise lawfully carried guns are allowed on campus.]
**************************************************
10. Holder may be holding on to private emails about Fast and Furious
**************************************************
Board member Bruce Jackson emailed me this:
--
From The Daily Caller: http://tinyurl.com/7ov2aoe
By Matthew Boyle
December 12, 2011
A largely overlooked exchange from Thursday's House Judiciary Committee hearing includes what appears to be an admission from Attorney General Eric Holder that emails to and from him about Operation Fast and Furious may exist, and that he's refusing to provide them to Congress.
The possibility was first addressed during an exchange with House oversight committee chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, who also sits on the House Judiciary Committee, early in the hearing.
"Most of the 5,000 documents you turned over are emails," Issa said to Holder. "Mr. Attorney General, I have a question for you. Not one of these emails, in fact, is yours. Aren't you a prolific emailer?"
Holder responded that, "No," he is not a "prolific emailer."
Issa followed up: "Don't you email?"
Holder responded in the affirmative. "Do you have a personal email account as well as an attorney general email account?" Issa pressed.
"I have an email account at the Justice Department, yes," Holder equivocated.
"Do you have a personal email?" Issa asked again. Holder replied that, "yes" he has a personal email account.
"Do you regularly email to Lanny Breuer, your former partner, and your criminal division head?" Issa then asked.
"I wouldn't say regularly," Holder answered. "But there are only a limited number of people who know my email address in the Justice Department." (RELATED: Full coverage of Operation Fast and Furious)
Issa, still not satisfied with Holder's response, pressed further. "Let's cut to the chase," Issa said. "Don't you think it's a little conspicuous that there's not one email to or from you related to Fast and Furious in any way, shape or form?"
Instead of answering whether or not there were any emails to or from him, Holder said the Department of Justice's document production to the House oversight committee had been "unprecedented."
"There are a variety of reasons why the emails we have shared with you are there," Holder said. "We have shared in an unprecedented way emails and information that no Justice Department and no attorney general has ever authorized before. You have deliberative information contained in that."
Issa has issued subpoenas and made official requests for many of the emails Holder has withheld from Congress. Because Holder isn't citing any legal or constitutional exemption, Issa said later in the hearing that he "stands in contempt of Congress" if he continues to stonewall.
"But isn't it true that executive privilege does not flow to the attorney general, only to the office of the president?" Issa asked during that initial exchange. "So, deliberate process within law enforcement, in your department, in fact, doesn't deserve executive privilege. As the chairman said going on, you haven't cited any reason why these have not been delivered."
Holder continued to avoid the line of questioning, and said that he's provided an "unprecedented" amount of documents to Congress. But, he still wouldn't cite a legal reason why he's refusing to comply with congressional subpoenas and requests.
"In making production determinations, we have followed what attorneys general in the past have always used - applicable standards, whether these are Republican or Democrat attorneys general," Holder said. "The information we've provided you has been responsive, has been, I think, wholesome and also unprecedented."
In a later exchange Holder had with Florida Republican Rep. Sandy Adams, Holder all but said he has used his personal email account to communicate with Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer and his former deputy attorney general and now chief of staff, Gary Grindler, about Fast and Furious.
"You have a personal email account. Did you at any time, at any time, email on your personal account with Lanny Breuer and Gary Grindler with regards to Fast and Furious - ever?" Adams asked Holder. "Yes or no?"
"I don't know," Holder responded.
"Would you check and get back with us?" Adams further pressed Holder. "If you need some help, I'm sure your agency personnel can get into those computers."
Holder then tripled down on his claims that the DOJ has provided "unprecedented" levels of documents to Congress, but refused to cite a legal reason why he won't give up the emails, if they exist.
"Well, with regard to the provision of emails, I though I made clear that after February 4, it is not our intention to provide email information consistent with the way in which the Justice Department has always conducted itself," Holder said in response to Adams' questioning. "The exception that I made - that I made in the hope that the Justice Department would be seen as transparent - was to go against that tradition to make available deliberative material around the February 4 letter."
During an interview with The Daily Caller on Friday, during which Adams called for Holder's resignation over the Fast and Furious scandal, she said that if Holder hasn't misled Congress and has nothing to hide, he should deliver the communications.
"I do, I truly do [think Holder should provide those emails]," Adams told TheDC. "If there were a part of anything to do with Fast and Furious, he should release those. As I said to him, if you have clean hands, why won't you release them?"
Adams added that Holder's claim that his document production has been "unprecedented" doesn't appear to hold much legal weight, and doesn't really matter if he's refusing to comply with lawfully issued congressional subpoenas.
