Today is the day tens of thousands of people will gather in Richmond, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia, to register their contempt for the stated intention of the loathsome humperdink governor – the “Coonman” – and his political allies to impose what is styled by them “sensible gun control.”
What is actually meant by this is the criminalization of the possession of almost all firearms by people who have never committed a criminal act – with a firearm or otherwise. Which raises a very timely question about the wisdom of possessing – or applying for – a permit to carry a concealed handgun.
And not just in Virginia.
Today may be the last day I am at liberty to answer this question openly – if things go south here in the Commonwealth.
I got a permit (noxious in itself as the keeping and bearing of arms is a right – and one ought not to have to ask permission to exercise a right) for what were practical reasons. Viz – to avoid being arrested – or worse – for open-carrying.
This is legal in Virginia – for now.
But in practical terms, it can be dangerous – especially in a car. Let’s say you get pulled over by an AGW for a traffic “violation” (i.e., some trumped up excuse to steal your money) and have a pistol with you. If you haven’t got a CHP, the pistol must be openly carried. That is to say, it must be plainly visible – as on your hip or on the seat beside you. But we live in jumpy – and murderous – times. I do not like the idea of having a gun sitting openly on display when an armed government worker waltzes over to my window. It is very likely the AGW will draw his gun as soon as he sees yours.
And that is a definite threat to my safety.
As a CHP holder, I can conceal the pistol. The AGW will not see it right away – and therefore, the odds of him pulling his gun on me right away are lower. I also tell the AGW – first thing out of my mouth – that I have a CHP and that I am (or am not) armed and how does he wish to proceed?
This – in my experience – reduces tension as the AGWs (at least, those I have dealt with) grok that a CHP holder who has just told them he is a CHP holder is probably not a “threat to his safety.”
In any event, it is less threat to yours – because you’ve clued-in the AGW to the fact of your being armed without him just seeing a loose gun in a car with a person unknown to him, whose intentions are unknown to him.
I also have found that doing it this way can sometimes result in a warning – rather than a mulcting – for whatever you were pulled-over for.
That said, I must also say that it’s troubling – given the times – to know for a fact that the government of the Commonwealth knows I have guns. If the Coonman and his allies do pass laws criminalizing possession of guns (apparently, they intend to criminalize possession of everything except small caliber revolvers and probably those, too) then they will know who to arrest first.
Or at least, search.
Having a current CHP could easily be construed by the Coonman and his courts as probable cause to assume the person has now-illegal guns. And that could provide the legal basis for the door-to-door confiscation scenarios that are no longer easy to dismiss as the paranoid imaginings of the lunatic fringe.
Door-to-door searches (and Hut! Hut! Huttings!) have occurred on similar pretexts – such as the purchase of certain growing supplies, for instance or even the posting of comments deemed “hateful” online.
The Coonman could simply decree that every person in possession in possession of a CHP prove to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth that they no longer possess the now-illegal-to-possess firearms. Receipts/bills of sale or forfeiture to the “appropriate” government agency would have to be provided. Just saying you no longer possess the guns would not be enough.
Or rather, it would be sufficient to send the door-to-door Hut! Hut! Hut! crew to make sure you longer possess the proscribed firearms.
So, it may be wiser to avoid begging for permission to exercise your right which is about to be taken away. In order to be able to exercise your right … when the time comes.
Here you’ll get harassed during a traffic stop if you have a permit whether or not you are carrying.
Had it happen to a neighbor who had just got his permit here (wasn’t carrying yet)…you having a CCW pops up on any cop’s computer when they run your plate.
So he gets harassed by the cops who pulls him over…cops wants to see the (nonexistent) handgun.
I’ve decided I’ll never apply for a CCW permit here because of the above.
Don’t ask, don’t tell.
It’s worked before.
that rally was a waste of time and the gun laws will pass. just a bunch of fat graybeards that all they care about is stock piling guns they will never do anything with and above all prove they are not racists. they are suicidal. to stupid to know that the non white invasion turned the state blue is the reason for the gun laws. nonwhites feel better about taking over when whites are disarmed. RACE is the only reason for the gun laws. the non whites used their racism against white for big positive gains. if whites do not become racist they will be removed for good
Glad you weren’t there to share your enthusiasm!
We had a considerable Penna. contingent on the streets.
‘Yinz Can’t Take It’
I resemble the ‘fat graybeard’ comment…that was 50lbs. ago.
Local law enforcement is not the worry. The mere threat of attempting to pass such legislation brought out thousands to proclaim our rights are not up for negotiation. Even if they do manage to pass such laws, how do they think we will react if they actually attempt to put confiscation into motion? Who is foolish enough to attempt enforcement of such edicts? I have known a lot of police officers in my life and not a single one has claimed they would do so. Do I believe them? Hard to say what someone will do when push comes to shove but what I do know is they want to see their families at the end of the day as much as any of us. They have to live and do business in their respective communities just as we do and they know they cannot afford to make enemies of a large percentage of their own communities. What concerns me is paramilitary or mercenary types brought in from outside the community. This type are practiced experts in guerilla warfare, have no connection or attachments to the community, and have no problem with the idea of action against American citizens to fulfill their contracts and get paid.
Hi JK,
I’ve got little (if any) confidence in AGWs who, after all, already enforce countless tyrannical laws… because “it’s the law.” Obvious examples include seatbelt laws and “safety” checkpoints – both among the most degrading and obnoxious affronts to the concept of liberty imaginable. In the case of seatbelt laws especially precisely because it’s so petty – and yet, they will hold you at gunpoint if you refuse to “comply.” Think about the sort of man willing to do that. It’s the kind of man who would also force you to perform roadside gymnastics, demand (without any probable cause) that you show your “papers” and prove to his satisfaction that you are not “drunk”… while he looks you and your car over for anything he can “bust” you for.
These AGWs will also throw people into cages for “crimes” that harm no one – such as carrying a “concealed” gun without a “permit.”
A few AGWs may not enforce confiscation – if they can avoid it without compromising their paychecks (just as some AGWs will “give you a break” when it comes to traffic enforcement). But most will – as they themselves style it – do their jobs.
Eric,
A VA state trooper called in to Alex Jones’ “Infowars” show right before the rally, and he point blank said that, if the laws are passed, he’ll enforce them. He said that, if he pulls you over and you have an unauthorized gun, then he’d arrest you for it.
I have just never been able to get past the idea of asking permission to defend my life and family.
Reports are that the pro-gun demonstration went well without incident, which is what our side is about. Who really knows what they deployed out there to keep things calm, but, our side doesn’t raise enough hell. On the other hand, this will play out well. I am sure that the MSM will still lie about it.
Hi Swamp,
Amen! I’ve been dreading today as the day something awful would happen… something that would give The Coonman the excuse he needs. Thank god it went off peacefully. The moment has passed. I think Coonman just handed Virginia to the Orange Man!
Um… that would be the the same Orange Man who told the BATF to reverse a previous decision explicitly stating that bump stocks were legal, summarily declaring them illegal by executive order, and telling owners to destroy them or surrender them to the government without compensation or risk a felony charge… right???
Eric –
I’m not sure about that, but we can hope. The Orange Man isn’t perfect. He has some progressive instincts on guns, but his base is largely holding him accountable. It will be interesting to see what happens if he gets a second term.
“Control” of congress is a big deal as well, though it’s uncertain how that would work out. If the Dems maintain control of the House, it will continue to be a stalemate. If he gets a GOP congress and starts working with progressive elements in it to enact some gun control in the event of some shooting, then all hell is going to break loose.
I despise the Coonman. I don’t know how those morons voted for that ferret. I smell some stupid hand to mouth idiot voting and also some outright election fraud.
The orange man isn’t perfect is an understatement. He’s hanging on to red flag laws. He’s not about to rescind his EO banning bumpstocks.
Yeah, when needed he says he supports the 2A but he doesn’t say it comes with all sort of hoops you have to jump through.
Take me back to the 80s and 90’s when I openly had an AR and an Uzi in the floorboard of the Elco, when I carried auto pistols in the open and occasionally carried them in my inside jacket pocket.
I was shooting pool at a private home with my black jacket on and a BDA in the inside pocket. When we left, my SIL’s ex said I had freaked out the woman of the house. Funny, she didn’t act freaked out to me. Then he asked why I carried a auto in my pocket. Because it doesn’t do me any good at the house I replied. City boys are sometimes ignorant of the way of the world…..or maybe it was just him. Fast forward a couple years and he had several handguns to choose from when going out.
Maybe all those killings every day in the Dallas Morning News made him think twice about where he hung out. Hell, they once lived in Oak Cliff and somehow survived.
Democrats, as witnessed by a hidden video recorder at the Coonman’s HQ, see themselves as intelligent(to the point of not being questioned), and sophisticated(to the point of being bulletproof). They’re stupid people who know no history and evidently don’t even read the paper.
I got pulled over by the DPS once when I was 21(probably a dozen times or moro when I was 21)and this ossifer is searching the car as if he had the right. Well, he was armed and I wasn’t, or didn’t realize I was.
He pulls out a revolver between the passenger seat and console, holds it up and says in a really nasty, sarcastic way “What’s this?” I said “Looks like a revolver to me”. It was legal so there was little he could do except give me a ticket for the new mufflers on my car.
The wife and a friend and I were headed to the liquor store on the high plains to Nazareth(for god’s sake), the only wet county for a hundred miles.
We passed a DPS near the store and coming back, he stopped us(diry long=haird hippie commies). He wanted my license I showed him. He and his partner looked my car over good. Clean as a whistle, sparkling even. So he asked if I had a key to the trunk. Weird question to me. Of course I do I said. So we had a stare-down. He finally said really nastily “Well, Ooopen it”. Why he didn’t just say that to begin with only he knows…..or not. I opened the trunk and it looked just like it did the day the car rolled off the showroom floor with the addition of a toolbox, clean as a whistle.
He finally let us go although he wasn’t pleased. I knew what to do. Once out of sight I nailed it and ran about 140 for 20 miles or so. Then I slowed down since I knew I was beyond where they thought I could be. I was an old hand at this ploy.
Yeah, I trust those guys like I trust a rattler roaming the house.
So they arrested a lady for a bandana over her face but all the state troopers stood there in a line wearing face masks.
I really do hope that Virgina LEOs stand strong with both the US and Virginia Constitutions. The Commonwealth has a very heavily-armed citizen population, home to active duty military and veterans as well.
If it goes hot, nothing with a badge or police lights will be safe. Let us hope that civil disobedience, good LEOs, Promise-Keeper troops will keep things cool and a post-Heller/ MacDonald supreme court decision rolls back what the wannabe-despot is trying to do.
I always had the idea that announcing intentions to get weapons was a bad idea. I don’t envy you, Eric. What is happening to VA real estate. It must be starting to drop. I wish the counties surrounding Richmond would break off to join WVA as I have heard about. I doubt it will happen, though.
Looks like Governor Buckwheat has don’t the Monster Mash on his crank with this one. I predict that his over-reach will flip the Virginia government back to the good kind of Red on the next election.
Having a carry permit which can be voided or priced out of reach upon renewal isn’t much “legal” protection. And as bigoted against guns as those tyrants are, how long until they do that?
Setting up a “system” where people can v*te on the rights of others is always going to go badly for liberty. I don’t care how it’s set up. Supporting political government is supporting this outcome– every time.
I live far from Virginny but I know some people who are going to Richmond today. I may have a report from one of them on my blog in the next few days if he writes it as he says he will try to do. I also wrote a piece on the VA anti-gun mess, which you can find at “blog dot kentforliberty dot com” (Sunday, January 19, 2020).
” I also tell the AGW – first thing out of my mouth – that I have a CHP and that I am (or am not) armed and…”
That alone will get you killed in some jurisdictions, and the cop will get away with it.
” I also tell the AGW – first thing out of my mouth – that I have a CHP and that I am (or am not) armed and…”
That alone will get you killed in some jurisdictions, and the cop will get away with it.
*****
That didn’t work out so well for Philando Castile did it?
That’s what I was referring to …
I regret that I must say something here that is probably going to be regarded as controversial, but the changes occurring in Virginia are the direct result of demographics.
The New York Times openly gloated that nonwhites and immigrants flipped Virginia Democratic last November. They interviewed a Subcontinental Indian immigrant who got citizenship, registered to vote, and cast his first vote for Democrats specifically for gun control:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/09/us/virginia-elections-democrats-republicans.html
White people are not reproducing in sufficient numbers to keep their population stable, but immigrants and minorities are multiplying like rabbits, and they vote their race and their ethnicity.
Beyond that, the Speaker of the General Assembly is the first Jew in Virginia’s 400+ years to hold that position. She is not a Virginian, but a New Yorker who moved to Fairfax to suck off the teat of the Federal Leviathan in D.C. Her first legislative priority as Speaker is to cram New York City gun control down the throat of the Commonwealth.
White people are afraid to recognize these plain facts because they are afraid of being called “racist” by the media, but the political left is is very vocally and unabashedly anti-white and pro-minority. Yet Governor “Coonman” has no shame; despite his Klan robes and blackface of 30 years ago, he has sided with nonwhites to sell the Bill of Rights down the river because he can see what the demographic, and hence political, future is.
This is a losing game for people who believe in the Bill of Rights. It may be too late to even bother mentioning this now, but remember, the Bill of Rights was written by James Madison, a white Virginian, and the preamble to the Constitution he framed states that it is written for “ourselves and our posterity.”
Not for Third Worlders or Middle Eastern tribes.
The fact that the GOP failed to contest 30 of the VA state races didn’t help matters any! IOW, in 30 of the VA races, the Dems ran unopposed, which means that they won by default. One house of the VA legislature has what, a 5 seat Dem majority? The other one has a one seat majority. Had the GOP CONTESTED those 30 races, they might have retained control, thus avoiding what’s happening in VA…
Elliot Ness was incompetent. He tried to get enough evidence to convict Capone on Volstead Act, but wasn’t able to convince a judge. So they sic’ed the IRS (the only competent federal agency) on him instead. This established the standard for modern law.
So many of these proposals are put out there for the benefit of district attorneys. Not because they want to take away guns, but because they want to run up their conviction numbers. Can’t get the actual crime to stick? That’s OK, we’ll convict on unregistered gun possession.
It’s a trap!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GBvhZgmYPY