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VA Pro-Gun Organization Helps Shoot Down Gun Safety Bill

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Richmond has seen an uptick in gun thefts over the last several years, and often, these guns end up in the wrong hands. 

In the Virginia House and Senate, legislators recently struck down a bill that would require gun owners to report missing weapons within 24 hours of noticing they are gone. Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham, who worked with state legislators to bring the bill to the General Assembly floor, described it as a “simple piece of legislation that would allow him and his officers to do their jobs.” 

In an effort to curb the stream of unaccounted firearms in our city, HB-43 was introduced. The bill required the lawful owner to report missing firearms within 24 hours, or face a civil fine of no more than 250 dollars. This would help police to keep a list of any missing firearms, and occasionally return stolen property. 

The bill was vehemently opposed by the Virginia Citizens’ Defense League, whose membership significantly overlaps with the NRA and who endorsed 7th district-loser Dave Brat. Brat refused to comment on this issue. 

“The victim gets punished twice: Once by the theft or loss, and next by the government for not reporting the loss quickly enough,” said the VCDL. 

The NRA and VCDL both advocate for responsible gun ownership, making the VCDL’s reaction puzzling for a bill designed to promote that exact purpose. As a responsible gun owner myself, I find it suspect that anyone who owns a firearm would not wish to do their civic duty, and inform the police of a missing firearm in the community. 

Shoddy logic from this group shouldn’t come as a surprise. The VCDL’s President, Phillip Van Cleave, in case you’ve forgotten, appeared on Sasha Baron Cohen’s TV show Who Is America. Van Cleave’s scene in the show depicts the VCDL President unironically promoting guns for children as young as three years old — which clearly does not align with responsible gun ownership. 

A VCDL spokesperson was quick to point out that “there are times when a lost or stolen gun will not be used in a crime for five, ten, or twenty years.” This logic is blatantly a Red-Herring defense, irrelevant and meant only to deter attention from the issue at hand: and it still admits that the gun will eventually be used in a crime. The police are better off having an idea of how many — and what kind of — weapons are unaccounted for, and gun owners need to take responsibility for handling their firearms with care. 

Guns are a huge facet of American life, and that doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon: But without effective regulation, it should come as no surprise that gun-related crimes continue to be magnanimous in our society. 

Starting Tomorrow You Can Download 3D Printed Guns

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Starting tomorrow, Aug. 1, the company Defense Distributed will make plans available to download plans for 3D printable guns. The company was prevented from making their plans available due to a restraint order previously put in place by the State Department. Cody Wilson, the company’s founder, sued over the restraining order, eventually being joined by the Second Amendment Foundation, a large pro-gun rights group. Originally, the government sought to block distribution of the downloadable plans under policies that govern with the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), however, the State Department will soon relinquish their control of these policies to the Commerce Department.

Catalogue of 3D Printable Guns from Defense Distributed. Screen Shot by CNET

This created a loophole in which both Defense Distributed and the Second Amendment Foundation could sue the government to lift the restraining order under the pretense that the State Department will not be regulating ITAR in the future. Under the settlement terms, they will waive prior restraint against Defense Distributed – opening the door for them to publish 3D plans for firearms online – along with agreeing to reimburse them $10,000 in registration fees and covering most of their legal costs.

The Second Amendment Foundation framed the issue in a press release on July 10 as one that was needed to protect First Amendment rights, claiming that the government was attempting to  “control free speech” through their restraint order and that the ITAR regulation was a vestige of Cold-War era policies to regulate the export of arms abroad. According to watchdogs, ITAR regulations “ensure that defense-related technology does not get into the wrong hands,” which would include criminal syndicates, terrorists, and those seeking to cause harm.

Wilson, when asked by CNET if he was worried about the designs falling into the hands of people with nefarious intentions, such as criminals and terrorists, he responded by saying that he had, “no concerns regarding public access.” On their website, Defense Distributed has proudly proclaimed, “The age of the downloadable gun formally begins”. The Second Amendment Foundation’s Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb went a step further by saying, “…it also is a devastating blow to the gun prohibition lobby.”

Swell.

The 3D printing of firearms effectively makes standard security mitigations obsolete given the weapons will be printed with materials that can defeat most kinds of search detectors. In 2013, Wilson, the founder of Defense Distributed, released plans for a handgun called “The Liberator” of which all 16 component parts were made entirely of ABS plastics and could be printed with a standard Dimension SST 3D printer.

The Liberator. Photo by Michael Thad Carter for Forbes

The NY Daily Post has reported that over 1,000 people have already downloaded plans for 3D printable guns including AR style rifles – prevalent in most recent mass shootings throughout the US. As a result of the policy shift, Attorneys General from eight states and Washington, DC have filed a lawsuit against President Trump’s administration to stop the online publishing of the plans. Virginia is currently not one of the eight states.

