- Nov 11, 2009
- 30,884
Virginia Citizens Defense League
Defending Your Right to Defend Yourself
VA-ALERT
1. How will Biden’s actions on gun control affect you?
2. Jury nullification: protecting gun owners who mean no harm
3. Roanoke City’s first meeting of the Commission to Prevent Gun Violence tonight
4. NY Times op-ed: A lot of the left’s gun control proposals don’t make much sense (!)
5. Senate rejects Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s amendments to HB1992 (loss of gun rights for misdemeanor domestic violence conviction)
6. My question for ATF nominee: why does the FBI need “weapons of war”?
1. How will Biden’s actions on gun control affect you?
1. ATF. Biden’s nominee for the head of the ATF, David Chipman, is not a good one for gun owners. Chipman is a supporter of gun control (except for the government, of course). He was involved in the Branch Davidian disaster in Waco, Texas in the 1990s, too. If he gets approved, be prepared for more attacks on our rights using ATF regulations.
2. Homemade guns. Biden has directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to produce a scheme to regulate homemade guns, including 80% receivers. Since we have no idea how DOJ might pull a rabbit out of a hat to do so legally, the threat to homemade guns is unknown.
3. Pistol stabilizing-braces. DOJ is to come up with something that makes it clear when a brace turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle and when it does not. Hilariously, Biden, ever the expert on guns, said such braces make a pistol more accurate than a rifle! Since it is unknown, again, as to the rabbit DOJ is going to pull out of another hat, the threat to owners of stabilizing braces is not yet known.
4. Red flag law. We already have this in Virginia, but it could be make worse with possible federal legislation. Red flag laws are just another gun-confiscation scheme. They do nothing to prevent suicide or to provide help to someone having a mental crisis. We need to get this repealed in Virginia.
5. Studies. “Community violence intervention” studies, including an annual report on gun trafficking. Hmmm. On the gun trafficking they might start by studying the ATF, which trafficked guns into Mexico for cartel use during the Obama years. One such trafficked gun was used to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Bottom line: nothing affecting gun owners immediately. We will continue to monitor the DOJ’s actions on homemade guns and stabilizing braces.
2. Jury nullification: protecting gun owners who mean no harm
Unjust and Unconstitutional Laws
I, for one, am tired of laws that punish peaceful gun-owners for doing something that isn’t inherently dangerous and there is no victim.
For example, if you carry in a “forbidden” place, it’s not dangerous to merely carry a gun and there is no victim. If you are carrying concealed, with or without a permit, no one even knows you are carrying at all.
The key part of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 13, of the Virginia Constitution, are the words, “the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Laws that infringe when there is no victim and no danger are inherently both unconstitutional and unjust.
There is something we can do about unconstitutional and unjust laws. That something is called “jury nullification.”
Jury Nullification
For a jury to convict someone, the verdict must be unanimous. Conversely, for a person to be acquitted (found not guilty), the verdict must be unanimous. If even one person dissents, that is called a “hung jury.” If there is a hung jury, the trial is over. That is called jury nullification.
The prosecutor (Commonwealth Attorney) has two options: 1) request a new trial or 2) drop the charges.
Two kinds of criminal laws
1. Malum in se – conduct that is sinful or inherently wrong by nature. Examples: murder, rape, robbery, theft, arson, assault and battery, burglary.
2. Malum prohibitum – conduct that is bad because the government says so, not because it is inherently sinful or wrong by nature. Examples: carrying a gun in a “prohibited” area (government office, school, park, etc.), not submitting to gun rationing (limiting the number of firearms that can be purchased during some arbitrary time period), having a magazine that exceeds some arbitrary capacity limits, open or concealed carry without a permit, not submitting to a background check.
If I am on a jury and someone is being tried for merely carrying a gun in a prohibited place, or any other malum prohibitum gun-charge, without any evidence that the person intended to harm someone, I am voting to acquit. If I can convince my fellow jury members during deliberations to vote with me, all the better. Be it in a park, a school, the DMV, or having a 21-round magazine in Richmond and not having a CHP, I will vote to acquit. Someone carrying because they didn’t realize they were in a gun-free zone, or because they forgot about the gun in their pocket, or they were carrying because of an active threat against their life, or because they refuse to have their rights infringed – I will vote to acquit.
BTW, the judge and/or the jury instructions are not going to mention Jury nullification. The judge and/or the jury instructions will probably say to make your decision based on the law and not your personal beliefs. Fine, but you don’t have to be Mensa member to understand, “shall not be infringed” in both the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions. You also don’t have to say why you are voting “not guilty.”
Educate your fellow gun owners on jury nullification
Let’s spread the word on jury nullification and protect our fellow peaceful gun-owners from being convicted for violating unconstitutional and unjust gun-control laws.
3. Roanoke City’s first meeting of the Commission to Prevent Gun Violence tonight
Tonight, Tuesday, April 13, at 5:30 pm, Roanoke City’s Commission to Prevent Gun Violence will meet for the first time.
