In a North vs. South redux, Virginia and New York battle it out..

[Virginia Dare]

over guns...


RICHMOND, May 15 -- Fairfax County Attorney David P. Bobzien and prosecutors have concluded that it might be illegal for a gun-rights group to raffle off weapons and ammunition inside a county building Thursday night in Annandale, according to an e-mail obtained Tuesday.

Bobzien's opinion throws into doubt whether the Virginia Citizens Defense League will be able to go through with its plans for a "Bloomberg Gun Giveaway," which is designed to protest the effort by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (R) to crack down on illegal gun sales in Virginia. Bloomberg maintains that illegal gun sales in Virginia contribute to violent crime in New York.

The raffle, designed to raise money for two Virginia gun dealers being sued by the City of New York, has drawn international attention to Virginia's gun laws. New York has filed lawsuits against six Virginia gun shops that the city contends sold guns illegally to undercover agents.

Passions are strong. Supervisor Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason), who has been trying to stop the drawing, said a man with a gun holstered on his hip startled her staff when he showed up at her office Monday demanding to talk about her opposition to the raffle. Such gun-toting is legal in Virginia.

"That is how crazy it is getting: People openly carrying weapons will come to my office demanding to see me," Gross said. "It is an intimidating tactic, and I don't have to see them


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502676.html

An employee in Bob Moates Sport Shop put up the pictures to symbolize the showdown over gun sales that Moates likens to David vs. Goliath, big-city mayor vs. small-town businessman, town vs. country, North vs. South.

"I don't think he really understands. And I don't think he's capable of understanding, because he's never grown up in a society of hunting and fishing where firearms are used every day," Moates said of Bloomberg.

Gun owners have rallied around Moates, and the conflict will come to a head in a Fairfax County-owned building tonight, when those supporters hold a raffle to help Moates in his fight against Bloomberg. For the gun owners, the showdown is about a way of life they see as increasingly under attack.

"We are trying to send a message back to Bloomberg that gun ownership is a proud part of Virginia heritage," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which organized the raffle. Through a spokesman, Bloomberg declined to comment.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/16/AR2007051601893.html

The dispute over Bloomberg's tactics follows the Virginia Tech massacre, which left 33 people dead April 16. The day after the shooting, a columnist for the New York Daily News wrote, "Still love those guns, Virginia?"

The tabloids in New York and Europe also seized on suggestions from Virginia gun-rights groups and some lawmakers that the shooting could have been prevented had students been allowed to carry weapons on campus. A London Mirror columnist wrote, "The redneck response to the Virginia Tech massacre could not have been more haunting had it been hollered to the accompaniment of duelling banjos . . . The gun-worshipers' solution to America's serial school-slayings is clear. Arm the kids."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051502676.html

[blueworld]

1. So Bloomers & his $ think VA is the main problem in NYC?

VA gun laws undoubtedly need revision, but why would Bloomers think it's his job to fight crime & immorality all over the country? Hasn't he got enough to do in NYC & with his backstage PR stunts to test the waters for a presidential run?

Is he unaware of similar lax gun statutes in the midwest or say, Texas? Surely he can afford the longer distance since he thinks his money can buy him anything - to prove his devotion to whatever cause, he always volunteers it as if it were a badge of honor.

There are many of us in VA working to improve our beautiful state. We neither want nor need his help, and if we set up a bus trip to come review NY & all it's problems, Bloomers would call out the cops at the bridges.

STFU, Bloomers babe. VA isn't screwing your firemen, your budget or your poorly educated children. Guns aren't responsible for the dope being sold on the main streets of all 5 boroughs, nor your corruption or your water problems. Bloom where you're planted. :mad: :mad: