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August 22, 2025

1. Reminder: VCDL membership meeting TONIGHT in Christiansburg
2. More Lobby Day Team Leaders needed!
3. VCDL membership meeting Thursday in Annandale
4. VCDL Lobby Day 2015 page
5. VCDL membership meeting Wed., Jan. 7, in Stafford
6. Another issue with Alexandria - preempted ordinances
7. More details on VCDL's injunction against Fredericksburg
8. VCDL member who was SWATTED in Fairfax will have day in court with alleged offender!
9. Freelance-Star's offensive cartoon
10. VCDL member donates 4 seats on buses for Lobby Day!
11. Articles/Audio on McAuliffe's gun control push (and our push back)
12. Audio of presentation at Alexandria City Council meeting last Saturday
13. Just in time for Christmas - Second Amendment music
14. CDC data appears to be grossly inaccurate on the number of children in emergency rooms because of gunshots

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1. Reminder: VCDL membership meeting TONIGHT in Christiansburg
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CHRISTIANSBURG:  VCDL SUPPER MEETING, Tuesday, December 16

Time: 6:30 PM

Location:

AMELIA’S PIZZERA & RESTAURANT
1130 CAMBRIA ST NE
CHRISTIANSBURG, VA

BUFFET $12.00

Speaker EM John Wilburn

RSVP to al@vcdl.org

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2. More Lobby Day Team Leaders needed!
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December is half over, and we only have half the Team Leaders that we need.  With both the Governor's upcoming attack on gun rights and VCDL's agenda, this year is more important than ever!  If you can lead a team, please contact Bob Sadtler at LobbyDay@vcdl.org.

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3. VCDL membership meeting Thursday in Annandale
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VCDL is having its monthly membership meeting this Thursday, December 18th in Annandale.

We will discuss VCDL Lobby Day, which will be on January 19th.

Be sure to mark your calendar to attend Lobby Day and help VCDL get its message out to YOUR delegate and senator.

As always, the meeting is open to the public, so bring friends, family, and co-workers!

Fellowship starts at 7:30 PM. The meeting is called to order at 8:00 PM and adjourns at 9:30 PM.

Afterward we will go to a local restaurant for continued fellowship.

Carrying is legal at the government center where we hold the meeting.

The address of the meeting is:

Mason District Governmental Center
6507 Columbia Pike
Annandale, VA 22003

For directions more information or directions, go to:

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4. VCDL Lobby Day 2015 page
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For the latest information on Lobby Day, click on this link:

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5. VCDL membership meeting Wed., Jan. 7, in Stafford
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VCDL Meeting in Stafford!

Member Sam Houchins II has arranged a library meeting room for Wednesday, January 7, 2015.  We will be discussing Lobby Day and the upcoming legislative session.  If you have never attended Lobby Day this is the time and place to start!  We will explain the process (it's really very easy) and discuss VCDL's position on the bills that have been submitted.

This year we have Gov. McAuliffe has announced a long list of anti-personal defense bills aimed directly at law abiding citizens.  The best way to defend against these assaults on your freedom is to show up for Lobby Day!  If you have never attended, this is the time.  Join us in Stafford on January 7th to learn just how easy it is to participate in the legislative process.

Place:

Central Rappahannock Regional Library
England Run Branch
806 Lyons Boulevard
Fredericksburg, VA 22406

Time:

6:30 - 7:00 Fellowship
7:00 - 8:45 Meeting
9:00 - ?    Continued fellowship at a local restaurant

RSV:  Pat.Webb@vcdl.org  Please note, the room only holds about 45 people so please RSVP early so that we know if we need to request more space.

As always, VCDL meetings are open to both members and non-members.  Please invite your friends and neighbors to attend.  VCDL is effective because of you, the members!  We hope to see you at a local meeting and count on seeing you at Lobby Day!

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6. Another issue with Alexandria - preempted ordinances
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With Alexandria under the microscope recently, EM John Pierce, prompted by member David Fulleborn, looked at gun ordinances for Alexandria and found a series of them that are no longer valid (13-2-21 through 13-2-27).  One of those ordinances even has a little "Jim Crow" in it (asking about race).

I have left a message with the Alexandria City Attorney's Office and will be following up to get these ordinances repealed by City Council.

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7. More details on VCDL's injunction against Fredericksburg
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In the last VCDL Update we told you about VCDL filing for an injunction against Fredericksburg to try and prevent them from holding what we believe to be a clearly illegal gun buyback.  In that update we noted that the case was lost without ever discussing the merits of the case because the court found that neither VCDL nor Pat Webb had standing to file the suit and that we should have included the person providing the funding as a party.  I misspoke on the last part - we didn't need to sue the funding party, the issue was solely standing.

Because the entire field of law governing causes of action, standing, and jurisdiction is such a detail-oriented area of law, a number of our attorney members emailed us with additional questions.  EM John Pierce, also an attorney, provided the following detailed information to try and answer those questions and explain both the court's ruling and its implication in greater detail.

...

I guess I will start by noting that the issue of whether or not the additional party should have been added to the case was raised by the City but was not a part of the judge's actual decision, which was based solely upon standing.

This may be very confusing to many.  Civil procedure (the requirements for filing a proper suit) is one of the more complex areas of law and this is especially true where a declaratory judgment is being sought.  In our case, we were seeking a temporary injunction, a declaratory judgment, and a permanent injunction.  There are specific statutes that govern each of these action however, these statutes do not, in and of themselves, give rise to a cause of action that the court will recognize.

