Answer to the Roanoke Times

http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/trejbal/wb/wb/xp-108160

So, if I understand correctly, the Roanoke Times had a list of ALL the CCP (Concealed Carry Permit) holders in the Commonwealth? I guess I made the internet paper then!

This goes to show why the pro-gun lobby is always so adamant in its efforts to curtail ANY type of registration. This time it wasn't the government that exploited a list, it was the free press, our guardian of a free society.

The real problem with the anti-gun coalitions is that they just don't trust their fellow man. They think that all men are inherently evil and therefore will succumb to the seduction of power and abuse their position to overpower or harm their fellow citizen.

Sadly, episodes such as this editorial add weight to their position. One little man with a vendetta against gun ownership has wielded much harm. The sad part is, they rarely recognize the evil they have committed as such. They feel they did it for the good of mankind.

The liberal thinks he is smarter than the average bear. He thinks that because of his superior intellect, he has some God-given right to tell others how to live and how to do things (no, scratch that, can't be God that gave it to him in this existential wasteland - must be nature or... something). Because he is smarter, because he knows better, because nature - or whatever - has given him this right, he becomes a crusader and will use any resource to accomplish his goal. His Machiavellianism leads to things such as publicly exposing those he wants to lord over, or manipulating statistics on crimes in concealed carry states or even overtly lying to those of us whom he perceives as, well, just plain dumber than the average bear. The liberal becomes inherently evil and therefore will succumb to the seduction of power and abuse his position to overpower or harm his fellow citizen.

But the tides turn and the people eventually wake up and begin to recognize that they have been deceived. After years of constant refutation by the pro-gun camp of faulty statistics and fraudulent reports on handgun crime, the people finally realize that they were being duped and then the real evil of the world is exposed. The evil is not the guns or most of those who carry them. It is those who prey on the weak and the ones who insist the weak stay helpless.

Trejbal's own article states that there are 135,789 of us carrying concealed weapons. We do not rampage. We do not fly off the handle in traffic. We do not have "itchy trigger fingers." 135,789 carrying concealed and we still live in peace. Go figure. And we feel safe to boot.

I didn't see the list but if it was accurate, I was on it. I’m not a cop, or a bounty hunter, or an abused spouse or a vet with a high security clearance job. I’m just an average Joe looking to keep myself and my family safe from those who would do us harm and I consider myself fortunate to live in a Commonwealth that helps afford me that ability without fear of prosecution. The Roanoke Times may have actually inspired the legislature of this fine Commonwealth to action. Already the Attorney General has placed a temporary stop to sharing the CCP list to any but law enforcement and it may end up resulting in Alaska carry in Virginia.
http://www.rcfp.org/news/2007/0409-foi-access.html

Mr. Trejbal may have heard from the locals when he first moved to Roanoke, "We don't care how you did it back home." Really, we don't. You moved to the very womb of the American Democratic system when you came to Virginia. I like to think we still have some common sense here for the most part. We will not long tolerate evil once it is recognized. We still fly a flag that states, "Sic Semper Tyrannis."

Even if you were smarter, we still wouldn't let you tell us what to do.

- Clint