How I spent my day today

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I just got home from spending today trying to get my paperwork filed for my CHP...here is the end result, an email I sent to the Portsmouth City Council, the Clerk of the Court, and my Delegate and Senator in the GA:

I am writing this email to express my complete disgust and dismay towards the City of Portsmouth andthe City of PortsmouthSheriff's Office. The City of Portsmouth, not the Commonwealth of Virginia, requires fingerprintingto obtain a Concealed Handgun Permit (CHP). I showed up today at the Clerk of the Courts office at 11:30 AM. I was told to go downstairs to the Sheriff's Office Intake Unitto have my fingerprints taken. After being informed that it would be an hour before they could get to me, I was then told, after two hours, thatthey were too busy and didn't know when they could get to me. After waiting for 5 hours to get my fingerprints taken, I was told to come back tomorrow...that I, a law abiding citizen, was not a priority. In other words, my (or others for that matter) Constitutionally guaranteed rights, guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution of the United States as well as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, are not a priority. The fact that the City of Portsmouth would place this requirement as an impediment; yet, fail to provide a mechanism to fulfill the requirement in a convenient and timely manner is a slap inthe face to the law abiding citizens of the city of Portsmouth and nothing short of a violation of my/our Civil Rights. So, now after takingtoday off of work to getthe paperwork filed to obtain my CHP, I am no closer to filing it, thanks to the City of Portsmouth Sheriff's Office and have to take another day off hoping I don't get the run around...again!

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Sorry to hear about the run-around you got in Portsmouth...

You did good to send those emails out, but you forgot the MOST important point-of-contact for matters like this: The Virginia Attorney General's Office.

The VA-AG actualy has the power and ability to lean on the Portsmouth Sheriff Department, unlike the other people you wrote to.

Good luck in the future getting your application filed and approved. Hopefully if you contact the VA AG, they will set your local Sheriff's office straight.

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Dreamer wrote:

Sorry to hear about the run-around you got in Portsmouth...

You did good to send those emails out, but you forgot the MOST important point-of-contact for matters like this: The Virginia Attorney General's Office.

The VA-AG actualy has the power and ability to lean on the Portsmouth Sheriff Department, unlike the other people you wrote to.

Good luck in the future getting your application filed and approved. Hopefully if you contact the VA AG, they will set your local Sheriff's office straight.

Click to expand...

A little reminder again... after the inauguration! Somehow I don't think Mims cares one bit.

TFred

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TFred wrote:

Dreamer wrote:

Sorry to hear about the run-around you got in Portsmouth...

You did good to send those emails out, but you forgot the MOST important point-of-contact for matters like this: The Virginia Attorney General's Office.

The VA-AG actualy has the power and ability to lean on the Portsmouth Sheriff Department, unlike the other people you wrote to.

Good luck in the future getting your application filed and approved. Hopefully if you contact the VA AG, they will set your local Sheriff's office straight.

Click to expand...

A little reminder again... after the inauguration! Somehow I don't think Mims cares one bit.

TFred

Click to expand...

Yep...just a little over a week to go.

I'm going to the AG's gala, but not the Governors Ball.

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TFred wrote:

Dreamer wrote:

Sorry to hear about the run-around you got in Portsmouth...

You did good to send those emails out, but you forgot the MOST important point-of-contact for matters like this: The Virginia Attorney General's Office.

The VA-AG actualy has the power and ability to lean on the Portsmouth Sheriff Department, unlike the other people you wrote to.

Good luck in the future getting your application filed and approved. Hopefully if you contact the VA AG, they will set your local Sheriff's office straight.

Click to expand...

A little reminder again... after the inauguration! Somehow I don't think Mims cares one bit.

TFred

Click to expand...

Yeah....I left out Mims (AG)and Kaine (Gov) on purpose...they're lame ducks (in more than one way ) so, I'm sure they're more concerned in how much money they can make off of their former titles than they are about actually doing something about righting a wrong at this point. I will be emailing Ken Cuccinelli and Bob McDonnell in the next week...in the mean time, I will go to the Provost Marshall's office at Ft Monroe...where I work...and get fingerprinted there. I'm done dealing with the Sheriff Bill Watson and his antics...and will do everything [legally] possible to make sure this term, is his last term.

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Perhaps contact the SHERIFF?

