Get your Second Amendments rights back and then they try to take your first

[whoshisface]

Below are two articles from the VCDL newsletter. Most people know the VCDL is THE local grassroots gunrights group. If you are not a member I suggest you sign up.

These articles are relevant to pre-emption. Now we've heard from tons of people that pre-emption is limited, IANAL but in my opinion it is not!!! THese articles show what a group can do to stop local municipalities from stomping on our rights...


From the VCDL newsletter...

On Thursday the issue of lawful carry at the Richmond Coliseum was
fixed. The Richmond Coliseum receive communications from VCDL members
earlier in the week saying that they were not going to obey the
Coliseum's unlawful gun ban.

The Coliseum staff quickly met with their lawyers and were told that
the Coliseum could not prohibit the otherwise lawful carry of firearms.

The Coliseum's new VCDL-influenced policy on firearms, which finally
puts them in compliance with state preemption law, was briefed to
their security staff.

A few VCDL members started carrying on Thursday, both openly and
concealed, without incident.

No eyes were batted, nor questions asked. Just freedom moving in an
unfettered manner.

I have never seen such an ocean of "Gun Save Lives" stickers as I did
at the Coliseum on Friday and Saturday! In fact, by counting the
stickers we have left, we believe we distributed well over 4,000!!!
Rather than VCDL asking people to wear the stickers, WE were sought
out and asked for them. People would ask for a strip of stickers to
hand out to the people sitting around them because they were being
asked as to where they got the cool sticker. ;-)

It was really great to be around so many like-minded individuals this
weekend. And there was no way for the speakers at the convention to
miss that mass of orange stickers stretching from wall to wall.

We would like to thank Kirby Burch and the CSA-PAC (Commonwealth
Sportsmens Alliance Political Action Committee) for letting the VCDL-
PAC share their table.

Victory is sweet - here is the Coliseum's NEW policy on guns:

http://www.richmondcoliseum.net/visitor_policies.asp

Weapons
NOTICE: The Richmond Coliseum's policy against bringing weapons into
the building or arena shall not otherwise prohibit the lawful carrying
of a handgun or other firearms or the lawful carrying of a concealed
handgun with a valid permit issued pursuant to Virginia Code Section
18.2-308. The Richmond Coliseum reserves the right to search any
person (including any belongings) prior to entry and while on the
Coliseum's premises and to temporarily stop any person carrying a
concealed handgun for the purpose of allowing a law-enforcement
officer to examine the person's concealed handgun permit and necessary
photo ID. We appreciate your cooperation as we try to maintain a safe
and comfortable environment for our employees, guests and performers.

Good job, VCDL!

************************************************** *******
1. Richmond Coliseum Bans VCDL Stickers!
************************************************** *******

Last night talk show host Glenn Beck was at the Richmond Coliseum.
Many VCDL members were in attendance. (Dennis O'Connor, Bruce
Jackson, and I were at the VCDL picnic and couldn't attend.)

The good news is that there were NO problems with law-abiding gun
owners carrying their handguns to the show. Handguns were carried
concealed and openly.

VCDL members Dale Welch and Paul Henick handed out **851** VCDL "Guns
Save Lives" stickers outside the Coliseum and sent me detailed reports
of what followed.

Like heat-seeking missiles, attendees were finding Dale and Paul to
get one of those stickers and were proudly putting them on.

The bad news is that the message on those stickers got the attention
of the Coliseum staff, who, with the Richmond Police in tow, came out
to confront Dale and Paul. They created a new rule out of whole cloth
that said stickers were not allowed in the Coliseum.

In the end, the Richmond PD and the Coliseum staff gave up because
every attempt to intimidate Dale and Paul failed, as both were legally
on public property and exercising their First Amendment rights. AND,
people WANTED those stickers.

Unable to get Dale and Paul to cave in, the Coliseum staff decided to
go after easier prey. They told people trying to get in that they
would not be allowed entrance unless they got rid of those stickers!!!

Many complied and went in, not sure if the Coliseum could indeed block
their entry legally.

Dale estimates about 1 in 10 of those with stickers took them off.
The rest had either gone in earlier or had simply ignored the demands
to take the stickers off. (Good for them!)

Interestingly, another group, "We Surround Them, Richmond" handed out
their literature without a single problem from staff or the police.

Gun owners targeted for special treatment? Gee-Whiz, I'm shocked!

How very, very foolish of the Richmond Coliseum management. They have
just stirred up a hornet's nest. If they had just left Paul and Dale
alone, people would have enjoyed Glenn Beck (who is a strong Second
Amendment supporter) and that would have been the end of it.

But they have angered lots of attendees, who did not want to give up
their stickers and they have angered VCDL.

When I told VCDL Board member Dennis O'Connor about the incident, his
reaction was, "How DARE they do THAT!? Would they have done that if
those had been Obama stickers instead of 'Guns Save Lives?'"

I think we know the answer to that, of course.

I plan on contacting Glenn Beck and let him know what transpired.

For those wanting more details, here are Paul and Dale's reports.
Hats off to both of them:

--

Paul's report:

While we were not actually mobbed by people wanting stickers, they
were hunting us down and looking for the stickers. When you see
someone from about 20 yards out zeroing in on you with a determined
look in their eyes, it is wonderful to see they are smiling at you.
From about 6:30 PM till maybe 7:40 PM we could not give out stickers
fast enough.

The RPD presence consisted of about 3 officers each on the 5th & 7th
Street sides, and maybe another 3 or 4 inside the front entrance
area. I could not see if there were any others inside or at the Leigh
Street side. There were no fleets of squadcars and motorcycles like
at the RPV Convention. I got a few pictures before my camera
batteries went dead on me.

The fun actually started about 6:45 PM when a few folks in white
shirts from SMG Inc. came out and tried to tell me I could not pass
out stickers. After asking if they were saying I could not exercise
my First Amendment right to political speech on public property, and
getting them to stop trying to tell me the Coliseum was "private
property" and the public park was "over there past the steps," they
tried the tactic of telling me I could not pass out stickers because
the people might bring them inside, take them off, and leave them on
the seats or floor or walls. These white-shirted individuals, along
with some SMG Inc. folks in blue polos, would not answer me when I
asked if they were going to hold me responsible for what other people
did with the stickers. The final attempt on their part was to say I
could not pass out stickers because the stickers would not be allowed
inside the Coliseum. I asked if they were saying I was bringing
stickers inside the Coliseum, but they refused to answer and brought
the Richmond Police Dept. into the conversation.

The cops told me that the "Coliseum people" did not want me passing
out stickers. I asked if I was being told to leave public property,
and if so under what authority I was being told to leave. That got
the cops all confused, so they repeated that the "Coliseum people" did
not want stickers passed out. I asked the cops (a female corporal
with a rocker and a male patrolman) if they were telling me I could
not exercise my First Amendment right to political speech on public
property. The response was that they really did not know what the law
was but that the "Coliseum people" did not want stickers passed out.
We went round and round till a Captain was called over, who after
getting nowhere with me suggested that I pass out stickers with the
backing still on. I told the Captain that I feared I might then be
accused of littering if the people who took the stickers dropped the
backing paper on the ground, just as I was told by SMG Inc. folks I
was considered responsible if people went inside with stickers and
then took them off and stuck them to the seats or floors or walls.

The Richmond Police contingent (Captain, corporal, patrolman) seemed
to give up at about that point as I was not going to let them direct
the conversation and they seemed fresh out of ideas of how to get me
to stop passing out stickers.

One of the blue polo shirts from SMG Inc. then came over and asked if
he could talk with me "over there [some distance from the crowd]."
When I asked him if there was something that prevented him from
talking with me "over here [where I was passing out stickers]" he
threw up his hands and walked away.

While all this was going on Dale & Diane were passing out stickers
like gangbusters.

Dale got a chance to see some of the SMG Inc. and Coliseum staff
searching purses for contraband, He also talked with some of the
Coliseum staff that we had met last weekend at the RPV Convention. It
seems that as long as they did not have to deal with me they were fine
talking with Dale. If only they knew the Mutt & Jeff routine being
played on them!

