Virginia gun lobby pushes for right to drink alcohol while carrying a gun in public.

Think Progress » Virginia gun lobby pushes for right to drink alcohol while carrying a gun in public.

Philip Van Cleave + Guns + Alcohol = sheer stupidity, it's a show in itself....pass the popcorn please.

Patty

By Faiz Shakir on
Apr 27th, 2010 at 3:33 pm

Earlier this month, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed
legislation allowing “concealed
carry permit holders to bring loaded handguns” into establishments
that serve alcohol. The law allows permit holders to carry guns in
restaurants, “as long as the holders do
not consume alcohol.” A leading Virginia gun lobby is now arguing
that the law unfairly stigmatizes gun carriers as second-class citizens
because there is an exception that “allows law-enforcement officers and
commonwealth’s attorneys to carry concealed weapons and consume
alcohol.” Philip Van Cleave, leader of the Virginia Citizens Defense
League, complained, “We’re not allowed to drink, but they (law
enforcement officials) can. … That’s
two classes of citizens.” But Van Cleave has a
solution:

Van Cleave said one proposed bill would allow no one but
an on-duty officer doing undercover work to drink alcohol while carrying
a concealed weapon. The other bill will say that anyone can
carry a concealed gun and drink if they wish, “as long as they are not
drunk.”

“Whatever the General Assembly assumes will apply to everyone,” he
said. “Police officers and permit holders are all in the same
tent; so I say: General Assembly, you choose. But whatever it is, we’re
equal.”

In a letter to McDonnell on behalf of the state’s police chiefs,
Virginia Beach Police Chief Jake Jacocks, Jr. opposed the new law,
arguing: “We can fully expect that at some point in the future a
disagreement that today would likely end up in a verbal confrontation,
or a bar fight, will
inevitably end up with gunfire if you sign this legislation into
law.” The chances of that happening would only increase if the Virginia
gun lobby has its way.