From Philip Van Cleave
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VCDL's meeting schedule: http://www.vcdl.org/meetings.html
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Abbreviations used in VA-ALERT: http://www.vcdl.org/help/abbr.html
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Last alert for tonight - sorry for the volume, but things are breaking
in all directions!
In this WVEC (Hampton Roads area) story is the actual letter from
Virginia Beach Chief of Police, Jake Jacocks, Jr., to Governor
McDonnell, asking the Governor to veto SB 334. In the article
Portsmouth Police Chief, Ed Hargis also kicks in with some more Chief of
Police "wisdom."
Oh, did I mention that THREE Virginia Beach police officers under Chief
Jacocks' command were arrested for driving while intoxicated last year -
INCLUDING the head of the Virginia Beach DUI task force?
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/12/va-beach-officer-charged-dui-chesapeake
http://www.wavy.com/dpp/mobile/Local_Virginia_BeachPolice_Officer_DUI_Womble_20090620
Let me be clear, as I have stated many times before: VCDL has no
problem with police officers, Commonwealth Attorneys, or CHP holders
being able to drink responsibly while carrying. We trust all of them to
be responsible. If some teeny-tiny minority of them isn't responsible,
then THEY should pay the price by being arrested and charged. The
actions of those who misbehave should not be used as an excuse to limit
everyone else's freedom. That is how laws are SUPPOSED to work.
Anyway, here comes the gasoline being poured on a fire as Chief Jacocks
patronizingly looks down his nose at the citizens of the Commonwealth.
What a hypocrite:
http://tinyurl.com/ykdlhy2
...LETTER FROM CHIEF JACOCKS:
Dear Governor McDonnell:
I am writing to you in my capacity as co-chairman of the Legislative
Committee of the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police, as a Chief of
Police. The "guns in bars" bills have passed both Chambers of the
General Assembly and await your decision to sign or veto. I know you to
be a supporter of the Constitutional right to bear arms, as am I. I
also know that as a prosecutor you witnessed - albeit well after the
fact - lives forever changed because of poor decisions/choices made when
alcohol, firearms, or both were in the mix, just as when alcohol, motor
vehicles or both were in the mix. My police officers, like first
responders across this great Commonwealth have occasion to witness such
tragedies first hand, while blood and tears are still flowing, all too
often.
Just as drinking and driving do not mix, the possessing and/or handling
of firearms and alcohol do not mix. The notion that carry concealed
weapon (CCW) permit holders who carry in a licensed ABC establishment
are prohibited from consuming alcohol by these bills borders on the
absurd. There is no practical way to police this provision, as no law
enforcement agency will have officers asking alcohol consumers in an
establishment if they are carrying. You are well aware that alcohol
consumption lowers inhibitions in most people. Often referred to as
"liquid courage," alcohol consumption also fuels aggression in many.
Allowing guns in bars is a recipe for disaster. We can fully expect that
at some point in the future a disagreement that today would likely end
up in a verbal confrontation, or a bar fight, will inevitably end with
gunfire if you sign this legislation into law. Whether it is the armed
citizen who drinks in a bar and gets into such a confrontation, or the
armed citizen doesn't drink and is pulled into a confrontation by
someone who has been drinking - the potential for display and/or
discharge of the firearm is unquestionably high.? Serious injuries
resulting from patrons fleeing in panic once someone yells "He's got a
gun!" or a death resulting from either discharge of the weapon or the
reaction to the weapon by the establishment’s security personnel will be
the rule, rather the exception.
The average CCW permit holder is a well intended and law-abiding
citizen. Yet the majority of them have had no training in conflict
resolution, conflict management, verbal judo, de-escalation of
emotionally charged situations. The mere possession of the weapon
likely makes some less apt to just walk away. Worse yet, most have
nothing more than rudimentary firearms safety and qualification
training, and no firearms retention skills. The vast majority have no
preparation for, and likely have given no thought to, how to handle a
disorderly drunk who tries to start an argument with them or who insults
their female companion. Their focus as a CCW permit holder is
appropriately the defense of themselves and their family if confronted
with a threat of deadly force or with someone who is breaking into their
occupied home. Absent the appropriate training and preparation, anyone
possessing a weapon, whether or not they are a CCW permit holder
(whether they having been drinking or not) has a high degree of
probability or over-reacting in the types of situations they are most
likely to encounter in a licensed ABC establishment, and someone is
going to die as a result. Law enforcement officers have all of this
training, and extensive use of force and deadly force legal training,
and we each have to qualify at least annually even after we retire if we
want to maintain our national CCW permit. No other CCW permit hold has
to adhere to even this simple requirement.
Senator Hanger was recently quoted by WTOP as saying "Most people will
have the obligation not to consume alcohol (while carrying concealed),
and they will take that seriously and that will be honored." He is later
quoted as saying "There is a substantial penalty, because they can lose
the right to carry - most people jealously guard that right that
they've acquired."
Is the Senator not aware that thousands of people are arrested in VA
each year for driving under the influence even though ALL people who are
licensed drivers have an obligation not to consume alcohol (if they are
then going to drive), and that while most people take that seriously,
we have hundreds of people killed or injured on the highways of the
Commonwealth because others chose to ignore that obligation? Has the
Senator considered the fact that there is a very substantial penalty
(far greater than the proposed Class 2 misdemeanor penalty for drinking
in a bar while carrying concealed) for driving under the influence -
people can lose the their operator's license and their insurance and
their job -all things most people jealously guard - and yet thousands of
people get behind the wheel of a vehicle while under the influence of
alcohol or drugs every year in the Commonwealth.
As the Senator's assertions about people honoring their obligations is
clearly not true for all licensed drivers, how can we possibly believe
that those same assertions will be true of all CCW permit holders?
There are a wide range of interpretations on what The Founders meant as
they wrote the Second Amendment. I'm not so presumptuous as to suggest I
know just what they meant. However, I firmly believe that they never
intended for any governing body to knowingly enable human beings - most
of whom are all too prone to making bad decisions when tempers flare,
even more so when their judgment is clouded by the consumption of
alcohol - to better position themselves to wrongly take another's life
when for the government to do otherwise would result only in a minor
inconvenience. With our rights comes responsibility. It is irresponsible
for anyone other than a law enforcement officer to carry a firearm into
a bar.
In keeping with your long standing advocacy of public safety, please
veto "guns in bars" legislation.
Respectfully,
Jake
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