From VCDL: From today's VCDL VA-ALERT: There has been a huge firestorm on gun-rights sites across the nation on the actions of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE), the Richmond Police Department (RPD), and Henrico County at last week's gun show. As you recall the police were going to people's houses while the people were at the gun show awaiting approval to purchase a handgun and interviewing family members and neighbors about the purchase. Serious questions are raised about various laws that might have been broken that weekend. I have been interviewed by Gun Week, CNS News (an Internet news service), the NRA's First Freedom magazine, and others who are going to be doing their own investigations. However, very strangely, there is a LOCAL MEDIA BLACKOUT on an event that is stirring up people as far away as Oregon and California! I don't know if the media is asleep at the switch or just not interested. I have been trying to contact a Lieutenant with the RPD who coordinates with BATFE and Homeland Security to discuss the event, but so far he has not returned my two phone calls. Hopefully he will return my call next week. I will keep working this until I get some answers. Push come to shove, VCDL can bring the issue up at a Richmond City Council meeting. I also plan on contacting Henrico. A few members have already emailed Henrico and I will be watching for any response that Henrico sends. Again, VCDL can work the issue at a Henrico Board of Supervisors meeting if necessary. An observation: On the various chat rooms where this incident is being discussed at length, a few people who haven't heard of VCDL, quite understandably questioned the validity of the story. It was truly humbling for me to see so many people jump in at that point to explain who we are and what we do. For those who question how BATFE/police could pull this off in a timely fashion: At the gun shows in Richmond, the State Police setup a NICS check room where ALL the dealers drop off their NICS forms. Later, the dealers check back to see if the NICS check has been completed and the forms ready. All BATFE has to do is to grab the forms as they are dropped off by the dealers, call in the contact info and have an officer dispatched to the house. That officer reports results of survey back to dispatcher, who in turn gives it to BATFE. The form is then approved and released to the dealer the next time he checks back. It is not unusual to have to wait an hour for approval, so the average gun owner wouldn't really be alerted to anything until he got home. Where the disbelief seems to be coming from is that in many states, the dealer calls in the NICS check from the show floor. Thus BATFE would have to be in the booth with the dealer to get the NICS info and make the dealer hold the form until the survey results were returned. This would have also alerted dealers as to what was going on. But that isn't how it's done at Richmond gun shows. As I get more information and the story continues to unfold, I will keep you posted. Philip Van Cleave, President, VCDL --- Parents Held Liable For Knife Attack By Son: A Cincinnati OH jury has levied a $4.55 million judgment against the parents of a boy who was 11 days shy of his 18th birthday when he stabbed a 13-year-old girl. Attorneys for the Hilmers argued that the Whites knew their son carried a knife. Ohio law says parents can be held liable if they negligently entrust a weapon to their child. http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/news/89596.php --- Interesting Case, Of All Places, From California: While the description of the event is bizarre, the ruling of the appeals court is correct - the claim of self-defense is not limited to threats and attacks by other humans. (Even in Arizona's dubious "Shannon's Law," ostensibly passed to allow felony prosecution for random, celebratory gunfire, there is a specific exemption from prosecution for those who reasonably discharge a firearm within a city or town in defense against an attack by an animal.) http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B175291.PDF --- S&W M&P Pistol: A list member commented earlier this week that a Google search had failed to turn up any further information about S&W's forthcoming Military & Police pistol line, which has already been mentioned twice in these mailings. Here are photos and a description. http://www.ambackforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=22517 --- From John Farnam: 18 Aug 05 New S&W "M&P" Service Pistol, soon to be introduced, from a friend close to the project: "The M&P is not intended for the pistol aficionado. That is, it is not an 'expert's gun,' like many, contemporary 1911 clones. It is an elemental, service pistol, intended to be used and carried, well and safely, by the average police officer and CCW holder. It is eminently functional, easy to maintain at the user level, comes apart and goes back together easily, and can't be reassembled incorrectly. It is also easy to maintain at the armorer level, with complete parts interchangeability; no fitting necessary. The trigger (borrowed from the SIGMA) is a reasonable compromise between speed and deliberation. Interchangeable grip panels assure a functional fit of nearly any size hand. A durable, non-glare finish provides protection against corrosion and excessive wear. Competitively priced. Self-decocking. Not pretty. This is a gun intended to successfully compete for institutional business with current heavy hitters, Glock, SIG, and H&K. S&W is serious about this gun. All parts and components are produced in-house. Likewise, all tools necessary to make components." Comment: S&W's recent, blundering missteps are all well known, and S&W has been rightly criticized, but we all need to give this new gun a fair hearing. If S&W produces another lemon, shame on them, but S&W's rebound, back into the status of "major player," is good news for everyone. Good competition makes for superior products, and a strong, American presence in this industry is in the best interest of all of us. /John 15 Aug 05 Reply from a friend with many years of service as a police executive with a large, state agency: "This last Quip complements your previous email regarding Castle Rock vs Gonzales, which (yet one more time) established that government cannot, nor should ever be expected to, protect us on the personal/individual level, which is, curiously, the only level that matters! Yet, our civilization has been brainwashed into thinking all individuals will be fully protected, all the time. Politicians like nothing better than to persuade naive citizens to suspend reality long enough to actually believe such an obvious impossibility, at least during election season. As cops, we are frustratingly amused with grasseaters who have chosen to buy off on such piffle. We cops are so much smarter. Aren't we? Yet, so many of us cops fall victim to the same pernicious deception when we foolishly persuade ourselves that this same government will provide us with all necessary training and equipment that we need to stay healthy. In so doing, we openly ignore that everything we use, from the weapon we carry to the training that goes with it, comes to us through a bureaucratic sewer pipe of 'appearance' concerns, political correctness, 'feelings,' executive promotions, and a persistent 'low-bid' mentality. Some of us allow ourselves to become so brainwashed that we actually rely upon advice from legal counsel that represents the union, or the government, instead of securing counsel that represents us, and only us. When will we realize that we, too, are on our own?" Comment: Politicians predictably engage in a more-or-less, continuous confidence scam, promising the impossible and, when they fail to deliver, making feeble excuses and persuading the electorate that they really didn't mean what they said, that last time. The smart among us reject these predictable, smooth lies that come at us like a river, particularly during election season. We realize that our safety, our future, and our destiny is in our hands alone, and we take unilateral action accordingly! "A wise man never tries to warm himself in front of a picture of a fire." /John -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .