Free Republic

WINCHESTER, Va. - The horrific murder of four Marines and one Navy petty officer in Chattanooga showed the vulnerability of military recruitment centers. They are in public locations, and by law, they are “gun free zones” -- meaning the military that are there are not allowed to carry their weapons. As the country realized the Marines that were killed were unarmed at the recruiting center, people have started showing up to provide security. At 8 a.m. Friday morning, one man decided to spend his day off standing guard outside of a military recruitment center in Winchester, Virginia. He is not...

A student in Virginia Beach says his attempt to start a Second Amendment Club on campus at ECPI University fell flat, leading to heated call for change online. The school says people don’t know the whole story. Right now gun rights websites are supporting Patrick Winslow’s fight to start his club, but the university claims it’s rooted in misinformation. 10 On Your Side got to the bottom of the debate that has so many people up in arms. “I have now taken on an effort to want to educate the students and the faculty on the Constitution, Declaration of Independence,...

None of the political pundits saw this coming - Dave Brat beat Eric Cantor and beat him by a full 11%! Eric Cantor was his own worst enemy in his reelection bid. For years VCDL tried to get Cantor to simply return his VCDL Candidate Survey to give his gun-owning constituents an idea of his future votes on gun-related issues. That is not a time-consuming thing and it would have been a great way for him to communicate his current AND FUTURE support for our right to keep and bear arms to over 26,000 people.n But, no, he refused. I...

I have read through a number of accounts of Lobby Day at the Virginia Capitol at Richmond on 20 January.  I was drawn to study the event because of an account on wvtf public radio.   The account on wvtf said that competing crowds of people were lobbying in favor of second amendment rights and those who wish to restrict those rights, occurred on Tuesday.  I think the reporter simply got the day wrong, because all of the other coverage that I could find indicated the events occurred on Monday, 20 January, 2014. The orientation of the reporter for...

The House of Delegates panel widely known as the graveyard of gun-control bills consigned a slew of them to oblivion Thursday. The Republican-controlled subcommittee of the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee tabled a series of gun-control measures, meaning they are unlikely to be revived. The hours-long session delighted pro-gun forces, arrayed on one side of the room wearing "Guns Save Lives" stickers, and infuriated gun-control advocates on the opposite side wearing "Background Checks Save Lives" stickers. Rejected by the panel were these measures, all proposed by Democrats: -- HB812, to required universal criminal background checks for firearm purchases. --...

Brandon Howard Protest Obama while open carrying his AR15 in VirginiaVirginia Citizens Defense League Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- Let me start with making the following key point:  VCDL is NOT a gun-control organization.  Period.We support the right of gun owners to do whatever they choose as long as they are not breaking the law.Keep that at the forefront of your thoughts as you read on. A TALE OF THREE LOCALITIES VCDL member Brandon Howard recently open carried an AR-15 at three different Tea Party protest events held at different locations and on different days. (The rifle  was strapped on his back...

JAMES CITY – Security is on the minds of James City County employees and others in the wake of an Aug. 5 fatal shooting during a supervisors meeting in a rural Pennsylvania township. Between heated rhetoric and more citizens openly carrying firearms to public meetings, both officials and citizens are pondering the nuances between rhetoric, political statement, intimidation and actual threats. It may also lead to new ways to deliver public comment. In Pennsylvania, a lone shooter who had been involved in a decade-long zoning dispute with the locality struck during a public meeting. According to news reports he killed...

Jeff Knox describes contest for governor between pair on opposite sides of firearms issue Virginia is the only state in the union holding major general elections in 2013. While there are a few special elections for Congress and a handful of mayoral and gubernatorial elections around the country this year – and the important recall elections in Colorado – only Virginia is holding elections for governor, lieutenant governor and all 100 seats in their House of Delegates – the larger part of the oldest legislative body in the Western Hemisphere. Both Republicans and Democrats want to win big in the...

wset.images.worldnow.comFrom: VCDL President SIGNS? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' SIGNS! ER, WELL, OK, MAYBE WE DO On Wednesday I surveyed VCDL's inventory of signs from previous events, but found that I didn't have any applicable signs here in Richmond for the Bloomberg Tyranny Tour (BTT). I got in my car and began my drive up to Roanoke for my talk at the Roanoke City Republican Committee meeting. On the ride up I called EM John Wilburn in Blacksburg to ask him if he could help me with signs for Friday. John jumped into action with member Sheila Rigney and they...

Virginia --(Ammoland.com)- This VGOC action alert contains: 1. An urgent call to Action to Stop Gun Ban Governor Bob McDonnell’s last minute legislative plan to sneak new gun bans past gun owners. Please use the message below to call the Governor as soon as possible. 2. A cut, copy and paste email to be sent to key legislators who can stop Bob McDonnell’s SB 1377 and SB 1378. Both bills are designed to entrap and severely punish innocent, unsuspecting gun owners in brand new gun crime traps. 3. An urgent request for a donation to your VGOC to help fund...