"I wouldn't think so [that Holder's claims his document production has been 'unprecedented' is enough]," Adams said in a phone interview. "What's unprecedented is the fact that we have an attorney general who was allowing guns to walk across international borders. As a matter of fact, walking [guns] anywhere is bad, but it's compounded because they walked across international borders."
Fast and Furious was a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives program overseen by the DOJ. The operation facilitated the sale of thousands of weapons to Mexican drug cartels via straw purchasers. Straw purchasers are people who legally purchase guns in the United States with the known intention of illegally trafficking them somewhere else. In Fast and Furious, the straw purchasers were known to be trafficking the weapons into Mexico, effectively arming Mexican drug cartels.
At least 300 people in Mexico were killed with Fast and Furious weapons, as was U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry.
**************************************************
11. Fast & Furious: Obama's Watergate
**************************************************
Walter Jackson emailed me this:
--
This story is dead on as to whom is ultimately responsibilty for Operation Fast & Furious!!!
Walter Jackson
Gloucester, Va
From The Washington Times: http://tinyurl.com/893cqrr
By Jeffrey T. Kuhner
December 15, 2011
A year ago this week, U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. He died protecting his country from brutal Mexican gangsters. Two AK-47 assault rifles were found at his death site. We now know the horrifying truth: Agent Terry was killed by weapons that were part of an illegal Obama administration operation to smuggle arms to the dangerous drug cartels. He was a victim of his own government. This is not only a major scandal; it is a high crime that potentially reaches all the way to the White House, implicating senior officials. It is President Obama's Watergate.
Operation Fast and Furious was run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and overseen by the Justice Department. It started under the leadership of Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Fast and Furious enabled straw gun purchases from licensed dealers in Arizona, in which more than 2,000 weapons were smuggled to Mexican drug kingpins. ATF claims it was seeking to track the weapons as part of a larger crackdown on the growing violence in the Southwest. Instead, ATF effectively has armed murderous gangs. About 300 Mexicans have been killed by Fast and Furious weapons. More than 1,400 guns remain lost. Agent Terry likely will not be the last U.S. casualty.
Mr. Holder insists he was unaware of what took place until after media reports of the scandal appeared in early 2011. This is false. Such a vast operation only could have occurred with the full knowledge and consent of senior administration officials. Massive gun-running and smuggling is not carried out by low-level ATF bureaucrats unless there is authorization from the top. There is a systematic cover-up.
Congressional Republicans, however, are beginning to shed light on the scandal. Led by Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Rep. Darrell Issa of California, a congressional probe is exposing the Justice Department's rampant criminality and deliberate stonewalling. Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer, who heads the department's criminal division, helped craft a February letter to Congress that denied ATF had ever walked guns into Mexico. Yet, under pressure from congressional investigators, the department later admitted that Mr. Breuer knew about ATF gun-smuggling as far back as April 2010. In other words, Mr. Breuer has been misleading Congress. He should resign - or be fired.
Instead, Mr. Holder tenaciously insists that Mr. Breuer will keep his job. He needs to keep his friends close and potential witnesses even closer. Another example is former acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson. Internal documents show Mr. Melson directly oversaw Fast and Furious, including monitoring numerous straw purchases of AK-47s. He has admitted to congressional investigators that he, along with high-ranking ATF leaders, reassigned every "manager involved in Fast and Furious" after the scandal surfaced on Capitol Hill and in the press. Mr. Melson said he was ordered by senior Justice officials to be silent regarding the reassignments. Hence, ATF managers who possess intimate and damaging information - especially on the role of the Justice Department - essentially have been promoted to cushy bureaucratic jobs. Their silence has been bought, their complicity swept under the rug. Mr. Melson has been transferred to Justice's main office, where he serves as a "senior adviser" on forensic science in the department's Office of Legal Policy. Rather than being punished, Mr. Melson has been rewarded for his incompetence and criminal negligence.
Mr. Holder and his aides have given misleading, false and contradictory testimony on Capitol Hill. Perjury, obstruction of justice and abuse of power - these are high crimes and misdemeanors. Mr. Holder should be impeached. Like most liberals, he is playing the victim card, claiming Mr. Issa is a modern-day Joseph McCarthy conducting a judicial witch hunt. Regardless of this petty smear, Mr. Holder must be held responsible and accountable - not only for the botched operation, but for his flagrant attempts to deflect blame from the administration.
