We recieve updates every week, unless something happens. All the "first person" comments here-after may be considered Phillip of the VCDL. Think you have trouble holding a meeting? What about having your non-profit group give something away for free? Read on.
--Janie
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The turnout was about 300 people last night (we handed out 298 tickets)! We filled the meeting room to capacity and an overflow crowd of about 150 had to stand outside, having to listen to the meeting through open windows.
The media packed the room. In fact we had to ask nine volunteers to leave the room and go outside so that the fire marshal would let all the reporters in the room! Thanks, by the way, to those nine volunteers who stepped up to the plate, giving up their nice seats to go stand outdoors. And speaking of that...
'PETTY' PENNY STRIKES AGAIN
There are two large meeting rooms at the Mason District Government Center. We had reserved more spartan one with better acoustics. The other meeting room was not being used and had a nice podium and lots of extra chairs.
When we asked if the overflow crowd could be placed in that smaller room, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors member Penny Gross said, 'No!'
Talk about being vindictive and mean-spirited! Ms. Gross likes free speech if you agree with HER, otherwise she will stomp her feet and stick out her lower lip and do anything she can to interfere.
In my opening remarks I took Petty Penny to task for her inexcusable and inhospitable actions and told the packed room, "Welcome to Fairfax!," which drew a strong response.
I think that Ms. Gross's denial of our use the the other meeting room embarrassed many of the County employees present.
A real class act that Ms. Gross.
Petty Penny wasn't the only unhappy member of the Fairfax County Government present. The County Attorney was there, too. He stood outside the front doors looking at the lobby area of the building, well maybe more like GLARING at the lobby area. It was quite clear that he wasn't happy and he was just waiting for something, anything, to go wrong so he could shut the whole meeting down.
The fire department was also being extremely picky about making sure we had no more than 150 people in the room (which by the way didn't have the maximum capacity sign posted until that morning, putting Fairfax County in violation of it's own fire code for years!).
On a bright note, the police were polite and professional as were the firemen.
The front part of the parking lot was cordoned off for the press and their vehicles.
I was interviewed continuously from 6 PM until 8 PM., as were other VCDL members.
Also present were around 20 or so 'protesters,' which included small children. A few of them were families of two of the murdered Virginia Tech students. The protesters were isolated behind a rope on the left of the building's front doors, with two watchful Fairfax Police officers standing nearby. For the most part the protesters were quietly holding signs.
With one exception. A woman who was with the "Million Mom March" was acting obnoxious and doing some heckling (anyone surprised by that?).
The police kept an eye on her. At one point she went around the rope and rushed into the building, right up to the door of the meeting room. Dennis O'Connor followed her and was prepared to alert the police if she began disrupting the meeting, but she listened for a few minutes and then returned back outside.
One lesson I learned from the protesters was LEARN HOW TO SPELL before making protest signs! Signs said, "**Blumberg** has my vote - no illegal gun sales!" and "VA Supports Gun **Contol**." Another sign said, "Who needs an automatic pistol?" When Bruce Jackson told the protester that the sign should have said, "Who needs a
**semi-automatic** pistol?, " the protester got flustered and whined that the sign couldn't be changed now because the new wording was too long. ;-)
Paul Moog, VCDL's founder, spoke for a few minutes and lambasted some of the media for eating up whatever baloney that the Fairfax Government dished out. The Washington Post was pounded on the hardest.
VCDL attorney, Richard Gardiner, updated the crowd on the status of the Bloomberg lawsuits.
Bob Moates spoke briefly, thanking everyone for the financial and moral support he and his store has received from VCDL members. Bob brought with him the handgun that was being given away and we had it on display.
Finally Andrew Dysart spoke about his efforts to organize GMU Students for Concealed Carry.
There were three large cakes at the front of the room - the middle one was still covered so the writing could not been seen. At that point I uncovered the cake and four VCDL members tilted the cake forward so the room could see the decoration:
http://www.vcdl.org/BGG/Cake2.jpg
Cameras flashed as the room broke out in laughter!
EM and retired D.C. Police Officer Dave Vann drew the winning tickets. The first ticket was held by someone in the meeting room, a VCDL member who originally hails from New York City of all places!!!
The winner chose the handgun instead of the rifle. When asked by a New York reporter what message did he wish to send to Michael Bloomberg, the winner made a gesture that any New Yorker would understand indicating that Bloomberg could shove, er, well, never mind. The room exploded in laughter. (I do encourage our members to keep comments to the press short and to the point, but THAT was not quite what I had in mind. ;-) )
Interestingly even the anti's wanted tickets to the drawing and were given one ticket each. The MMM protester got angry when Dennis wouldn't give her two tickets!
Tickets were handed out to the press, too! One reporter really wanted a ticket saying that she wanted to have a handgun.
When the winner had been drawn, the MMM protester yelled in an obnoxious voice that all the winners were going to be inside the building and that the whole thing was rigged.
Dave Vann drew the second place ticket. And the winner was...
OUTSIDE right next to Dennis!! The MMM protester shut up at that point. The second place winner was not a member and hadn't even heard of us (!) until that day.
I called the meeting at that point so everyone could get some cake.
The reporters made a mad rush toward the winners, lighting up that part of the room like the sun. ;-)
After the drawing I encouraged everyone with a losing ticket to mail the ticket to Bloomberg. I also pointed out we had an anti-Bloomberg poster that could be signed and that poster will be mailed to Bloomberg after the Bloomberg gun GiveAway I drawing is finally held.
