This is why I miss Virginia

[Norton]

From the Staunton News Leader, my old hometown paper:

Citizen will carry gun wherever he wants to

Wow! You really missed the boat with your recent editorial regarding the Virginia Civilian Defense League members who were "legally" carrying firearms at a Staunton eatery. To begin with, Virginia law is simply stated. As free citizens we all have the perfect right to openly carry firearms anywhere we wish. If one of your reporters was detained and questioned by overzealous law enforcement for legally carrying a pen into a dining establishment, your editorial writings would be admonishing the police for even speaking to him/her. Your (and my) constitutional rights are not different — we just have separate reasons for exercising them. Yours is freedom of the press which you utilize to protect your (and my) freedom of speech and to protect us from the evil of an abusive government. Mine is the freedom to facilitate the protection of my life and liberty.

Do I openly carry a firearm when I dine out? You bet I do! Do I openly carry a firearm when I'm in Staunton? You bet I do! Do I carry a firearm because I am a police wannabe? No! I openly carry my firearm because it is my constitutional right and for my (and your) personal protection against evil of a different sort. If we are both reading from the same book (the U.S. Constitution) we should be on the same page, in the same book. It is obvious to me that you are reading from a totally different book or manifesto which condones and authorizes abusive police powers over its citizens

 

[JohnBT]

I live a block away, but it wasn't me. I was out of town that day. John


Law allows gun worn at museum
Richmond Times-Dispatch (page B1)
Thursday, November 16, 2006


You can't smoke in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, but you can carry a gun.

On Nov. 4, a man wearing a gun came to the museum. A security guard stopped him and told him to put the gun in his car, but he refused. While the guard called a supervisor, the man left peacefully.

The man was asked to leave his sidearm behind "for the comfort of our guests at the museum. Other visitors could be alarmed at seeing a person wearing a gun," museum spokeswoman Suzanne Hall said.

"We have since learned, upon doing some research, that Virginia is one of the few states in the United States that allow guns to be worn in public," she said.

Now, if other people come to the state-run museum wearing a gun, "we will ask them to put the weapon in the trunk of their car. If they refuse, we will step aside and allow them into the museum," Hall said.

-- Daniel Neman

www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satel...rticle&cid=1149191717801&path=!news!localnews

 

[RNB65]

I suspect the daily attendance at the Museum of Fine Arts is fixing to see a sudden increase.

 

[Malum Prohibitum]

Now, if other people come to the state-run museum wearing a gun, "we will ask them to put the weapon in the trunk of their car. If they refuse, we will step aside and allow them into the museum," Hall said.

I am jealous. It would be a crime to even attempt to carry into a publicly owned building in GA.

 

[SuperiorMarksman_18]

That's what I love about the Eastern Shore. You can open carry all you want and people won't give you any crap about it.

 

[Norton]

That's what I love about the Eastern Shore. You can open carry all you want and people won't give you any crap about it.

Same for us when we're in WV. There, I'm treated like a citizen and here in MD like a criminal for the same activity.

 

[SuperiorMarksman_18]

Is the Maryland side of the Shore remote too?

 

[Desk Jockey]

"We have since learned, upon doing some research, that Virginia is one of the few states in the United States that allow guns to be worn in public," she said.

I'm curious. How "few" are the states that allow open carry? I thought that it was probably more than half of them, but am just guessing.

 

[Norton]

Is the Maryland side of the Shore remote too?

Getting to be less so every day.

 

[Hobie]

It is good to see so many Stauntonians here!

 

[Norton]

I miss Staunton immensely....nice place. I'll be over in Greater Metropolitan Dooms for Thanksgiving.

 

[Hobie]

Yes, I traveled the world and came to Staunton to retire. The only place I might like more would be in Wyoming or Montana.

 

[Hobie]

Yes, I traveled the world and came to Staunton to retire. The only place I might like more would be in Wyoming or Montana.

They are working on widening Churchville Avenue from the old Coke bottling plant back up almost to the old R. E. Lee High School (now Guardian Angel Academy).

I used to live in Elkins, Bartow, Durbin, Huntersville, Richwood, Thomas, Davis, and some other places in WV. It is nice, too.

 

[Caimlas]

One nitpick:

The 2nd Amendment is where it's located in the Bill of Rights - that is, not at the beginning - because it doesn't stand alone in significance. It is there to protect the other articles of the Bill of Rights, because without it, the Constitution and Bill of Rights would have no Teeth.

That's my theory on it, anyhow.

 

[RevolvingCylinder]

That's one of the reasons I'm looking forward to relocating to Vermont.

 

[Norton]

They are working on widening Churchville Avenue from the old Coke bottling plant back up almost to the old R. E. Lee High School (now Guardian Angel Academy).

Ah....progress

 

[dm1333]

It was nice to see that the museum did a little research and came up with a policy that makes sense.

 

[JohnBT]

"They are working on widening Churchville Avenue"

Now if they could just do something about all those steep hills in town. You know if you take a '64 VW bug on a snowy hill and yank up on the parking brake you end up going down the street backwards.

(And for the newcomers and visitors, it's pronounced Stan-ton. Or Stant-un. You can just ignore the U in it.)

John

P.S. - My favorite place in town was always the consignment car dealer downtown in the old 3-story car dealership. I think it was originally a Ford showroom, but I'm old and forget a lot.

 

[SomeKid]

How "few" are the states that allow open carry?

Desk, the museum people were idiots. OC is NOT some rare thing.

http://www.opencarry.org/

Yellow means you can open carry no license, green means you can open carry with a license. I counted 24 yellow or green states.

Some of the orange states should be green, like PA, NH, MI, WA, or ME.

I always find it funny that Texas of all places totally bans open carry.

 

[Standing Wolf]

It is obvious to me that you are reading from a totally different book or manifesto which condones and authorizes abusive police powers over its citizens.

That's very well said!

We have since learned, upon doing some research, that Virginia is one of the few states in the United States that allow guns to be worn in public...

Baloney! Open carry is legal throughout most of the western United States.

 

[Norton]

Now if they could just do something about all those steep hills in town. You know if you take a '64 VW bug on a snowy hill and yank up on the parking brake you end up going down the street backwards.

Hahaha....good old New Street. I remember that hill with my new stick shift Dakota in about 1990. Nothing like being a flatlander coming to the mountains.

Staunton favorites:
Mill Street Grill on Wednesday night
Jazz In the Park on Thursday nights
Harry's Lunch
Brother's Pizza
Wright's Drive In for a banana milkshake

...and to keep this gun related, going out to Hite Hollow to run mucho ammo through many guns

 

[MD_Willington]

WA is an open carry state too, but if I open carried in town I bet I'd probably induce other members in my approximate area to go into some kind of phobic colonic spasm, resulting in me having a bad day and a bit of 'splainin from the local LEOs...