VA-ALERT: Gun show bill vote this Monday

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VA-ALERT: Gun show bill vote this Monday


-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Van Cleave
Sent: Saturday, January 31, 2009 6:27 PM
Subject: VA-ALERT: Gun show bill vote this Monday

ACTION ITEM CHESTERFIELD/RICHMOND AREA 1/31/09

If you live in the Chesterfield/Richmond area and your Senator is John
C. Watkins, we need to you send an email to him URGENTLY.

Senator Watkins has not let his position be known on Senator Marsh's
gun show bill.

While Senator Watkins claims to be pro-gun, he doesn't always vote
that way.

Constituents of Senator Watkins - here is his email address and a
suggested message:

Email:

district10@senate.virginia.gov

Suggested subject:

OPPOSE SB 1257!

Suggested message:

Dear Senator Watkins,

I urge you to OPPOSE SB 1257, which is nothing more than a private gun-
sale registration scheme for gun shows. It will needlessly hamper gun
shows, one of the few businesses that are succeeding during the
current bad economic climate.

The Secretary of Public Safety admitted in committee that they had no
data to show that this bill would do anything to stop crime.

This bill, had it been law years ago, would have done NOTHING to stop
the massacre that happened at Virginia Tech. Indeed those guns that
are illegally purchased at gun shows are almost always done via a
straw purchase, which is simply not stoppable.

This is an important issue to me and I will be following the Floor
vote on SB 1257 this Monday. Please stand for liberty and freedom by
voting "no" to SB 1257.

Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
[YOUR ADDRESS]

--

If you wish to call Senator Watkins (an excellent idea), here is his
phone number: 804-698-7510


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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 Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org
***************************************************************************

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Any reports yet? Google News is silent so far.

TFred

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Just hit the RTD:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_regional/state_regional_govtpolitics/article/GUNGAT02_20090202-064406/195690/

Gun-show loophole bill vote put off

By Staff Reports

Published: February 2, 2009

The Virginia Senate will not vote today on a bill to close the so-called gun-show loophole.

The bill would require most purchasers at gun shows to undergo criminal-background checks before buying a firearm.

The measure narrowly cleared a Senate committee last week, but it faces opposition in the full Senate and in the Republican-controlled House of Delegates.

One reason the bill is being put off again is because Sen. Mamie E. Locke, D-Hampton, is absent from the Senate. On Friday, the vote was put off, in part, because Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, was out.