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Another win for Gun Owners in City of Alexandria

ed

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As you may (or may not) recall.. we were talking about the carry of firearms in parks in the city of Alexandra (all having kicked up about the aterfront festival). So I thought maybe I WOULD rent the park and see what rules the city binds to me. Long story short of it.. and going back and forth with the city attorney I decided to file suit.

Just heard back from my attorney today that before we even got to fight about it all.. gun ownerswon!

:celebrate

(from my attorney's e-mail to me today):

Alexandria amended the two ordinances in question. September 12, They removed the “no person shall traverse with loaded firearm within 100 yards of park” language from 6-1-1.1, and struck 13-2-4 altogether. I confirmed the amendments online today (see the two other attachments proposing the revisions, and see the link below for confirmation that they were adopted). I will send the city attorney a dismissal order ASAP.

http://dockets.alexandriava.gov/dsr/fy10dock.nsf/536ee1fcf306fd108525704b0064fc94/ff2e25c01d1c5caa85257627006db76d?OpenDocument
 

ed

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ed wrote:
As you may (or may not) recall.. we were talking about the carry of firearms in parks in the city of Alexandra (all having kicked up about the aterfront festival). So I thought maybe I WOULD rent the park and see what rules the city binds to me. Long story short of it.. and going back and forth with the city attorney I decided to file suit. (My guess would be my three FOIA requests regarding e-mails I exchanged with ther city attorney, town council, ordinances and parks is what clued them into as to what was ahead)

Just heard back from my attorney today that before we even got to fight about it all.. gun ownerswon!

:celebrate

(from my attorney's e-mail to me today):

Alexandria amended the two ordinances in question. September 12, They removed the “no person shall traverse with loaded firearm within 100 yards of park” language from 6-1-1.1, and struck 13-2-4 altogether. I confirmed the amendments online today (see the two other attachments proposing the revisions, and see the link below for confirmation that they were adopted). I will send the city attorney a dismissal order ASAP.

http://dockets.alexandriava.gov/dsr/fy10dock.nsf/536ee1fcf306fd108525704b0064fc94/ff2e25c01d1c5caa85257627006db76d?OpenDocument
 

Grapeshot

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ed wrote:
As you may (or may not) recall.. we were talking about the carry of firearms in parks in the city of Alexandra (all having kicked up about the aterfront festival). So I thought maybe I WOULD rent the park and see what rules the city binds to me. Long story short of it.. and going back and forth with the city attorney I decided to file suit.

Just heard back from my attorney today that before we even got to fight about it all.. gun ownerswon!

:celebrate

(from my attorney's e-mail to me today):

Alexandria amended the two ordinances in question. September 12, They removed the “no person shall traverse with loaded firearm within 100 yards of park” language from 6-1-1.1, and struck 13-2-4 altogether. I confirmed the amendments online today (see the two other attachments proposing the revisions, and see the link below for confirmation that they were adopted). I will send the city attorney a dismissal order ASAP.

http://dockets.alexandriava.gov/dsr/fy10dock.nsf/536ee1fcf306fd108525704b0064fc94/ff2e25c01d1c5caa85257627006db76d?OpenDocument
Good show.

Guess they did not want to pay for your attorney?

Yata hey
 

TFred

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Here's the link to the .pdf file of the memo from the city attorney to the city council. The memo specifically mentions that they might be liable for the costs of this "no-win-possible" lawsuit.

We should send a big "THANK YOU" to Delegate Carrico for sponsoring the bill that amended 15.2-915. Is anyone keeping track of how many illegal laws and rules have been updated since July? These new "teeth" are obviously working, these localities have had several years to comply but have not bothered until now.

TFred
 

skidmark

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Another "Thank You" to Ed.

For our edification and edumufication, would you please share with us the steps taken to get the suit into the court system, and any info you might have on how someone could do this pro se (on theie own, without an attorney).

I know having an attorney handle legal paperwork is usually the best way to go about things, but some of us who might be inclined to follow in your footsteps in our own briarpatches might not have the discretionary funds available to hire an attorney.

Not everything should be brought to VCDL, or NRA, or GOA, or 2AF or ACLU to ask them to take it on for us. There are some things that we can do on our own. Just ask Ed.:lol::celebrate

stay safe.

skidmark
 

ed

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skidmark wrote:
Another "Thank You" to Ed.

For our edification and edumufication, would you please share with us the steps taken to get the suit into the court system, and any info you might have on how someone could do this pro se (on theie own, without an attorney).

I know having an attorney handle legal paperwork is usually the best way to go about things, but some of us who might be inclined to follow in your footsteps in our own briarpatches might not have the discretionary funds available to hire an attorney.

Not everything should be brought to VCDL, or NRA, or GOA, or 2AF or ACLU to ask them to take it on for us. There are some things that we can do on our own. Just ask Ed.:lol::celebrate

stay safe.

skidmark
On my own? Ha! I did not like what happend to me.. so I told the VCDL my plan (just in case they were already working some angle, etc... they said they were not and they supported me..) I have a small group of attorneys I work with for different things.. I presented to a couple of them.. one of them suggested another, and he and I spoke and I then retained him. I sent 3-4 FOIA requests that got more and more"pointed" towards the errors of the city and I think they got a clue that a suit was coming BEFORE we had to actually fight about it.. (which is ok with me and my attorney). So gun owners in Alexandria and the rest of Virginia won.

Ed
 

Mt Vernon .40

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ed wrote:
...I sent 3-4 FOIA requests that got more and more"pointed" towards the errors of the city and I think they got a clue that a suit was coming BEFORE we had to actually fight about it ...

Very nicely done.

You left them an "out" to do the right thing "on their own"rather thangetting into a fight ...

... where usually far more effort is spent"not loosing"than would be spent just making the correction.

Everybody's a winner on this one.

Many thanks! :D
 

Citizen

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Mt Vernon .40 wrote:
SNIP ... where usually far more effort is spent"not loosing"than would be spent just making the correction.

Everybody's a winner on this one.

Except the archers who didn't get to loose.

:):p
 
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