Posted on 04/27/2010 5:02:38 AM PDT by marktwain
Philip Van Cleave wants every Virginian who has a permit to carry a concealed handgun into a bar to be able to have a drink - or he wants no gun carrier to be able to drink.
That's the choice that Van Cleave, the leader of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League, wants to offer state lawmakers next year when the General Assembly reconvenes.
He said he is going to find a legislator to submit two bills to the body representing both positions.
His aim is to force lawmakers to expand the rights of concealed-handgun owners in bars or rescind the current exception that allows law-enforcement officers and commonwealth's attorneys to carry concealed weapons and consume alcohol.
"We're not allowed to drink, but they can," Van Cleave said. "That's two classes of citizens."
The proposal comes just days after Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, signed into law a bill repealing the state's long-standing ban on holders of concealed-weapons permits carrying hidden guns into restaurants that serve alcohol. Permit holders will be allowed to enter with a firearm as long as they do not drink alcohol.
The law, which takes effect July 1, was a significant victory for the state's gun owners and the defense league, which had worked for 13 years on the issue.
"We've been fighting to get our rights back," Van Cleave told a gathering last Monday at the Second Amendment March in Washington.
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.timesdispatch.com ...
“rescind the current exception that allows law-enforcement officers and commonwealth’s attorneys to carry concealed weapons and consume alcohol”
I vote for rescinding the exception. And I belong to the VCDL. We all know that guns and alcohol do NOT mix; I don’t care who you are.
Agreed.
From a purely political tactics perspective, mixing guns and alcohol is a loser for 2d amendment advocates.
The reality is that alcohol is the #1 correlation with gun problems ... and the #1 negative experience most people have with those with a gun.
Of course, alcohol is also the #1 correlation with knife fights and fist fights and domestic violence and swimming and boating incidents and snowmobile incidents and car crashes and falling down the stairs and similar accidents in the home.
We all know no such thing. All legally armed citizens that are not teetotalers have guns and alcohol in their homes and, most likely drink. I drink as I will with a gun on my hip.
Please carefully speak only for your self.
As to your membership, pffft; the conspiracy of ignorance masquerades as common sense.
So, once again it will be safe to hold up your local saloon and rob the patrons. < /thugthought >
I see a distinction between having a couple of beers or glasses of wine in a restaurant and carrying and heavily drinking in a bar.
I fail to see your zero-tolerance argument. So I choose to have ONE beer with my dinner and now I'm either a criminal, or unable to defend myself?
It's another one of the "blood in the streets" BS argument we hear over and over. Look to the numerous other states with NO prohibition on consuming alcohol and possessing firearms, such as Pennsylvania (or even New York, though there is a bill in the legislature).
We all know that gunowners are the most responsible civilians around. If you can't trust them to make responsible decisions about how much is too much when carrying, then why 'allow' them the right at all under your tyrannical state?
So do I, and I wish to leave it up to the responsibility of the firearm owner to make that decision. So far, in the states where consuming alcohol doesn't preclude you from your 2nd Amendment right, we haven't had problems.
Even one beer slows your reaction time and reduces your accuracy.
And? Thus, we should revoke your right to carry after that one beer?
Let us not forget that most crimes where the victim has a gun are stopped without firing a shot.
That will work just fine for the carriers who nice law abiding citizens...not so much for the Kooks among us who can’t hold their alcohol!!!
Even one beer slows your reaction time and reduces your accuracy.
Guns and Alcohol don’t mix saying that are Cops allowed to drink after work knowing they carry a backup gun just curious?
Make your point.
Blood in the streets. I see it all the time in Pennsylvania, where there is no law forbidding carrying a firearm (openly or concealed) after consuming alcohol.
Wait, I've never seen it here in Pennsylvania.
Even one beer slows your reaction time and reduces your accuracy.
I do not know what’s worse.....people like Bloomberg serving up prevarications, or gun owners falling for them.
Sickens me every time.
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