Mr. Holder is a shameless careerist and a ruthless Beltway operative. For years, his out-of-control Justice Department has violated the fundamental principle of our democracy, the rule of law. He has refused to prosecute members of the New Black Panthers for blatant voter intimidation that took place in the 2008 election. Career Justice lawyers have confessed publicly that Mr. Holder will not pursue cases in which the perpetrators are black and the victims white. States such as Arizona and Alabama are being sued for simply attempting to enforce federal immigration laws. Mr. Holder also opposes voter identification cards, thereby enabling fraud and vote-stealing at the ballot box. What else can we expect from one who, during the Clinton administration, helped pardon notorious tax cheat Marc Rich and Puerto Rican terrorists?
Mr. Holder clearly knew about Fast and Furious and did nothing to stop it. This is because the administration wanted to use the excuse of increased violence on the border and weapons-smuggling into Mexico to justify tighter gun-control legislation. Mr. Holder is fighting ferociously to prevent important internal Justice documents from falling into the hands of congressional investigators. If the full nature of his involvement is discovered, the Obama presidency will be in peril.
Fast and Furious is even worse than Watergate for one simple reason: No one died because of President Nixon's political dirty tricks and abuse of government power. But Brian Terry is dead; and there are still 1,500 missing guns threatening still more lives.
What did Mr. Obama know? Massive gun-smuggling by the U.S. government into a foreign country does not happen without the explicit knowledge and approval of leading administration officials. It's too big, too risky and too costly. Mr. Holder may not be protecting just himself and his cronies. Is he protecting the president?
**************************************************
12. Michael Bloomberg invites Congress to slain police officer's funeral
**************************************************
Perhaps we should invite Bloomberg down here to the funerals of those who are killed by New York City criminals who peddle drugs and death in Virginia. Then he can see firsthand how his inability to control the criminals in his city leads to the export of so much misery here.
Dave Hicks emailed me this:
--
From Politico: http://tinyurl.com/7gqzokp
By Mackenzie Weinger
December 16, 2011
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg invited Congress to attend the funeral of a slain cop with him on Monday, saying that it might finally convince lawmakers to do something about the flow of illegal guns.
Bloomberg said on his weekly radio show on Friday that if members of Congress came to the funeral of NYPD Officer Peter Figoski, who was shot and killed this week with an illegally purchased handgun, they would come to understand the need to pass a law requiring a background check for every gun sale.
"If you could get Congress to come with me and sit with me in this church on Monday - wouldn't that be wonderful if they finally got some understanding, and in memory of this officer said, 'We can't bring him back, but we're going to make sure his kids and his parents are protected by getting guns off the streets out of illegal hands,'" Bloomberg said on the radio show.
The mayor was responding to a Twitter user who asked why NYC wastes so much time pushing for additional gun control measures.
"When I read that I thought to myself, maybe the guy wants to join me out in Babylon on Monday sitting in the church where the funeral is for Officer Figoski," Bloomberg said.
And earlier this week, Bloomberg said the public must push President Barack Obama and Congress to combat illegal gun sales, The Wall Street Journal reported. People need to tell their elected officials, "We're not going to take it anymore. You damn well better do something: We are not going to have more Peter Figoskis," Bloomberg said.
Figoski was shot and killed Monday while investigating a robbery. Lamont Pride allegedly shot Figoski with a gun that was first purchased at a pawnshop in Colonial Heights, Virginia.
**************************************************
13. Video: Fairfax County Clerk of Court speaks at VCDL membership meeting
**************************************************
EM Ed Levine emailed me this:
--
From Youtube: http://tinyurl.com/6ujbjns
**************************************************
14. Who needs a gun in the country?
**************************************************
Will Aygarn emailed me this:
--
Dear Mr. Van Cleave,
This just happened, and I am still jittery from it, but I was attacked by a rabid fox when I got home from work tonight and was able to kill it with legally owned & carried firearms.
Who Needs a Gun in the Country?
I travel country roads to work and live on a farm where the crime rate is as low as it gets so why do I need a gun?
Tonight when I got home from work I went to the back of my truck to get my coat & things and was startled by a loud cry which I first mistook for the gray heron that hangs around my pond, but the sound got louder & closer and I realised something was wrong.
In the moonlight shining down through the trees I saw a low shadow moving fast towards me and I slapped it away with my coat, moving to open ground with more moonlight. It kept coming at me and I kept slapping it away but my derringer was in my haversack along with my flashlight in the truck cab.
Finally it broke off the attack but I didn't trust it to go away and I retrieved my flashlight and pistol as quick as I could & headed for my house. As I fumbled for my key at the doorstep I heard it coming again and with the light I saw it coming. I shot it once and it ran off before I could get a clear second shot.
I made it into the house but couldn't leave the situation as it was so I loaded my shotgun & stood on the porch with the porch light on and in a minute it came back.
