Probably not -- after all, they want to grab your guns, and the mere fact that these police officers and city officials violated Virginia law and the Second Amendment won't bother them a bit.

More than 100 gun-rights advocates, most carrying handguns on their hips and wearing buttons saying "Guns Save Lives," came to the City Council on Tuesday night to protest what they called harassment of law-abiding gun owners by city officials.

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The protest was called by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun-rights group, after Chet Szymecki of Yorktown was arrested in June at Harborfest for carrying a gun.

Szymecki was arrested for violating a city ordinance banning guns at Harborfest - an ordinance that officials now acknowledge violates state law. City Attorney Bernard A. Pishko said city officials were unaware of a state law prohibiting localities from banning guns.

Carrying a weapon openly is legal in Virginia, even at a large gathering such as Harborfest. Once city officials realized their error, the charges against Szymecki were dropped.

"We made a mistake," Councilman Barclay C. Winn said. "It was unintentional."

Most who came to protest didn't appear to believe it was an innocent mistake.

"You know it was illegal," said Dave Vann, who drove from Falls Church to speak. "You arrested someone, and now it's going to cost you dearly."

Szymecki, a Navy veteran, said he was manhandled and hurt and that his wife, Deborah, his three children and two other children who accompanied them were traumatized. He said he has hired Norfolk attorney Stephen Merrill.

An emotional Deborah Szymecki told the council that after several police officers were done handcuffing her husband, she was left without money or the keys to the family car.

Others rose to describe incidents in which they said they were questioned and often handcuffed by police for simply carrying a firearm openly.

"Apparently you have some officers who don't understand the law," said the president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Philip Van Cleave of Midlothian.

Most distressing is that one member of the city council, Paul R. Riddick, left the meeting rather than hear what mere citizens had to say on the issue of the police violating state law via their thuggish conduct in enforcing an illegal city ordinance. Such arrogance, of course, is why this incident was able to happen in the first place.

But then again, maybe we shouldn't expect protests by liberals and outraged coverage by the press over the violations of right and official arrogance in Virginia Beach. After all, these are loyal, law-abiding American citizens of a conservative bent whose rights have been violated -- and since they are not border-jumping immigration criminals or terrorist-affiliated enemy combatants, their rights will not be seen as relevant by reporters or leftards.

Posted by: Greg at 10:17 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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