Spank That Donkey

I got this email the Virginia Civilian Defense League, and it speaks volumes as to why anti-gunners are not in charge in VA or the USA.  Check it out:

Finally, the wait is over!  Here is the article that was written by a 
reporter who came to the various luncheons and a dinner in the Fairfax 
area that were attended by VCDL members.

Over 100 gun owners participated in the meals, which happened every 
weekend in April.

EM Dave Vann came up with the idea of having a reporter cover the 
meals in order to document that Senator "Banjo" Saslaw was out of 
touch with reality when he made condescending remarks on the Senate 
Floor earlier this year about gun owners being kicked out of any 
restaurant in NoVA where they might try to eat while open carrying.

There were a lot of pictures taken at the events that will be on the 
Internet soon.  We also had a video made by member Matt Gottshalk of 
McGee Digital Media that we will post as soon as it is available.

Since the last meal was a dinner with almost 100 reservations and was 
being held in his district, we had asked Senator Cuccinelli if he 
wanted to attend and speak to the group.  Unfortunately, he was 
speaking at the Virginia Conservative Leadership Conference that same 
night , so he had ex-Delegate Dick Black, a strong supporter of our 
right to keep and bear arms, speak in his stead.

Senator Saslaw couldn't resist showing his elitism, yet again, as he 
takes another swipe at gun owners.  Saslaw even manages to insult 
police officers when he says:

“What normal person walks around with a gun on your hip? Something’s 
wrong in your life if you feel compelled to carry a gun as part of 
your daily routine"

The News Advance changed the headline of the story and the featured 
picture.  The AP's headline was "Guns in Restaurants, like Peanut 
Butter and Jelly" and the AP photo was of VCDL members in a restaurant.

Here is the article:

http://tinyurl.com/536htc

Guns in restaurants draw stares but little outcry

By MATTHEW BARAKAT
Associated Press Writer
Published: May 9, 2008

RESTON, Va. (AP) — The patrons at Champps, an upscale restaurant and 
bar chain, were eating ribs and drinking beer on a recent Saturday 
when customer Bruce Jackson stood up and made an announcement: He was 
armed, and so were dozens of other patrons.

The armed customers stood up in unison, showing off holstered pistols 
and revolvers. Jackson said a word or two about the rights of gun 
owners to carry firearms in Virginia, then thanked everyone for their 
attention and sat down.

And the diners returned to their burgers and Budweisers.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League organized the dinner at Champps 
to prove a point: that the presence of armed customers in northern 
Virginia restaurants would elicit little more than shrugs.

The dinner — and several other restaurant visits throughout northern 
Virginia last month — were a response to comments from the majority 
leader in the state Senate, Democrat Richard Saslaw, who said during a 
legislative debate that armed patrons would be unwelcome in northern 
Virginia restaurants.

“In most urban areas, you walk into a restaurant with a gun on your 
hip, they’re going to tell you to get out,” Saslaw said.

In fact, with a few exceptions, the gun owners got their meals. The 
group went to eight different restarants in April — at two of them, 
they were asked to leave. More often than not, though, their presence 
failed to generate a stir.

All the restaurants were in Fairfax County, a bastion of suburbia and 
soccer moms outside Washington that is the wealthiest county in 
America, according to the most recent Census data. It is also a place 
where nerves over the gun debate are still somewhat raw a year after 
the shootings at Virginia Tech, where 32 people were slain, including 
many from northern Virginia.

The restaurants included numerous family establishments including the 
Fuddruckers burger chain and the McLean Family Restaurant.

“We wanted to prove not only that (Saslaw) was wrong, but we wanted to 
make the point that we have the right to self defense. That’s a God-
given right,” said Dave Vann, a retired D.C. police officer and VCDL 
member who organized the restaurant visits.

In Virginia, gun owners are allowed to carry firearms in bars and 
restaurants that serve alcohol, as long as the restaurant permits it 
and they carry their weapon openly. Legislation to allow concealed 
weapons in restaurants serving alcohol passed the General Assembly 
this year, but was vetoed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.

