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Virginia Citizens Defense League
Covington VA --(Ammoland.com)- Blacksburg libraries are playing the same game as the Richmond libraries: saying that guns are not allowed in the libraries, “except as permitted by law.”
The law does not permit libraries to ban guns. LIbrary carry is not specifically “permitted,” that’s not how American law works.
This rule in Blacksburg libraries is meant to discourage people from exercising their right to self-defense, plain and simple. Yes, VCDL members know the gun laws and know that the library cannot stop them from carrying.
But such rules confuse everyone else, INCLUDING the police and library staff!
Why doesn’t their list of rules show ALL the other things that you can’t do unless it’s legal? You know, drive a car, possess a camera, wear a hearing aid, wear a green shirt, walk backwards into the library, carry a briefcase…
A few of our EMs open carried in the library last week to make sure the library staff and police know that such carry is legal. No one noticed – I’m not surprised. Perhaps we need a bigger crowd next time?
About:
Virginia Gun Owners Coalition is Virginia’s only no-compromise, non-partisan gun lobby patterned after Gun Owners of America on Capitol Hill. VGOC is a non-profit tax-exempt organization under 501(c)(4) of the IRS code. Because we lobby politicians to protect and defend the 2nd Amendment, contributions are not tax deductible for IRS purposes. Visit: www.vgoc.org
[...] An AmmoLand column, dated October 26, 2012, details efforts of local gun activists to challenge a similar ordinance in their public library. The anonymously written column posits that if the library is going to specifically ban guns, then it should spell out everything that is banned — “Why doesn’t their list of rules show ALL the other things that you can’t do unless it’s legal? You know, drive a car, possess a camera, wear a hearing aid, wear a green shirt, walk backwards into the library, carry a briefcase…”2 This is a pretty unrealistic demand. Does the library also need to ban Anthrax, the Ebola virus, nerve gas, nuclear weapons, flamethrowers, half-decayed corpses, etc.? Some objects clearly present a threat to the public. That should be obvious…especially in Blacksburg, which marked the fifth anniversary of the massacre just this past April. [...]