The Donkey
New member
22 years ago this month, riots broke out in a neighborhood in DC with a large hispanic population after a DC Police Officer shot a drunk Salvadoran man with a knife. Rocks were hurled; refuse was set alight and hurled out into the streets; police shot tear gas canisters down major streets; and civil order broke down.
After a number of storefronts were looted, a shop owner sat down in a chair with a loaded pump twelve gauge in front of his store.
Despite the complete inability of the DC Police to drive down Mt. Pleasant Ave, nobody bothered his shop.
He shot nobody, and nobody bothered him.
It seems to me that this sort of scenario is part of what the Second Amendment is about.
Yet I wonder what would happen to our shopkeeper in Virginia?
The Virginia Code provides:
As I read this, our rather heroic shopkeeper would not only face arrest and felony conviction, but a decent possibility of getting his head blown off by a Police Officer or a deputized private citizen.
Do you agree that these statutes are in serious need of revision, clarification and updating in such fashion as to protect the right of our shopkeeper to protect his property?
After a number of storefronts were looted, a shop owner sat down in a chair with a loaded pump twelve gauge in front of his store.
Despite the complete inability of the DC Police to drive down Mt. Pleasant Ave, nobody bothered his shop.
He shot nobody, and nobody bothered him.
It seems to me that this sort of scenario is part of what the Second Amendment is about.
Yet I wonder what would happen to our shopkeeper in Virginia?
The Virginia Code provides:
§ 18.2-405. What constitutes a riot; punishment.
Any unlawful use, by three or more persons acting together, of force or violence which seriously jeopardizes the public safety, peace or order is riot.
Every person convicted of participating in any riot shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
If such person carried, at the time of such riot, any firearm or other deadly or dangerous weapon, he shall be guilty of a Class 5 felony.
§ 18.2-406. What constitutes an unlawful assembly; punishment.
Whenever three or more persons assembled share the common intent to advance some lawful or unlawful purpose by the commission of an act or acts of unlawful force or violence likely to jeopardize seriously public safety, peace or order, and the assembly actually tends to inspire persons of ordinary courage with well-grounded fear of serious and immediate breaches of public safety, peace or order, then such assembly is an unlawful assembly. Every person who participates in any unlawful assembly shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. If any such person carried, at the time of his participation in an unlawful assembly, any firearm or other deadly or dangerous weapon, he shall be guilty of a Class 5 felony.
§ 18.2-411. Dispersal of unlawful or riotous assemblies; duties of officers.
When any number of persons, whether armed or not, are unlawfully or riotously assembled, the sheriff of the county and his deputies, the police officials of the county, city or town, and any assigned militia, or any of them, shall go among the persons assembled or as near to them as safety will permit and command them in the name of the Commonwealth immediately to disperse. If upon such command the persons unlawfully assembled do not disperse immediately, such sheriff, officer or militia may use such force as is reasonably necessary to disperse them and to arrest those who fail or refuse to disperse. To accomplish this end, the sheriff or other law-enforcement officer may request and use the assistance and services of private citizens. Every endeavor shall be used, both by such sheriff or other officers and by the officer commanding any other force, which can be made consistently with the preservation of life, to induce or force those unlawfully assembled to disperse before an attack is made upon those unlawfully assembled by which their lives may be endangered.
§ 18.2-412. Immunity of officers and others in quelling a riot or unlawful assembly.
No liability, criminal or civil, shall be imposed upon any person authorized to disperse or assist in dispersing a riot or unlawful assembly for any action of such person which was taken after those rioting or unlawfully assembled had been commanded to disperse, and which action was reasonably necessary under all the circumstances to disperse such riot or unlawful assembly or to arrest those who failed or refused to disperse.
As I read this, our rather heroic shopkeeper would not only face arrest and felony conviction, but a decent possibility of getting his head blown off by a Police Officer or a deputized private citizen.
Do you agree that these statutes are in serious need of revision, clarification and updating in such fashion as to protect the right of our shopkeeper to protect his property?