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MMM-NOVA leader says carrying guns at meetings is cruel; my LTE

Mike

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http://tinyurl.com/2v376h
Gun Rights, Gun Control Showdown

Gun rights and gun control advocates faced off during a recent meeting of the Million Mom March’s Northern Virginia chapter at the Kings’ Park Library in Burke last week.

The Million Mom March, a gun control advocacy group, had set up a meeting to allow former National Rifle Association lobbyist Bob Ricker speak about gun laws. Approximately two dozen attendees showed up with about half carrying their guns openly and visibly, said Laura Sonnenmark, a member of the Million Mom March.

Gun rights advocates in attendance at the meeting said they were interested in Ricker’s speech and whether he would advocate denying gun owners their right to bear arms.

"We are always interested in the thoughts of gun prohibitionists. Basically, ‘know thy enemy,’ and that is about it," said James Kadison, a member of the Virginia Citizens Defense League who attended the event.
But members of the Million Mom March found the meeting attendees who had their guns exposed intimidating, said Sonnemark.

"I just thought it was very cruel because we do have members who have been victims of gun violence or lost family members to gun violence," she said.

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http://tinyurl.com/24rwna

Letter: Clearing Up

To the Editor:

Veteran General Assembly lobbyist Jim Solo of the Virginians for Public Safety misleads readers by writing that Sen. Ken Cuccinelli's (R-37) 2003 bill , SB 771, would have allowed 16-year-old teenagers from "states like Vermont . . .to lawfully carry concealed guns in Virginia" ["Shouldn't Be So Easy," Laurel Hill Connection, May 24-30, 2007].

Solo is correct that Cuccinelli's bill would have accepted out-of-state concealed handgun permits like Virginia now accepts out-of-state driver's licenses. But this bill could not possibly have legalized concealed-handgun carry in Virginia by 16-year-old Vermonters for two reasons.


First, Cuccinelli's bill did not repeal Virginia's ban on handgun possession by persons under 18 years of age (see Va. Code § 18.2-308.7). Second, Vermont does not issue concealed handgun permits to anyone, let alone to 16-year-olds.

Mike Stollenwerk
Lee District
Co-founder of OpenCarry.org
 

Collier4385

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You cannot live life in the mentality, if you pardon the Star Trek term, "viewer astern." "User error" is routinely and incorrected attributed to inanimate objects that only do as the commanded operation.

Call me callous, its a great PR stunt to scream "cruelty" and the spindoctors have done just that. If my gun was alive, it would feel pressure to fit in with the rest of these evil guns... ;)
 

Tess

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I wrote a LTE about this piece, then decided I was better off just ignoring this little blurb. The blurb itself was almost objective (well, pretty darned good considering the political bent of the connection newspapers, IMHO), and I didn't want to give the several moms any more newsprint.

It's enough that they contacted the reporter at all - that should tell us something. AFAIK, there was no press there. Unless Julie O'Donoghue is a member and heard through those channels, there is no other way for her to have even learned of our presence.
 

BobCav

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"I just thought it was very cruel because we do have members who have been victims of gun violence or lost family members to gun violence," she said.

No, No, NO, Ms. Sonnenmark. Those familes lost loved ones to CRIMINAL violence, not GUN violence. Calling it "GUN" violence takes the focus away from the real cause of the crime and the actual target, the CRIMINAL. Had it not been for the CRIMINAL that committed the crime, and the society that has given criminals more rights than their victims, their loved ones would be alive today.

With no intention to belittletheir grief,the number of victims of crime who were killed by criminals using guns is statistically insignificantwhen you factor in thetotal number of law abiding gun owners, the number of guns they legally and responsibly own. Many of those are current and retired military, law enforcement, and security personnel and among the most law abiding citizens in the nation.

That's not to mention the millions of times (statistically proven) that a gun was used in self defense to STOP a crime, most often without a shot being fired.
 
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