Sheriff Bill Watson has recently been known to bend over backwards at a City Council meeting to make sure that OCers were not harassed. I know him personally. Give him a call.

Main Switch Board
757-393-8210

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paramedic70002 wrote:

Perhaps contact the SHERIFF?

Sheriff Bill Watson has recently been known to bend over backwards at a City Council meeting to make sure that OCers were not harassed. I know him personally. Give him a call.

Main Switch Board
757-393-8210

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I was at that City Council meeting...it wasn't the Sheriff, himself,that bent over backwards; but, was one of his deputies...and that was only AFTER we quoted the law to the deputy and he went running off to the City Attorney...and still got it wrong when he came back and told us only those with CHP's could enter council chambers...

Bill Watsondoesn't have an email address listed onthe Sheriff'swebsite and I haveno desireto play phone tag with him...and can't sit on the phone and talk to him while I'm at workanyways. I'm sure my email will be forwarded to him by either the City Council or the Clerk of the Circuit Court. If it's important to him (which I highly doubt) there's enough info in the email for him to be able to get a hold of me to apologize.I've been fingerprinted for work (I work for the Army) several times...none of those times took more than 10 minutes, including the wait to get them done. He can't tell me that he didn't have one deputy to spare for a few minutes, in the 5 hours I was there waiting, to take a look at my driver's license then roll my fingers across the ink and the card. Especially when there were several instances of deputies stopping andBS'ing fora fewminutes with the three bail bondsman hanging around in the waiting room, trolling for clients (against city ordinance posted in the waiting room).

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From PVC's MiniUpdate 11-11-09:
Dennis O'Connor was also involved and approached Sheriff Watson on the issue and filed this report:

"Apparently, no one had ever carried firearms to a Portsmouth city council meeting before, because the security and police seemed not to know how to handle it, and at one point a city officer was attempting to deny us entrance. This was resolved by the city attorney, but thankfully,Portsmouth Sheriff Watson was also on site and was very aggressive about ensuring no one's rights were infringed. He was a shining example of a professional law officer who was well versed in both the law and the constitution, even making making numerours pro-second amendment statements throughout.

He stated that as an elected constitutional officer, he would not allow anyone's right to bear arms to be violated. Sheriff Watson related to me that when someone initially approached him, exitedly exclaiming that people were coming in who had guns, he simply replied 'so do I.'

Sheriff Watson make a point of giving me his personal cell phone number, saying if any of our group were excluded or harassed in any manner for carry of firearms to call him immediately and would intervene and correct the problem."

Thank you, Sheriff!

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Sheriff Watson may have been there at some point, he may have even spoken to one (or possibly more) of us there at some point...but, I stand by my original statement. The initial confrontation when we showed up armed at the doors of City Council chambers was handled by a deputy. When that was cleared up I, my wife, and the majority of us took our seats in chambers. What, if any, discussions ensued in the lobby afterwards,I was not a part of nor was I aware of.

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paramedic70002 wrote:

From PVC's MiniUpdate 11-11-09:
Dennis O'Connor was also involved and approached Sheriff Watson on the issue and filed this report:

"Apparently, no one had ever carried firearms to a Portsmouth city council meeting before, because the security and police seemed not to know how to handle it, and at one point a city officer was attempting to deny us entrance. This was resolved by the city attorney, but thankfully,Portsmouth Sheriff Watson was also on site and was very aggressive about ensuring no one's rights were infringed. He was a shining example of a professional law officer who was well versed in both the law and the constitution, even making making numerours pro-second amendment statements throughout.

He stated that as an elected constitutional officer, he would not allow anyone's right to bear arms to be violated. Sheriff Watson related to me that when someone initially approached him, exitedly exclaiming that people were coming in who had guns, he simply replied 'so do I.'

Sheriff Watson make a point of giving me his personal cell phone number, saying if any of our group were excluded or harassed in any manner for carry of firearms to call him immediately and would intervene and correct the problem."

Thank you, Sheriff!

Click to expand...

I tell you what, sounds like an Okay guy to me. I am pretty sure if you leave him a message you will be able to get fingerprinted within the hour. When law enforcement supports OC they usually do it to quite a degree.

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See My is Faith Restored thread - very good news.
http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/view_topic.php?id=36160&forum_id=54&jump_to=615697#p615697

Yata hey