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1. The Republican 7th District leadership will not bend and neither will we
*******************************************************************Mark your calendars for Saturday, October 17 from 3 PM to 6 PM at Innsbrook in Richmond - the protest is ON!
Today, over a dozen VCDL members and almost everyone else (around 60 people total) at the Goochland Republican luncheon proudly wore "Guns Save Lives" stickers. (Thanks to Dale Welch for getting there early and passing out the stickers.)
Linwood Cobb, the 7th District chairman, spoke at the meeting as planned.
During the question and answer session that followed Linwood's talk, EM Bob Marcellus, EM Patricia Web, Paul Henick, Dale Welch, Don Litton, and I grilled Linwood on the "no guns" policy in effect at the annual Republican Roundup at Innsbrook.
I told Linwood that we would set up a large protest if the venue didn't drop it's "no guns" rule.
Linwood gave us the same lame excuses we have heard over the last three years:
* This is the ONLY location in the 7th District that can accommodate the crowd and offer easy access. No, it isn't.
* The Republicans must win or our gun rights are lost, so we must support holding the event even at an anti-gun location if necessary.
I reminded Linwood that we got "shall issue" carry in 1995 with a Democratically controlled House AND Senate. Heck, for the first time ever, we got the restaurant ban repeal out of the House and Senate and onto the Governor's desk the year the Democrats took over the Senate!
When the Republicans controlled the Senate we could not get the repeal out to save our souls.
Linwood was pounded on trading away a key right for what amounts to convenience for the Party.
As an olive branch, Linwood offered VCDL a booth at the Roundup to reach out to the four thousand expected attendees. I told Linwood that VCDL members standing in a booth with empty holsters, while handing out literature on our right to keep and bear arms in a gun- free zone, is just not acceptable.
He said he would not be swayed, and so neither shall we.
Thanks to the Goochland Republican Party, for supporting VCDL in this matter (as you may recall they put a resolution forward last year that said that Republican events should only be held at gun-friendly venues).
We must make it clear - our rights will NOT be set aside without there being consequences for whichever Party does so.
The protest, with signs and lots of people holding them, is on.
Details are being planned and I will update you over the next few months as the protest coalesces. Soon we will be seeking volunteers so that the protest runs smoothly and successfully.
I expect the press will be there to cover the protest.
I can say this, you aren't going to want to miss this one!
--
Old Virginia News has this coverage, including some photos:
http://tinyurl.com/mmkt3e--
On a side note, I misspelled Delegate Bill Janis's name in a previous alert - my apologies to him.
I misspelled his last name as "Janus," which Dennis O'Connor said was some kind of two-headed god for which the month of January was named...
Now its a sticky
