Reinke Faces Life

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Aftermath Of Tragedy: GOA Defending Freedom

Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://www.gunowners.org/ordergoamem.htm

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Our hearts and prayers truly go out to all of those affected by Cho Seung-Hui’s evil actions. But not even senseless, brutal murder justifies taking away the God-given rights of the law-abiding.

It is also worthwhile to note that Virginia Tech is — because of deliberate policies set by its administration — a victim disarmament zone, where even those with a state-issued concealed carry permit are denied their right of self-defense.

In fact, pro-gun forces just last year tried to get the Virginia legislature to address the problem. The bill to allow permit holders to carry on state-supported college campuses died, due in no small part to rabid opposition from Virginia Tech itself.

VT spokesman Larry Hincker put it this way after it became obvious that the bill would not pass: “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students, faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”

The unfortunate irony continues when one recalls that not long ago, two students at nearby Appalachian School of Law managed to stop a gunman at that institution. Happily, they were able to dash off-campus to retrieve their guns from their vehicles.

Four GOA spokesmen (one based in downtown D.C. and three at our Springfield, VA office just outside the Beltway) are working non-stop
— doing literally interview after interview — making certain that the above points reach the public.

GOA has appeared on Fox News, ABC, CNN, BBC — lots of alphabet soup networks — as well as countless talk shows like Michael Reagan and Lars Larson. GOA spokesmen have been heard in every major radio market around the country and have done interviews with large print media outlets, such as the Associated Press and U.S. News & World Report.

The overall message that GOA is delivering is that gun prohibitions are part of the problem, not the solution.

We can expect some forms of new gun control to be pushed in the U.S.
Congress. The Democrats control Congress, but more importantly, anti-gun politicians control the Democrat party. If House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — certainly no friend of gun owners — gives free rein to virulently anti-gun House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), literally anything can make it to the floor of the full House.

Conyers’ counterpart in the Senate is Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT), whose GOA rating of “F” is well-deserved. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has also earned an F. Gun owners will have to be especially vigilant in the coming weeks to block any new attempts to infringe upon the Second Amendment.

And whereas the predictable media stampede to give voice to the possibility of such new gun control is certainly there, it does not seem to have the same “this simply must happen now” tone that it did after the Columbine tragedy in 1999. Indeed, the idea of firearms for self-defense in schools is gaining serious traction. Which should not be all that surprising, given a Research 2000 poll which showed that 85% of Americans find it appropriate for a principal or teacher to use “a gun at school to defend the lives of students” in stopping a massacre.

ACTION: For now, stay tuned for future alerts. (If any anti-gun bills start moving on Capitol Hill, GOA will be counting on you to contact your legislators in record numbers.) And pray for all of those whose loved ones were injured or killed at Virginia Tech.

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To subscribe to free, low-volume GOA alerts, go to http://www.gunowners.org/ean.htm on the web. Change of e-mail address may also be made at that location.

Problems, questions or comments? The main GOA e-mail address goamail@gunowners.org is at your disposal. Please do not add that address to distribution lists sending more than ten messages per week or lists associated with issues other than gun rights.

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https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?
blogID=31420020&postID=4072669776502897780

http://tinyurl.com/yvrxgy

Is it right to bear arms?
from Jonathan in NYC by Jonathan Morales

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CNN”s Jim Cafferty was just speaking to Wolf Blitzer about the Virginia Tech shooting. He said that he’s noticed that this seems to be a genuinely American phenomenon (mass shootings) and can’t recall many times it is happened in other countries. He then said he couldn’t figure out what that was.

Really, Jim? Maybe it’s because we’re one of the only Western countries to still allow ordinary citizens to carry weapons, and the NRA and Republicans continue to block any legislation to prevent semi-automatic and automatic weapons from being obtained by people who plan to go out and kill 32 people in one morning.

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Well, of course, I had to put my two cents in.

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Perhaps you might wonder why no one on the VT campus had an appropriate tool to stop the situation. I know it is easy to blame the tool. Shooter has his; victims didn’t. And, we all wish that peace and happiness would reign. But, it’s a dangerous world out there and wishing it wasn’t won’t make it so. The dead old white guys recognized the RIGHT of every individual to defend themselves. Except the VT-ers wanted to live in a fairy tale land. One of their admins the year before vigorously opposed recognizing that right on the VT campus. He won. And this is the result. Anyone interviewing him today? One concealed carry permit holder — a student, a faculty member, a custodian — could have probably ended this in seconds. One shooter can’t watch all 31 people simultaneously. It’s a tragedy. But, not unexpected. And, unfortunately not the last.

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I didn’t pick up on the tired old “automatic” weapon argument. Automatic weapons are for the most part effectively outlawed. Besides which they are what I call “movie weapons”. They come from the misimpression fostered by the movies that you “spray and pray”.

I’d suggest that you have to be more afraid of someone with a long gun than a pistol. Most people can’t hit what they aim at with a pistol unless they are practiced marksmen. The joke around the range is “if you can’t spit on it, then most can’t hit it”. Look at the infamous police shootings 50 shots to get one or two hits.