Washington State’s Attorney General Bob Ferguson has been out front on the issue and has renewed calls for a nation-wide restraining order against making the online plans available, arguing that it violates state’s rights under the 10th Amendment. In a statement released yesterday, Ferguson said, “These downloadable guns are unregistered and very difficult to detect, even with metal detectors, and will be available to anyone regardless of age, mental health or criminal history. If the Trump Administration won’t keep us safe, we will.”

President Trump, for his part, weighed in on Twitter this morning saying, “I am looking into 3-D Plastic Guns being sold to the public. Already spoke to the NRA, doesn’t seem to make much sense!” According to reporting by Forbes, the NRA has been conspicuously silent on the issue and in some instances has openly mocked gun-control advocates for raising concern about how non-detectable weapons might impact public safety; you know, like preventing terrorist attacks and mass shootings.

(Sigh, will someone wake us up when this is over?)

*Cover photo by Everytown 

Second National School Walkout Planned for Friday, Students and Legislators to Rally in Richmond

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The students behind the Never Again movement and the National School Walkout movement are continuing their efforts to end gun violence in schools and demand action from legislators with a second national walkout and rally this Friday, April 20. Students in Richmond and around the country will walk out of school, and students, legislators, school shooting survivors and other allies from across the state plan to rally after the walkout in Richmond with a protest starting at Brown’s Island and ending at the Virginia State Capitol.

The protest is not only to advocate for gun reform, but to also honor victims of past shootings most notably Columbine High School. This Friday will be 19 years since the Littleton, Colorado shooting claimed the lives of 12 students and one teacher.  

Douglas S. Freeman High School students Maxwell Nardi and Kennedy Mackey sent out a press release Monday morning highlighting the next steps the school’s student leaders have organized in order to keep the conversation on gun control going.

“We’re not protesting against the second amendment or the right to bear arms, rather we’re fighting for the common-sense measures which can save the thousands of lives taken every year by gun violence,” Nardi and Mackey said in the release.  

At 10:00 am, students around the country and in Richmond will begin the walkout followed by the pre-rally at Brown’s Island, which will include a voter registration drive, a meet and greet with legislators, and speakers. At 1:00 pm, students, citizens, and others from across Virginia will march from Brown’s Island to the Virginia State Capitol and at 2:00 pm, the group will host their official rally on the steps of the State Capitol, featuring students, legislators, and leaders from across the state which according to the press release, will include Gov. Northam, Del. Chris Hurst, and student survivors and allies.

Nardi and Mackey hope to use this day as a day of remembrance, but also to keep the attention of a society that is constantly being thrown new information at a continuous rate. “It’s time for change. It’s time for action,” they stated in the release. “We’re fighting for fixes to gun violence in Richmond, Virginia, and our country. We’re fighting for a new era of consistent progress towards a better and safer future for every Virginian and every American.”

 

Breaking: School Shooting in St. Mary’s County Maryland

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*This is a developing story.

According to the Sheriff’s Department in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, a shooting investigation is currently in process at Great Mills High School, where multiple injuries have been reported.

This was also corroborated by a post on the St Mary’s County Public School’s webpage, which was updated with a report saying, “There has been a Shooting at Great Mills High School.  The school is on lockdown the event is contained, the Sheriff’s office is on the scene additional information to follow.”

No other information has been made available, but local police will likely hold a press conference soon, but sources have said the “event has been contained.”  Jonathan Freese, a student from Great Mills High School reported to CNN only moments ago that at least seven students have been reported injured. This event comes almost one month after the events at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. which left 17 students dead and 14 wounded.

St. Mary’s County is located two and a half hours from Richmond at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.

Richmond Students Join Peers in the National School Walkout to End Gun Violence

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Today in Henrico, students of Douglas S. Freeman High School participated in the National School Walk Out. The walkout was a way for students nationally to remember the 17 lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida a former student murdered seventeen of their classmates on Feb. 14. The walk has also served as a call to action to implement stricter gun control.

As the walkout proceeded, students held signs and stood out on the baseball field for 17 minutes while the names and stories of the Parkland victims were read as each minute passed by. “Turnout was massive, we probably had about 500 to 1,000 students which just shows how united and coordinated we are,” said senior Maxwell Nardi, who met with reporters at the end of the event.

Freeman High School Student, Maxwell Nardi

Students at Freeman High have been particularly vocal about participating due to multiple shooting threats made against schools within the district. Nardi, one of the student leaders behind Freeman’s walkout told NBC12  on March 9,  “We’re relentless in solving this, and that’s why we are going to get it fixed.”

“This is the America where politicians and leaders prioritize lobbyists and money over the lives of kids,” wrote Nardi in a recent opinion piece for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “This is the America where we’re told that we’re too young to have a say, and instead that we should shut up, ride along, and hope we don’t get shot, waiting for the adults in the room to do the job.”

The students at Freeman have had one of the biggest voices when it comes to advocating for gun control reform and the activism that accompanies it. Along with their peers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and other student activists nationally, they presented themselves as smart, aware, and capable of discussing the nuance of the issue.