I finished it off with the shotgun & will call animal control in the morning in case they want it for anything.
The police and Animal Control weren't there to save me and it was my responsibility anyway. [PVC: For the anti-freedom crowd reading this, look in the dictionary under "personal responsibility" for an explanation of what Will is saying.]
**************************************************
15. Emily Miller: Choosing a gun
**************************************************
From The Washington Times: http://tinyurl.com/88av9ht
By Emily Miller
December 9, 2011
In my quest to obtain a legal gun in Washington, D.C., I've gone to the registry office, taken a 5-hour course, filled out paperwork and met with the city's only dealer. I've now fulfilled any requirements that can be done before giving the city the serial number of my new gun, so it is time to decide what to buy.
(You might think I'm close to the end, but that's not what happens on this side of the Potomac. After I buy, there will still be 10 more steps before I can take possession of my gun.)
I went to local gun store, Sharpshooters Small Arms Range in Virginia on Friday to rent some guns to try out in their range. The store was located at the very end of an industrial park, across from a construction site.
I was surprised that the parking lot was full on a Friday morning. Many of the cars had military and police stickers. I was glad my editor drove because I would have been intimidated alone.
Inside, I handed over my driver's license for a one-day rental and to use the range. The man looked at my ID and said my name was familiar. "Oh yeah, you're the one writing about getting a gun in D.C.", said Mike Collins. "I've been following your stories. You need to move to Virginia!"
Another man behind the counter said, "Oh you're Emily Miller. I heard you were at the Maryland range already." Word spread quickly in this small gun community.
For $10, I could try out as many guns as I wanted from three shelves packed with pistols. Since Washington doesn't allowed concealed carry (or any carry), I knew I wanted a full-size gun.
"So far, I've had the best experience with the Glock 17 9mm," I told Mr. Collins, before looking away a little embarrassed to continue. I was the only woman shooting or buying that day. "Well, frankly, it just doesn't look very cool. And I want to like the gun I buy."
To my pleasant surprise, he agreed with me. "The Glock looks like a brick," he said, laughing. "And life's too short to carry an ugly gun." Since all the guns do the same thing, I might as well like the looks of if since it's an expensive item.
I put on my ears and eyes and headed into the range. Every lane was full of men shooting loud guns in rapid speed at very small targets. I had chosen a huge pink silhouette as my target.
I first tried out the gun I've had my eye on since I started this odyssey, the Sig Sauer 229 in 9mm (see photo above). I'd shot my editor's 226 before, but it was hard to control. The store had the new E2 version which has a slimmer grip. I shot fairly well and definitely had more control than the larger one. (Click here to watch a short video of me shooting it.) I liked the way it looked too. But mostly, I like the Sig because it's one of the guns that the SEALS used to kill Osama bin Laden.
Next I tried the Smith and Wesson M&P9c in 9mm. I liked this gun except the grip was short. I feel more in control with one that the grip is longer than my hands. We went back and found an extended grip model and that shot much better.
I also tried the Kahr K9 which was the coolest looking (see photo at top), but had a very heavy recoil. I got through about seven bullets and knew that this wasn't the one for me. Then I tried the Springfield XD(M) 3.8 in 9mm and found I had great control and accuracy with it. I liked the way it felt in my hand, and it looked like a cool gun. The XD(M) would definitely be a top contender too.
Then I tried a Beretta Px4 Storm (see photo at bottom), which was a heavier gun. The weight helped me with accuracy, but was more difficult to keep control during kickback. I liked the way it looked a lot, plus the name sounds like a spy movie gun.
As I was winding down, having tried every 9mm available for rent, my editor came to the lane with the biggest revolver that I've ever seen in my life. "You've GOT to be kidding me," I said, looking at a Taurus Raging Bull pistol that was longer than my thigh.
"Nope, you're going to shoot this next," he said. "I'll go first to warm it up." He put five .454 Casull bullets into the the cylinder. He held it up and went BAM BAM BAM. I couldn't help but jump every time he shot.
"You're next, but you only get one bullet," he said. "I want to be sure you don't throw it."
I looked behind the glass into the range and saw Mr. Collins and two other employees smiling and pointing at me holding this massive pistol. I thought, "I'll be darned if I'm going to let these men see me intimidated."
So I picked up the loaded revolver and could barely hold it up from the weight in the long barrel.
I focused on the front sight, kept still and pulled the trigger. BOOM. I looked up and saw a hole right in the bulls-eye. I looked back to see four very surprised men.
"I want five of those bullets now, thank you," I said. I shot them all and tried not to flinch.