To quote from the controlling case, Charlottesville Area Fitness Club Operators Ass'n v. Albemarle Cnty. Bd. of Supervisors, 285 Va. 87, 737 S.E.2d 1 (Va., 2013), “The declaratory judgment acts do not create or change any substantive rights, or bring into being or modify any relationships, or alter the character of controversies, which are the subject of judicial power. ... The reason for these rules is that the courts are not constituted, and the declaratory judgment statute was not intended to vest them with authority, to render advisory opinions, to decide moot questions or to answer inquiries which are merely speculative. ... We have previously held that the declaratory judgment statutes may not be used to attempt a third-party challenge to a governmental action when such a challenge is not otherwise authorized by statute.””

In our case, we were arguing that the harm to VCDL, EM Patt Webb, and her business was more than merely speculative and that substantive rights would be impacted by allowing Fredericksburg to hold the buy back in violation of state law.  Furthermore, we were arguing that the text of §15.2-915.5 should be read to grant a private right of action both to those who would be involved in the local legislative process as well as FFLs who would have an interest in the process of bidding on firearms thus put up for auction.

In agreeing with the City, the judge effectively held that no one organization, person, or FFL, even one who might regularly bid on firearms auctions held by cities, would have sufficient standing to challenge a violation of § 15.2-915.5 because it does not give rise to a private cause of action in any circumstance.

To put that in perspective, because § 15.2-915.5 does not have the standing and fee-shifting provision that is contained in § 15.2-915 (which does give rise to a private cause of action), any locality may blatantly violate the statute and there is nothing anyone can do about it.  They are effectively able to spit in the eye of the legislature.

As Philip noted yesterday, it is imperative to get the same 'teeth' in the gun buyback statute that we have in the general preemption statute.  This holding will assist us in that by providing a concrete example of how easily the will of the people, as expressed through the legislature, can be subverted by a locality.

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8. VCDL member who was SWATTED in Fairfax will have day in court with alleged offender!
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Member Robert Dickens, who was SWATTED while making purchase at a 7-11 convenience store, is going to see the person who did that cowardly act to him in court on January 26th in Fairfax.

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9. Freelance-Star's offensive cartoon
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The cartoonist at the Freelance-Star is certainly entitled to his opinion.  The trouble is that his cartoon shows what is purported to be a VCDL member committing a crime by pointing a gun recklessly at someone who is turning in a gun at the Fredericksburg Buy-Up, saying: "Pick up the gun or I'll shoot!"

The same message could easily have been conveyed with out implying we are criminals or are reckless.

Of course, if I was drawing the cartoon it would show a City official telling the VCDL member, "Laws?  We don't obey no stinkin' state laws!"

Here's the cartoon:

or

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10. VCDL member donates 4 seats on buses for Lobby Day!
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VCDL member Lionel M. Lavenue has generously offered to pay for FOUR seats on any of the VCDL buses going to Lobby Day on January 19th.  We thank Mr. Lavenue for his contribution.  If any of you would like to take the bus to Lobby Day, but are on a tight budget right now, let me know by responding to this update.

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11. Articles/Audio on McAuliffe's gun control push (and our push back)
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VCDL is quoted in these first two articles on McAuliffe's gun-control agenda.

Thanks to member Bob Deeds for this link to a Richmond Times Dispatch article:

or

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And thanks to member Michael Chen for this link to a Reutrers article:

or

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Delegate Bob Marshall speaks out on the Governor's gun control agenda in this radio interview:

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Another article and video.  This time Gun Owners of America's Larry Pratt makes a good point.  Thanks to member Billy Huckleberry for the link:

or

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12. Audio of presentation at Alexandria City Council meeting last Saturday
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Audio of my presentation and EM Ed Levine's presentation at last Saturday's Alexandria City Council meeting:

or

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13. Just in time for Christmas - Second Amendment music
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Thanks to member Gil Sanderson for the link:

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14. CDC data appears to be grossly inaccurate on the number of children in emergency rooms because of gunshots
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And with the Democrats triggering the "nuclear option" in the Senate to appoint virulently anti-gun Vivek Murthy as the Surgeon General, we can expect more misinformation coming out of CDC in the future.

From Member Bob Culver:

Regarding  -  VCDL Update 12/8/14, 6. Children and guns (2 part) [VIDEO]

The last line was;  "Every year, 7,000 kids across the nation end up in the ER with a gunshot wound. According to that study by the American Academy of Pediatrics, in most cases the gunshot was accidental."

Checking with the CDC web based statistic inquiry, using the following input  (Unintentional Firearm Gunshot Nonfatal Injuries and Rates per 100,000 2003 - 2013, United States
All Races, Both Sexes, Ages 0 to 14 Disposition: All Cases )

The results are;
Lowest year = 2003 / 231 injuries
Highest year = 2004 / 1135 injuries
Average  =  691 per year  
An important foot note for the table is;  "*Injury estimate is unstable because of small sample size. Use with caution."

Lets add in fatal incidents.  The parameters are slightly changed (2012 is the latest year) to the following.
2002 - 2012, United States
Unintentional Firearm Deaths and Rates per 100,000
All Races, Both Sexes, Ages 0 to 14
ICD-10 Codes: W32-W34

Lowest year = 2006 / 54 deaths
Highest year = 2005 / 75 deaths
Average = 61.55

You would really have to screw up the input parameters to get this CDC data to give you anywhere near 7000 per year in ER's.

It would be an interesting experiment to see just how crazy you would have to get with the data to make it to 7000.

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