Molly Harring a student at Freeman spoke to RVA Magazine after the march. “I really think that our generation as a whole is one of the driving forces behind this movement. It’s really inspiring to see my friends all get together behind something that we feel is important,” she said. 

This was also reinforced by Nardi, who told reporters, “We’re not going to stop until people make real changes.” He went on to say that how having to practice active shooter drills has instilled a sense of camaraderie with students all across the US. “We’re together in this. We all have the pain and the understanding of the victims in Parkland and across the nation.”

Freeman High School Students Participating in the Walk Out

Parents and teachers were also involved in the walkout and commented on how they feel about their children participating. Angela Maggie, a mother of a student at Freeman, who was present at the walkout said she supported her daughter Kennedy and was beaming with pride as she spoke of her daughter’s activism and participation.

“I am extremely proud– extremely proud,” said Maggie. “I think we do need increased background checks to ensure that our schools are safe.” Maggie also expressed how she would still support her daughter 100 percent even if the school did not support the walkouts.

Monica Hutchinson, whose son attends Highland Springs High School also told RVA Mag about her son’s experience participating in the walkout and his views on gun reform.

“My son will be exercising his 1st Amendment right. We’ve had discussions about it and this walkout will be a teachable event,” said Hutchinson. “We plan on building support for common sense gun reform using the momentum built through this movement.”

Director of Communications and Public Relations for Henrico County Public Schools, Andy Jenks, also commented on the school board’s support for the walkout.

“Our vantage point was acknowledging their beliefs and wanting to be supportive of their ability to stand up for what they believe in but then trying to figure out how we can do that in a safe manner and one that finds the learning experience,” said Jenks.

Students Standing in Solidarity with the Victims of Gun Violence

With the ongoing national discussion of arming teachers – which will simply bring more guns into an already volatile mix – there has been contentious reactions. Henrico County Public Schools teacher Rebecca Field recently wrote an editorial for WTVR where she expresses her thoughts and emotions on the subject. “How dare you force me to choose between my own children and those that I teach,” said Field. “How dare you allow powerful adults who love guns to be more important than a generation of children growing up in fear.”

While it is met with fierce opposition from many students, parents, and teachers, Jenks and the school board simply put that they do not have a comment on the issue as of right now. However, when RVA Mag asked Nardi what he thought of arming teachers was short and to the point —

“No,” he said, before walking off and rejoining his fellow students in class.

Photos By Landon Shroder

Virginia House of Delegates Considers Allowing Guns in Places of Worship

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RICHMOND – After a committee endorsed the proposal on a party-line vote, the House of Delegates is considering legislation to allow people to bring guns and knives into a place of worship in Virginia.

Delegates are scheduled to vote this week on House Bill 1180, which would repeal the state’s ban against carrying weapons into a house of worship while religious services are being held.

Del. Dave LaRock, R-Loudoun, said he is sponsoring this bill on behalf of concerned churchgoers.

“Recent shootings in churches have leaders across the country reevaluating their security plans in places of worship,” LaRock said, referring to church attacks in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and Charleston, South Carolina.

The existing law states, “If any person carries any gun, pistol, bowie knife, dagger or other dangerous weapon, without good and sufficient reason, to a place of worship while a meeting for religious purposes is being held at such place he shall be guilty of a Class 4 misdemeanor.”

At a meeting of the House Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee last week, LaRock said the law is ambiguous.

“The statute restricts those in charge of places of worship from exercising full control over their own private property,” LaRock said. “By repealing this law, we will remove a barrier to churches forming plans to protect and defend their establishments against malicious attacks.”

Philip Van Cleave of the Virginia Citizens Defense League testified in support of the bill. He said the current law “is forcing pacifism, if you will, on churches. It’s taking away their ability to do certain ceremonial things.”

Representatives of faith communities disagreed. Bryan Walsh spoke on behalf of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.

“Faith leaders we have spoken with, and members of our community, don’t feel that this bill makes places of worship any safer,” Walsh said. “We want our places of worship to be places of peace, not violence.”

Amanda Silcox, who also works at the center, echoed Walsh’s testimony, stating, “We believe places of worship should be safe havens for people, not places of violence.”

LaRock said HB 1180 will not invite violence in houses of worship. “Repealing this bill will do nothing more than to allow the formation of sensible security plans for places of worship and the best way to avoid disaster is to plan and prepare,” he said.

Del. Marcus Simon, D-Fairfax, said he saw no need for LaRock’s legislation.

“If a law is working just fine, and there aren’t really any problems with the law, we should just leave it alone,” Simon said.

Lori Haas, a lobbyist for the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence, requested more time for public reaction to the bill, which was filed on Jan. 10.

“There are many, many, many members of faith communities across the commonwealth who might have an opinion about this bill, might want to express their support or opposition to the bill,” Haas said.

Despite her plea, the Militia, Police and Public Safety Committee voted 12-9 in favor of HB 1180, sending the bill to the full House. The Republicans on the panel voted unanimously for the measure; the Democrats voted against it.

Story By Thomas Jett via Capital News Service. Photo by Opposition Report

 

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