Posted on 03/21/2010 5:40:41 PM PDT by marktwain
FALLS CHURCH, Va. - About 60 gun rights activists gather in a pizzeria in the Virginia suburb of Falls Church, just outside of Washington DC, their firearms openly displayed in waist holsters.
They are celebrating what they expect will be the successful enactment in Virginia of legislation expanding gun rights for residents. Republican Governor Bob McDonnell has pledged to sign the measure.
With gun control legislation stalled at the federal level in Congress, a number of states have taken matters into their own hands to make it easier for residents to pack heat.
As many as 43 states already have some form of open-carry laws that allow citizens to carry firearms in plain view.
"Gun laws (authorizing openly carrying weapons) and popularity of gun ownership have been going up considerably," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, carrying a .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol strapped to his belt.
Many gun rights proponents feared that President Barack Obama's administration would take steps to curb gun ownership, but Van Cleave said this has not happened.
In fact, says John Pierce, co-founder of the pro-gun group Opencarry.org, Obama "has done more for us than anybody in recent history," by spurring gun owners to organize at the grassroots level. Also positive, they said, was Obama's decision to allow guns on Amtrak trains and national parks.
"There is absolutely no reason for gun owners to feel insecure at this point," he said.
According to some estimates, roughly 200 million guns are in circulation in the United States in a population of just over 308 million.
Only seven states ban the carrying of firearms openly.
(Excerpt) Read more at vancouversun.com ...
Does anyone doubt that gun control will now be an issue with this healthcare bill passing? After all, because gang members are shooting each other, naturally, owning a gun or ammunition is now a health issue and taxes must be iomposed, along with identification when purchasing ammo.
It’s next.
Americans can carry guns and do not have problems acting with restraint and good judgement in relation to the weapons they carry.
There is a difference.
Beware America. We are in the process of becoing cuturally Balkanized. And when the Palestinian immigrants who support Hamas start arriving here in the USA they will also have 2nd amendment rights.Think about that.
We should not be allowing them to come.
“”There is absolutely no reason for gun owners to feel insecure at this point,” he said. “
... then placed his head back in the sand.
Idiot.
“Does anyone doubt that gun control will now be an issue with this healthcare bill passing?”
None whatsoever.
It’ll become a ‘reason for rising health care costs’ that the government will no longer be able to permit.
Hillary started it off already signing the UN Small Arms Treaty for the US.
It’s one of the next things to go. The idiot that they interviewed is dumber than a bag of carrots.
I am quite certain that the “at this point” was emphasized when he said it. The gentleman quoted knows the threat quite well and has done a good bit to combat it.
With such dangerous persons in the WH and Congress, the divisions are more likely to be between the socialists and those out of power.
This is one dumbass statement. If anything, this is the time to redouble efforts.
But the dangerous people of whom you speak are about to vreate a screen of a series of engineered crisis in order to seize absolute dictatorial power. That is their goal.
Pulic unrest-repeal of 2nd amendment and martial law. That is coming.First they need to ruin the economy, which is just about done.
I always get a kick out of the pseudo-statistic that there are approx. 90 million gun owners in the U.S., who own 200 million firearms.
Hell, within 4 feet of me, in the safe, are over 10 firearms.
Apparently, I have some other people’s shares.
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