After watching City Council pass all the gun-control they could by law recently, I have no faith in any commission they set up to be more than a rubberstamp for more gun control. Rather than solve the real problems of violence in Roanoke, it is easier to blame guns, suggest more restrictions on peaceful gun owners, and, voila, problem solved! [eye roll]
The commission will have a work session on Zoom this Friday at 10 am.
Details on the agenda and how to watch tomorrow’s meeting are here.
Thanks to M. Keller for bringing this to my attention.
4. NY Times op-ed: A lot of the left’s gun control proposals don’t make much sense (!)
The op-ed, written by a Brady Campaign’s former president, Dan Gross, points out that an “assault weapon” ban makes little sense if one wants to reduce the number of deaths due to the misuse of firearms. He correctly points out how rare mass-shootings are and that preventing them should not be the focus as other things, such as suicide, take a much higher toll on human lives.
Dan says we should, “Invest in a large-scale education and awareness campaign on the dangers of owning and carrying guns, and what can be done to mitigate those dangers. It is crucial that these efforts be led in partnership with gun rights groups and public health experts and that they remain free from any judgment about gun ownership or connection with political advocacy.”
Has Dan changed his mind on key parts of gun control or is this simply a new strategy? Hard to say. A little of both, perhaps?
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2021/04...ontrol-proposals-dont-make-much-sense-n382022
5. Senate rejects Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s amendments to HB1992 (loss of gun rights for misdemeanor domestic violence conviction)
HB1992, which takes away a person’s gun rights for a conviction of misdemeanor domestic violence for three years, was modified by Northam to extend the length of time to five years and to add more classes of people who would fall under the category as “domestic”. The House accepted Northam’s changes (House Democrats love any kind of gun control), but the Senate rejected the changes in their entirety.
The bill now goes back to Northam and he has three choices before May 7:
1. Agree to the bill as it originally passed the legislature
2. Veto the bill
3. Do nothing and the bill will become law without his signature on July 1
6. My question for ATF nominee: why does the FBI need “weapons of war”?
Referring to treating semi-automatic AR-15s like machine guns, Biden’s nominee for the ATF, David Chipman, said, “To me, if you want to have a weapon of war, the same gun that was issued to me as a member of [the] ATF SWAT team, it makes sense that you would have to pass a background check, the gun would have to be in your name, and there would be a picture and fingerprints on file”
So, Mr. Chipman, why do domestic police need weapons of war? Or do the police in the U.S. carry AR-15s because they are great self-defense firearms and NOT military weapons?
ATF Director Nominee: AR-15 Weapons of War Should be Regulated Like Machine Guns
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/a...of-war-should-be-regulated-like-machine-guns/
Defending Your Right to Defend Yourself
VA-ALERT
1. How will Biden’s actions on gun control affect you?
2. Jury nullification: protecting gun owners who mean no harm
3. Roanoke City’s first meeting of the Commission to Prevent Gun Violence tonight
4. NY Times op-ed: A lot of the left’s gun control proposals don’t make much sense (!)
5. Senate rejects Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s amendments to HB1992 (loss of gun rights for misdemeanor domestic violence conviction)
6. My question for ATF nominee: why does the FBI need “weapons of war”?
1. How will Biden’s actions on gun control affect you?
1. ATF. Biden’s nominee for the head of the ATF, David Chipman, is not a good one for gun owners. Chipman is a supporter of gun control (except for the government, of course). He was involved in the Branch Davidian disaster in Waco, Texas in the 1990s, too. If he gets approved, be prepared for more attacks on our rights using ATF regulations.
2. Homemade guns. Biden has directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to produce a scheme to regulate homemade guns, including 80% receivers. Since we have no idea how DOJ might pull a rabbit out of a hat to do so legally, the threat to homemade guns is unknown.
3. Pistol stabilizing-braces. DOJ is to come up with something that makes it clear when a brace turns a pistol into a short-barreled rifle and when it does not. Hilariously, Biden, ever the expert on guns, said such braces make a pistol more accurate than a rifle! Since it is unknown, again, as to the rabbit DOJ is going to pull out of another hat, the threat to owners of stabilizing braces is not yet known.
4. Red flag law. We already have this in Virginia, but it could be make worse with possible federal legislation. Red flag laws are just another gun-confiscation scheme. They do nothing to prevent suicide or to provide help to someone having a mental crisis. We need to get this repealed in Virginia.
5. Studies. “Community violence intervention” studies, including an annual report on gun trafficking. Hmmm. On the gun trafficking they might start by studying the ATF, which trafficked guns into Mexico for cartel use during the Obama years. One such trafficked gun was used to kill a U.S. Border Patrol agent.
Bottom line: nothing affecting gun owners immediately. We will continue to monitor the DOJ’s actions on homemade guns and stabilizing braces.
2. Jury nullification: protecting gun owners who mean no harm
Unjust and Unconstitutional Laws
I, for one, am tired of laws that punish peaceful gun-owners for doing something that isn’t inherently dangerous and there is no victim.
For example, if you carry in a “forbidden” place, it’s not dangerous to merely carry a gun and there is no victim. If you are carrying concealed, with or without a permit, no one even knows you are carrying at all.