You have an ABSOLUTE right to your life. That translates to an absolute right to defend yourself.

The police are nice long after the action. They are for the most part report writers, traffic directors, and on rare occasions actual catch a bad guy.

No fault of theirs. They can possibly be at the scene unless there is an incredible coincidence.

Each of us has to defend each other. An armed society is a polite society. We all have to be allowed to have our “pocket knives”. If we choose to pack “heat”. Sprinkle a few Conceal Carry Permits around on that campus and you would have had a completely different outcome. Even a madman, who wants to “get” certain people, has to fear that some non-descript girl or janitor or teacher or nerd will prevent it.

When will we wake up to life as it is. Not as we want it to be.

http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt

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As has been reported elsewhere,http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/rip/index.html the NFRTR has been in deplorable condition for some time. Many registration documents have been lost by ATFE, and some were even willfully destroyed by ATFE contract employees in a well documented case. Furthermore, the electronic database that serves as the authoritative Registry is known to have serious flaws and inconsistencies. Due to various political and financial issues, the ATFE has been slow to rectify these problems with the NFRTR (although the pace seems to have picked up since a recent wholesale relocation and restaffing of the NFA Branch). Thomas Busey, who was the Chief of the NFA Branch for a period in the 1990s, admitted in a videotaped training session in 1995 that the NFRTR had a 49-50% error rate. Mr. Busey also stated in this session, “Let me say when we testify in court, we testify that the data base is 100 percent accurate. That’s what we testify to, and we will always testify to that. As you probably well know, that may not be 100 percent true.”

In a 1998 letter to Chairman Dan Burton of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/wbardwel/public/nfalist/rip/leasure_letter_re_nfa_destruction.txt pursuant to a conviction based on flawed NFRTR information, David Montague, an attorney for the defendant (whose convictions were previously overturned) wrote: “To make matters worse, Mr. Busey was summarily fired and the transcript of his remarks hushed up. His remarks did not become known to the world until obtained on an FOIA request from attorney James Jeffries, III, of Greensboro, N.C.”

Given the steep penalties for mere possession of an unregistered firearm regulated under the NFA (minimum sentence: up to 10 years’ imprisonment and/or a fine of $10,000 for each violation), there is a high RISK to lawful transferees associated with the poor condition of the NFRTR brought about by neglect and/or willful violation of the law by the government agency charged with upholding this law.

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Did I read this correctly? Did the fellow just admit that the BATF routinely commits perjury in ALL trials of gun law violations? That’s going some even for the Gooferment.

>Subject: VA-ALERT: Not mad enough about VT? Read this!
>
> From January 31, 2006:
>
>”House Bill 1572 didn’t get through the House Committee on Militia,
>Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage,
>the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.
>
>…
>
>Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was
>defeated. “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the
>General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students,
>faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”
>
>–
>
>Well, Mr. Hincker – are you still happy? Militia, Police, and Public
>Safety Committee – still think you did the right thing?
>
>–
>
>http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/wb/xp-50658
>
>Gun bill gets shot down by panel
>HB 1572, which would have allowed handguns on college campuses, died
>in subcommittee.
>
>By Greg Esposito
> 381-1675
>
>A bill that would have given college students and employees the right
>to carry handguns on campus died with nary a shot being fired in the
>General Assembly.
>
>House Bill 1572 didn’t get through the House Committee on Militia,
>Police and Public Safety. It died Monday in the subcommittee stage,
>the first of several hurdles bills must overcome before becoming laws.
>
>The bill was proposed by Del. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah County, on
>behalf of the Virginia Citizens Defense League. Gilbert was
>unavailable Monday and spokesman Gary Frink would not comment on the
>bill’s defeat other than to say the issue was dead for this General
>Assembly session.
>
>Virginia Tech spokesman Larry Hincker was happy to hear the bill was
>defeated. “I’m sure the university community is appreciative of the
>General Assembly’s actions because this will help parents, students,
>faculty and visitors feel safe on our campus.”
>
>Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, would not comment Monday because
>he was not part of the subcommittee that discussed the bill.
>
>Most universities in Virginia require students and employees, other
>than police, to check their guns with police or campus security upon
>entering campus. The legislation was designed to prohibit public
>universities from making “rules or regulations limiting or abridging
>the ability of a student who possesses a valid concealed handgun
>permit … from lawfully carrying a concealed handgun.”
>
>The legislation allowed for exceptions for participants in athletic
>events, storage of guns in residence halls and military training
>programs.
>
>Last spring a Virginia Tech student was disciplined for bringing a
>handgun to class, despite having a concealed handgun permit. Some gun
>owners questioned the university’s authority, while the Virginia
>Association of Chiefs of Police came out against the presence of guns
>on campus.
>
>In June, Tech’s governing board approved a violence prevention policy
>reiterating its ban on students or employees carrying guns and
>prohibiting visitors from bringing them into campus facilities.
>
>***************************************************************************
>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 membership considers the
>Right to Keep and Bear Arms to be an essential human right.
>
> VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org
>***************************************************************************