I want to give my heartfelt thanks to Dennis O'Connor for coordinating the flow of people and the handing out of tickets.
Dennis found some wonderful volunteers: Bob Ham masterfully controlled access to the meeting room so that there were never more than 150 people in it (we would have been shut down instantly if it had ever hit 151 :-( ) Michael Johnson handed out tickets. Justin Spears kept an eye on the lobby and main doors so that they were never blocked. Robert Herron, VCDL's Fredericksburg gun show coordinator set up the VCDL banner and display table and helped with organization. Dennis' job and the job of his four volunteers was absolutely critical in keeping the County from shutting us down.
Also a big thanks to Jim Snyder for arranging to get the cakes and lots of other key materials. He also played a critical role in interfacing with the police and fire marshal to make sure both were happy.
Matt Gottshalk will have video of the drawing that will be posted on the VCDL web site soon.
In the meantime, here are some photos care of Scott Kreidler:
http://skreidle.phpwebhosting.com/gallery/BloombergGG2
Check the VCDL web site for more pictures and video of the event!:
http://www.vcdl.org/BGG/BGG.html
More of the media coverage will follow in upcoming alerts.
Great job, VCDL! Congratulatory emails (and some hate-emails) are streaming in from across the country!
Now back to finishing the Bloomberg Gun GiveAway I...
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Fox News coverage:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,273217,00.html
Virginia County Gun Rights Group Holds 'Bloomberg Gun Giveaway'
Thursday , May 17, 2007
ANNANDALE, Va. . -
More than 200 firearms enthusiasts - most of them openly armed - packed a normally sedate government building Thursday night, hoping to win a pistol or rifle and at the same time send a defiant message to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other gun-control advocates.
The Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group, organized the "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway" in large part to thumb its nose at New York's mayor. Bloomberg drew gun owners' ire by launching a series of out-of-state stings against gun shops suspected of allowing illegal straw purchases of firearms.
Two guns were awarded, a Para-Ordnance pistol and a Varmint Stalker rifle, each worth about $900. The winners did not immediately receive the weapons - they will still be required to undergo federal and state background checks.
The first winner, Jay Minsky of Fairfax, responded with an obscene hand gesture when asked what message he hoped to send to Bloomberg.
"If he doesn't like people in New York having guns, he should deal with New York," said Minsky, who grew up in Brooklyn. "Just keep out of Virginia."
The event drew an overflow crowd at a Fairfax County government building, with the fire marshal aggressively enforcing an occupancy limit of 150 for the meeting hall. Others stood outside and peered in through open windows.
The event also drew protests from gun-control advocates and the parents of those killed in last month's shootings at Virginia Tech.
Peter and Cathy Read of Annandale, whose daughter Mary was one of those killed, silently held a photo of their daughter outside the building.
"We're not here to have a debate. We're here to witness for our daughter," Peter Read said. "The victims need to be witnessed to.
People of the commonwealth can make intelligent decisions about what's right."
Philip Van Cleave, the league's president, said he is sympathetic to the families, but maintained that some of the deaths might have been prevented if somebody had been armed.
"We don't want another Virginia Tech," Van Cleave said.
Most of those in attendance said they were motivated not by the chance of a free gun, but to make a point to Bloomberg and express support for the Second Amendment.
"It'd be nice if I win, but that's not what this is about. It's about my constitutional right to defend myself," said Ron Stuebing of Sterling, a VCDL member.
The event had been planned for months as a fundraiser for two gun shops being sued by New York City. A raffle ticket was awarded for every $100 in purchases at the two gun shops, Bob Moates Sport Shop in Richmond and Old Dominion Gun and Tackle in Danville.
But officials said that giveaway violated state gambling laws, so the league quickly organized a new giveaway, open to anybody who showed up at its Thursday night meeting.
Most but not all in attendance carried holstered handguns. In Virginia, individuals need a permit only to carry a concealed weapon.
Openly visible, holstered guns are permitted without a permit.
Anybody who showed up at Thursday's event was eligible for the drawing - except Bloomberg and his immediate family, who were explicitly excluded from the contest by VCDL organizers.
New York City officials have sued more than two dozen gun dealers from Georgia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia in federal court. The lawsuits were filed after private investigators went into the stores with hidden cameras and simulated an illegal straw purchase - in which one person fills out the paperwork and buys the gun for somebody else.
Justice Department officials have said that the private investigators conducting the stings may have been breaking the law themselves, and that none of the gun dealers caught in the stings would face federal prosecution.
Bloomberg and Virginia Attorney General Robert McDonnell also traded barbs after McDonnell told Bloomberg the stings were unwelcome and illegal under a new Virginia law that takes effect in July.
Asked Thursday about the giveaway, Bloomberg said, "I think it's sick, is the nicest ways to phrase it."
Van Cleave responded that the members of his organization are law-abiding citizens, including many retired military, police officers and firefighters.
"If you're saying these are sick people, then I'm proud to be sick,"
Van Cleave said.
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And with all the interviews I did there was one major misquote. Not sure where we crossed wires, but the Richmond Times-Dispatch has the following quote attributed to me:
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Defense League President Philip Van Cleave of Chesterfield County said before the meeting that he feels sorry for the Tech families but added, *** "At some point, they'll get over their pain." ***
--
I used a standard quote for that question with all the reporters.
The correct quote was reported pretty much like this in all the other
media: "Philip Van Cleave, the league's president, said he is sympathetic to the families, but maintained that some of the deaths might have been prevented if somebody had been armed."
Here's the link to the RTD story:
http://tinyurl.com/2j5gku
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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
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