While Virginia is generally considered friendly to gun owners, it is 
only one of two states along with Montana, that requires people to 
openly carry arms in restaurants that serve alcohol, according to the 
Web site opencarry.org, which promotes and monitors gun owners’ 
rights. Eleven states ban guns altogether in restaurants that serve 
alcohol, while the rest make no distinction between open and concealed 
carry.

At Champps, several patrons failed to notice that so many customers 
were armed, even though dozens of gun-toting men and women had walked 
right past them.

Tomas Nolasco of Reston said he hadn’t noticed the guns and didn’t 
care as long as they weren’t drinking. (They weren’t.) His wife was a 
little more concerned.

“There are families in here, children in here,” Cathy Nolasco said. 
“It bothers me.”

Brendan Fitzgerald of Reston and his friends noticed the guns 
immediately. They were curious but unconcerned.

“I’m just laughing because it’s totally unnecessary in my opinion,” 
Fitzgerald said, pointing to one individual who not only was armed but 
also had several clips of ammunition attached to his belt.

“This is Reston, not Southeast,” said his friend Nathan Dicken, 
contrasting the northern Virginia suburb to a section of the District 
of Columbia that has been known for gun violence.

The gun owners say those patrons’ comments miss the point. Vann said 
the gun owners’ presence make the restaurant more safe, not less. 
Champps’ manager — Carey Vereen, a gun-rights supporter — agreed.

“This is an area with a large population of government agents — FBI, 
CIA, local,” Vereen said. “In terms of people seeing open carry, it’s 
not a shock to our customers.”

Indeed, many of the men who carry weapons say people frequently just 
assume they’re police or retired police.

For women who carry, it’s a different story. At one restaurant — 
Mike’s American Grill — the group had gone essentially unnoticed until 
a woman in her 20s with a satin-finished, stainless-steel revolver got 
up from her table.

The restaurant’s manager spotted her and asked the group to either put 
the guns in their cars or leave. They left.

“When I saw the gun on her hip, I was like, ‘What is going on here?”‘ 
said the manager, Gabba Kaye, who hadn’t noticed the guns when the 
group of 20 checked in for their lunch reservation.

Kaye said he hadn’t received complaints from customers, but that the 
weapons made him uncomfortable. He also said he had been warned by the 
restaurant’s ownership after word got out that VCDL planned a series 
of restaurant visits. He was specifically instructed not to allow them 
service while carrying.

The woman who caught the manager’s attention said the gun always 
attracts notice.

“Every time I go out, I notice people’s eyes going right here,” said 
the woman, pointing to her hip. She de-clined to give her full name 
out of privacy concerns. “It’s interesting because it’s not a reaction 
of fear. It’s more a reaction of ‘You can’t do that. You can’t carry a 
gun.’ ... It’s like disdain.”

She said she only recently began carrying a gun after a string of 
sexual assaults in her Alexandria neighborhood.

The second restaurant that turned the group away was Kilroy’s in 
Springfield — a restaurant where Saslaw was popular enough to once 
have a sandwich named after him. The owner also said he had been aware 
of earlier news reports that the VCDL was planning a series of armed 
lunches.

“We’d just prefer they not come to the restaurant,” said the owner, 
Phillip “Pip” Thomas. “I’m sure it would offend some customers.”

Saslaw said he’s not necessarily surprised that VCDL found restaurants 
in the region that would allow them to dine while armed. But he said 
that carrying guns is simply not normal behavior in this area.

“What normal person walks around with a gun on your hip? Something’s 
wrong in your life if you feel compelled to carry a gun as part of 
your daily routine," he said.

The gun owners bristle at that stereotype. Nearly 100 people attended 
the various lunches and dinners, including many retired military 
personnel. Others were white-collar professionals. While most were 
white men, the group included blacks, Hispanics, Asians and women.

“This isn’t a bunch of drunk rednecks sidling up to a saloon,” said 
Christopher Wu, 28, of Alexandria, carrying a Springfield XD45 pistol.

-------------------------------------------
***************************************************************************
VA-ALERT is a project of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
(VCDL). VCDL is an all-volunteer, non-partisan grassroots organization
dedicated to defending the human rights of all Virginians. The Right to
Keep and Bear Arms is a fundamental human right.

                  VCDL web page: http://www.vcdl.org