[font="Courier New,Courier,monospace"]VCDL was contacted by a gun owner, Aubrey Weese, and told that he had
been kicked out of Belle Island park in Richmond earlier in the week
because he was open carrying.
Two officers on bicycles responded to a phone call by a woman who was
concerned about the gun owner open carrying, even though he was
minding his own business.
The officers insisted that there was an ordinance that prohibited the
carry of firearms in City parks.
After telling the officers that they were wrong, Aubrey complied by
leaving the park and promptly contacted VCDL (the smart way to handle
such situations).
I called Richmond PD and was directed to a Lt. Williams.
I left a voice message for Lt. Williams explaining what had happened
and reminding him that Richmond had no such ordinance and that even if
it did have such an ordinance on the books, it couldn't enforce it.
The next morning Lt. Williams called and left me a message indicating
that his research showed that I was correct . He said he would see to
it that the officers who patrol the parks are brought up to speed.
Aubrey later returned to the Belle Island open carrying and ran into
one of the two officers that had kicked him out of the park a few days
earlier. Aubrey had brought a copy of state preemption code,
15.2-915, with him and showed it to the officer.
Aubrey said that his open carry was uneventful that day.
If any of you open carry in Belle Island or any of the other Richmond
parks in the next week or two, let me know if you have any problems.
If you do have a problem, you might suggest the officer contact Lt.
Williams.
We are overdue for a VCDL membership meeting in the Richmond area -
perhaps we should have one in the City this time. I will advise.
FInally, Glenn Beck will be at the Richmond Coliseum this Saturday and
many of you are going to attend. I look forward to hearing if any of
you who decide to carry have any problems. I'm going to see if we can
get somebody there to handout "Gun Save Lives" stickers.
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