At the end, I saw that this big gun gave me my best grouping of the day, all within the X and the 9 ring. (See photo of the dark blue target above. The 7 wasn't mine!) I wouldn't ever buy this gun for protection, but it was confidence-building to know I can fire something that powerful and keep control.
So I've narrowed down to a few choices. Starting on Monday, we're going to have a poll in this space so readers can help me make my final selection.
Up next in the series: Which Gun Should Emily Buy?
**************************************************
16. Bedford shooting range gets final approval
**************************************************
D. Torres emailed me this:
--
From The News & Advance: http://tinyurl.com/7p2ggeo
By Justin Faulconer
December 12, 2011
After more than a year of regulatory scrutiny, a Forest man now has the go ahead from Bedford County to fire away once again on his shooting range.
The board of supervisors on Monday voted 5-0, with members Annie Pollard and Gary Lowry absent, to approve a special use permit for Tim Hooper to resume operations at the facility on Thomas Jefferson Road next to New London Academy.
The decision came two weeks after the board agreed to rezone 21 acres of his property near U.S. 460 to an agricultural preserve designation, which allows shooting ranges as a use.
The supervisors' final ruling went against the recommendation of the planning commission to deny the permit based on concerns of its proximity to the elementary school and nearby property owners.
"It's been a long, drawn out, worrisome experience," Hooper said after the permit was granted. He added he is pleased with the outcome.
The range has been in operation since the early 1980s but was halted last year after the county received an anonymous complaint. After an investigation, Hooper was informed the range violated the zoning ordinance because shooting ranges were not allowed under the land's previous zoning designation.
The board's approval Monday came with little discussion as members agreed to not make require that shooting not occur on Sundays as county staff had recommended.
The approval did come with more than a dozen conditions, which Hooper said he would honor "with pleasure," including a prohibition on alcohol use and requiring the presence of a certified instructor during all shooting events.
The range is geared toward providing tactical firearms training for law enforcement and private citizens by appointments. Hooper said it would operate March through November. Hundreds have been waiting for the range to reopen with the county's clearance.
"Fourteen months, we've been on hold," he said.
The shooting occurs below grade, the property is wooded to mitigate noise and all firing takes place away from the school, he said.
"We're going to operate it as safe as possible," he said.
Supervisor Roger Cheek, who represents the district where the range is located, said he received more feedback in favor of rather than against the range. He said since it was there prior to zoning, it should have been "grandfathered."
"I couldn't shut him down," Cheek said. "If I thought it (the range) was dangerous, I wouldn't approve it."
**************************************************
17. RTD LTE: Libyans are no safer today
**************************************************
Robert Spangler emailed me this:
--
From Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/c3vqsjh
December 12, 2011
Libyans are no safer today
Editor, Times-Dispatch:
It seems that the people of Libya have thrown off a vicious dictator only to be confronted immediately with rulers who would disarm them.
Freedom cannot be had with a government that does not trust it's citizens with the means to defend themselves. Safety also does not lie down that path. Thomas Jefferson clearly spoke these truths.
Robert Spangler.
Richmond.
**************************************************
18. Handgunlaw.us: Update to Wisconsin and VA permit reciprocity
**************************************************
Gary Slider pointed out that Wisconsin will not honor a VA Resident CHP, only the non-resdent CHP. We are checking into that weird situation.
From www.handgunlaw.us: http://tinyurl.com/2f9pffz
**************************************************
19. They've been mistreated and misunderstood for generations!
**************************************************
This will tug at your heartstrings. Won't you give one a home - especially a loving home - at the holidays?
From Youtube: http://tinyurl.com/7vfuoys
**************************************************
20. Funny video: Banjo needs a job
**************************************************
Member Don Litton put this together. After I wiped the tears from my eyes, I realized that some of you might want a good laugh, too!
This satirical video pokes some good humored fun at the new Senate *Minority* Leader, Dick Saslaw. "Banjo Dick" was overheard at Lobby Day several years ago deriding the massive number of gun owners there to meet with their legislators as "the cast of Deliverance." The video also takes some liberties with the anti-gun lobby in Virginia (small as it is).
Fair use is claimed.
Enjoy! ;-)
From Vimeo.com: http://tinyurl.com/c7djehm
-------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
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/]
***************************************************************************
IMPORTANT: It is our intention to honor all "remove" requests promptly.
To unsubscribe from this list, or change the email address where you
receive messages, please go to:
https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=15843530&id_secret=15843530-842dc303 [https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=15843530&id_secret=15843530-842dc303]
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=15843530&id_secret=15843530-842dc303
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com