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- The Senate Courts of Justice committee this week killed or neutralized all but one anti-gun bill. The one bad bill that passed out of committee initially, did so because Senator Edwards was away from the General Assembly due to weather and normally pro-gun Senator Stanley voted to support the bill. :-( Senator Marsh’s “gun show loophole” bill was heavily modified and ended up requiring that only gun dealers could sell guns at a gun show. After the meeting Senator Stanley indicated that he had misunderstood the full ramifications of the modified bill. The committee reconvened on the...

From: VCDL President [mailto:president@vcdl.org] Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2013 1:41 AM To: xxxxxxxx Subject: VA-ALERT: IMPORTANT: Gun bills moving on Thursday! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MARK YOUR CALENDARS Some important pro-gun and anti-gun bills are being heard in subcommittee THURSDAY, January 17th at 5 PM! The most important pro-gun bill of the session (Delegate Marshall's bill to allow teachers and others to be armed - HB 1557) will be heard, as will some anti-gun bills. Let's get a big turnout to support...

Many of you may remember Richmond talk show host, Doc Thompson. He currently has a radio show in Michigan. Much like me, he gets some "inside" information from time-to-time. He has received a communication between a friend and someone in the Republican Party leadership. That communication is troubling as it says the congressional Republicans are seriously considering selling out gun owners to "seem reasonable." They are considering a magazine ban, changes to background checks, and more. Here is a link to the email with redactions to protect the sources: http://tinyurl.com/a4xf33x URGENT ACTION ITEM We need to contact ALL of our...

We need to contact our Senators and Congressmen NOW and tell them that we do not want ANY more gun control! No ifs, ands, or buts. We don't know what the NRA is going to do and we don't want to gamble on it. DO THIS NOW! Understand this: any vote in support of gun control, including bans on guns and magazines, whether the bill passes or fails, will be a vote that VCDL and its members will NOT forget and NOT forgive at election time. This is Virginia, the Cradle of Liberty, and we will NOT accept our rights...

VCDL IS PREPARING FOR ALL OUT CAMPAIGN TO PROTECT OUR RIGHTS AND TO PROTECT SCHOOLS VCDL's thoughts & prayers are with the families, friends, and all who were affected by the atrocity committed at the Sandy Hook Elementary School by a criminal monster on Friday. Words cannot adequately express our deepest sympathy to the victims and the revulsion we feel for the vile act of a lunatic. Although some gun organizations have dropped off the radar screen, VCDL has been active and on the offensive - from newspapers to television, from local news to national shows. From the Washington Post...

Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- Wednesday Sept 19th, the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors had a hearing on fixing a poorly-worded ordinance which confused some Chesterfield police officers into unlawfully kicking a gun owner out of a Chesterfield park. Here is the old wording: “Sec. 14-11 (B) No person shall transport, possess or carry a loaded firearm within 100 yards of any property line of any county public school or county park, except as otherwise permitted by state law.” The County Attorney recommended this change: “Sec. 14-11 (B) No HUNTER shall transport, possess or carry a loaded firearm within 100 yards of any...

THE ISSUE (from Philip Van Cleave) As I reported a few days ago, the Richmond City libraries had a policy on their web site claiming that all concealed weapons were illegal under state law. (That, of course, has never been true.) Upon contacting the person in charge, I was told the policy on the web was wrong and had mistakenly not been updated to match their current policy. She said they were going to fix the wording. I explained that the entire item about guns should simply be removed, since the library has absolutely no control over whether a person...

On Saturday last, VCDL held a picnic in Green Hill Park in Salem, VA. The event, billed as the “Oh yes we can!” picnic garnered quite a bit of media attention. The picnic, which was attended by over 150 people despite the at-times torrential rain, was held to protest a badly worded Roanoke County ordinance concerning guns in parks. The ordinance which I wrote about when it was first brought to my attention by well known gun rights activists Ed Levine and Brian Reynolds is the most convoluted ordinance I have ever read, including I might add those we studied...

They say it makes it seem that carrying a firearm in county parks is illegal, even though it's not. That's why they organized a protest and picnic today at Green Hill Park in Salem. It's all about semantics. Members of the pro-gun group say they want to make sure their 2nd amendment rights are protected. The Virginia Citizens Defense League says the purpose of this protest is to bring awareness to an issue they feel is extremely important. This ordinance isn't a new one. It's been on the books for quite some time. The county issued a statement. It says:...

Once again, the Virginia Citizens Defense League has delivered for Virginia gun owners. Thanks to the tireless efforts of VCDL activists, the 2012 Legislative Session was even more of a rousing success than the 2011 Session. Not only was every single anti-gun bill opposed by VCDL defeated but the session ended with almost a dozen VCDL supported bills passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor McDonnell. These important changes will take effect on July 1st … Better Protection For Gun Owners During Declared Emergencies I have written before about the dangers of emergency declarations stripping citizens of their right...