The key part of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 13, of the Virginia Constitution, are the words, “the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” Laws that infringe when there is no victim and no danger are inherently both unconstitutional and unjust.
There is something we can do about unconstitutional and unjust laws. That something is called “jury nullification.”
Jury Nullification
For a jury to convict someone, the verdict must be unanimous. Conversely, for a person to be acquitted (found not guilty), the verdict must be unanimous. If even one person dissents, that is called a “hung jury.” If there is a hung jury, the trial is over. That is called jury nullification.
The prosecutor (Commonwealth Attorney) has two options: 1) request a new trial or 2) drop the charges.
Two kinds of criminal laws
1. Malum in se – conduct that is sinful or inherently wrong by nature. Examples: murder, rape, robbery, theft, arson, assault and battery, burglary.
2. Malum prohibitum – conduct that is bad because the government says so, not because it is inherently sinful or wrong by nature. Examples: carrying a gun in a “prohibited” area (government office, school, park, etc.), not submitting to gun rationing (limiting the number of firearms that can be purchased during some arbitrary time period), having a magazine that exceeds some arbitrary capacity limits, open or concealed carry without a permit, not submitting to a background check.
If I am on a jury and someone is being tried for merely carrying a gun in a prohibited place, or any other malum prohibitum gun-charge, without any evidence that the person intended to harm someone, I am voting to acquit. If I can convince my fellow jury members during deliberations to vote with me, all the better. Be it in a park, a school, the DMV, or having a 21-round magazine in Richmond and not having a CHP, I will vote to acquit. Someone carrying because they didn’t realize they were in a gun-free zone, or because they forgot about the gun in their pocket, or they were carrying because of an active threat against their life, or because they refuse to have their rights infringed – I will vote to acquit.
BTW, the judge and/or the jury instructions are not going to mention Jury nullification. The judge and/or the jury instructions will probably say to make your decision based on the law and not your personal beliefs. Fine, but you don’t have to be Mensa member to understand, “shall not be infringed” in both the U.S. and Virginia Constitutions. You also don’t have to say why you are voting “not guilty.”
Educate your fellow gun owners on jury nullification
Let’s spread the word on jury nullification and protect our fellow peaceful gun-owners from being convicted for violating unconstitutional and unjust gun-control laws.
3. Roanoke City’s first meeting of the Commission to Prevent Gun Violence tonight
Tonight, Tuesday, April 13, at 5:30 pm, Roanoke City’s Commission to Prevent Gun Violence will meet for the first time.
After watching City Council pass all the gun-control they could by law recently, I have no faith in any commission they set up to be more than a rubberstamp for more gun control. Rather than solve the real problems of violence in Roanoke, it is easier to blame guns, suggest more restrictions on peaceful gun owners, and, voila, problem solved! [eye roll]
The commission will have a work session on Zoom this Friday at 10 am.
Details on the agenda and how to watch tomorrow’s meeting are here.
Thanks to M. Keller for bringing this to my attention.
4. NY Times op-ed: A lot of the left’s gun control proposals don’t make much sense (!)
The op-ed, written by a Brady Campaign’s former president, Dan Gross, points out that an “assault weapon” ban makes little sense if one wants to reduce the number of deaths due to the misuse of firearms. He correctly points out how rare mass-shootings are and that preventing them should not be the focus as other things, such as suicide, take a much higher toll on human lives.
Dan says we should, “Invest in a large-scale education and awareness campaign on the dangers of owning and carrying guns, and what can be done to mitigate those dangers. It is crucial that these efforts be led in partnership with gun rights groups and public health experts and that they remain free from any judgment about gun ownership or connection with political advocacy.”
Has Dan changed his mind on key parts of gun control or is this simply a new strategy? Hard to say. A little of both, perhaps?
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2021/04...ontrol-proposals-dont-make-much-sense-n382022
5. Senate rejects Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s amendments to HB1992 (loss of gun rights for misdemeanor domestic violence conviction)
HB1992, which takes away a person’s gun rights for a conviction of misdemeanor domestic violence for three years, was modified by Northam to extend the length of time to five years and to add more classes of people who would fall under the category as “domestic”. The House accepted Northam’s changes (House Democrats love any kind of gun control), but the Senate rejected the changes in their entirety.
The bill now goes back to Northam and he has three choices before May 7:
1. Agree to the bill as it originally passed the legislature
2. Veto the bill
3. Do nothing and the bill will become law without his signature on July 1
6. My question for ATF nominee: why does the FBI need “weapons of war”?
Referring to treating semi-automatic AR-15s like machine guns, Biden’s nominee for the ATF, David Chipman, said, “To me, if you want to have a weapon of war, the same gun that was issued to me as a member of [the] ATF SWAT team, it makes sense that you would have to pass a background check, the gun would have to be in your name, and there would be a picture and fingerprints on file”
So, Mr. Chipman, why do domestic police need weapons of war? Or do the police in the U.S. carry AR-15s because they are great self-defense firearms and NOT military weapons?
ATF Director Nominee: AR-15 Weapons of War Should be Regulated Like Machine Guns
https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/a...of-war-should-be-regulated-like-machine-guns/