SMG Inc. did force people to take off the stickers and put them in a
trash can before they entered. Even from where I was outside the
entrance I could hear folks telling the SMG Inc. employees what they
thought of the rule, and a few asking where it was posted that people
could not come in wearing stickers, or why stickers were being
disallowed wholesale instead of dealing with the few who might litter.

In spite of the short time folks were allowed to keep their stickers
on, it seems that the expense of printing up the stickers was well
worth it. People had heard us talking with the SMG Inc. employees and
RPD about the Coliseum being public property, and some seemed
downright upset at the pettiness of the no-sticker rule. Others
carried that past the no-sticker issue to petty tyranny of public
officials in general. (It's great when PO'd people cluster at the
entrance and talk in loud voices before actually going inside!)

--

Dale's report:

Paul, Diane and I met up at 6:30 PM to pass out GSL stickers.

WOW - what a warm, enthusiastic reception we got! 851 orange stickers
were passed out to people who literally mobbed us at times [PVC: Dale
knows the amount passed out because I had given him a new roll, which
has exactly 1,000 stickers on it] - they stood 4 and 5 deep, young,
old, in patriotic tee shirts and suits, women and couples. They
thanked us for being there and promoting the cause. You could
literally feel the strong, positive vibes.

Were there any problems? Let us say that the Coliseum management and
Richmond PD tried to intimidate and drive us away. First, we were
told we could not be distributing those (GSL stickers) on the property
and would have to leave. Wrong answer said we - it is city owned/
public property.

LEOs called over headed up by a Captain. Preemption, public ownership
explained. Noted several of the officers were from the RPV convention
group. Much discussion but no willingness on Richmond PD's part to
persue actually ordering us to leave or arresting us.

A Mgt. supervisor attempted to stop us from taking pictures - put his
hand in front of my cell camera & said he would sue us if we took his
picture. We continued taking pictures.

We were then told that we could not pass the stickers out at all as
they did not want them stuck to the seats and walls. Paul replied
that what the patrons did with them was their (patrons) business - we
were only exercising our 1st Amendment rights.

The Mgt. and Richmond PD backed off and huddled - then disappeared.
They then made the announcement that the stickers would not be
permitted inside & would have to be put in trash cans before the
patrons could enter. Best guess is that happened to maybe 10% of the
people - the rest went in with them. Those that were "required" to
remove them, were incensed and upset. You can't buy this type of
positive reinforcement - compliments of the Coliseum management.

At no time was there any question or issue with legal carry of guns -
the 3 of us were OCing and I know from conversations that a number of
patrons were CCing - they had read or heard of the policy change.

I witnessed a number of IMO illegal pat down searches by event staff.

IMHO - what they (Mgt. staff) were trying to stop was any promotion/
information regarding the legal carry of guns in the Coliseum by
attempting to restrict the peoples rights under the 1st Amendment.
The "trash" created by the stickers was the excuse tonight - this in
spite of the volume of stickers passed out by delegates at the RPV
convention. Where is the difference? OK for them but not for us.

All in all a great (beyond expectations) night + no one detained or
arrested for legal activities.

Dinner at the 3rd Street Diner afterwards was a mini repeat
performance - Diane educated the manager of the legality of OC
utilizing VCDL info card and we had a group discussion with patrons
and staff (five of them) at our table about gun laws, VCDL and 1st &
2nd Amend issues - very positive and exciting night.

[Shawn.L]

Below are two articles from the VCDL newsletter. Most people know the VCDL is THE local grassroots gunrights group. If you are not a member I suggest you sign up.

These articles are relevant to pre-emption. Now we've heard from tons of people that pre-emption is limited, IANAL but in my opinion it is not!!! THese articles show what a group can do to stop local municipalities from stomping on our rights...
.

for those that do not know the V in VCDL is for Virginia

so yes, they are THE grassroots org, in VA

here in PA we have FOAC
http://www.foac-pac.org/

I am not sure how VA's preemption laws work, but we have a lot of violators and work to do here in PA.

[JayBell]

is this run by that jackass that came here and flat out told folks that unless they OC all the time, they are not doing their part in keeping our rights alive?