VCDL and members address Norfolk City Council

Fourteen VCDL members showed up an the Norfolk City Council meeting
tonight.  There was a much stronger than usual police presence
according to one of our members who has attended other meetings
there.  However the police behaved professionally and politely.  And,
as always, so did VCDL and its members.

Most of us had handguns, most concealed, but several openly carried.
Open carriers showed their drivers licenses for ID and concealed
showed their permits and drivers licenses.  It all went smoothly and
cordially and was over quickly without any problems.  Most of us sat
together near the front of the room in a couple of rows reserved for
us by the police.

The Virginia Pilot had a reporter there who interviewed me and other
members before and after the meeting.  I imagine that her article
will be in today's (Wednesday) paper.  I am writing this at midnight
while it is still fresh in my mind, but I will check the paper later
in the morning.  If anyone finds the article, or any other article on
this first, please forward a link to me.

There were a few speakers before VCDL talking on non-gun-related
issues.  I was the first of four VCDL members to speak.

First I handed a written statement to the members of City Council
outlining VCDL's position and all of my correspondence with the
Norfolk City Attorney's Office.  That way if I ran out of time, I
would still have delivered my message.

I told Norfolk that I had been trying for many, many months to get a
straight answer from the Norfolk City Attorney's Office about the
SCOPE, parks, and city lakes gun bans and still had never gotten an
answer from them to date.  I said that they were by far the most
arrogant and unresponsive Attorney's Office I had ever run into.

With the City Attorney, Mr. Pishko sitting a few feet away, I played
a tape of him calling to intimidate me so that City Council would
have an idea of the problems I have had with his office.

Here is a transcription of what was played for City Council tonight:

"Hi, Mr. Van Cleave.  My name is Bernard Pishko.  I am the City
Attorney for Norfolk.  I just received a writing today where you were
quoted as saying that you have tried to reach my office and nobody
returns your calls and that the City Attorney could care less.  That
is 100 percent contrary to my own views.  I find that to be DEFAMING
to my character and reputation.  I would appreciate a call back from
you OR YOUR LAWYER.  My phone number is 757-664-4224.  Thank you very
much."

Even some people who were not there about guns where angered by that
taped message.  City Council, however, just listened quietly.  Some
with eyes averted, and some not.

I told City Council that Hampton had quickly got back to me on their
position and were taking down signs in their libraries and parks so
as to obey the law.

I ended by saying that VCDL would sue Norfolk over this issue if we
could not get a resolution in a reasonable amount of time.

Dennis O'Connor (VCDL Board member and gunshow coordinator), Thomas
Robeson, and Lee Dyer (a Norfolk resident who had been beaten and
robbed before getting a permit) then spoke.  All did a great job in
their remarks.  Afterwards, the Mayor addressed me and said that City
Council had my handout and would be responding in a timely manner.  I
thanked him.  Down came the gavel, ending the meeting.

Dennis had a police officer comment on how good a speech he had given
after the meeting.  Another officer did the same to me.

The Virginia Pilot reporter asked me if the City Attorney could show
that there was an ordinance on the books before 1987, would VCDL
still ask the Norfolk City Council to change the law to allow
citizens to carry guns in parks.  I told her that we would.  I
pointed out that at least one other county (Henrico) that legally had
such a ban was looking at doing just that.

Going to this meeting accomplished a lot of good things for VCDL.
First, it got the issues in Norfolk hopefully on the front burner.
Second, it got the police up to speed on open and concealed carry in
city buildings.  Third, it allowed City
Council and the police to see that law-abiding citizens armed with
handguns for self-defense are not a liability, but an asset.  And
fourth, it will help introduce VCDL to gun owners in Tidewater, an
area that we have only recently started doing gun shows.  (If we can
get more active Tidewater members, we could really clean a lot of bad
gun laws off the books down there.)

I would like to thank all of those people who came out for the
meeting to support VCDL.

Finally, there are those unsung heros who are constantly working
behind the scenes to help make VCDL successful.  Sacrificing their
weekend, George Pettit (VCLD Secretary), Jim Snyder (VCDL
vice-president), Mack Elliot (VCDL Treasurer), Mack's wife, Judy, and
Mack's mother all worked hard and under a deadline to get a quick,
but decent sized, postcard mailing out to some of Norfolk's gun
owners to let them know about the meeting tonight.  Several showed up
holding their VCDL postcard.  Others may get the card a day late, but
at least they will now be made aware of the situation going on in
their own backyard.

       
Here is the article on last nights Norfolk meeting.  Great shot of
Dennis addressing meeting with his openly carried Witness and good
coverage overall.

The Mayor, frightened that law-abiding citizens with guns were at the
meeting, said that he would be lobbying to allow cities and counties
to ban guns in their meetings.  Norfolk has already been doing that,
so no real change in their plans.  Based on his comments in the
article, he sadly seems unable to tell the difference between
criminals and good people.

The Mayor needs to fear criminals and not us.  Too bad it wasn't him
attacked by three thugs in a Norfolk park instead of one of our
members.  Then maybe, just maybe, he would finally get it.  Oh,
well...

I NEED EVERYONE TO RESPOND TO THE PILOT ONLINE POLL ON WHETHER
CARRYING GUNS IN PARKS SHOULD BE ALLOWED, ASAP!  Let your friends and
families know about the poll, as well.

Here is the link to the article and the poll:

[url]www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0925gun.html[/url]

Thanks, ladies and gentlemen!



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 civil rights of all Virginians.  The membership considers the right to keep and bear arms an essential human right.

VCDL web page:  [url]http://www.vcdl.org[/url]

Quoted:
Anyone know how to get around the tracking and vote twice?

--LS

Quoted:
I've taken a page from the Democrat Election Code and voted a few more times.  This will offset the individuals that were confused and may have accidently selected "No".