Below is an email I received from Phillip Van Cleave the head of the VCDL (Virginia Civil Defense League). 

Last week I was interviewed by Mark Bowes, a reporter with the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He was investigating what affect the repeal of the ban on carrying concealed handguns into restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages has had in its first year.

Basically the result was as predicted by VCDL and other pro-liberty organizations for years now - there were no shootouts over undercooked tuna with other patrons diving for cover AND some violent crimes committed in restaurants, in fact, declined.

All that whining and fear mongering by the other side was proven to be nothing but their usual paranoid fantasies. Every time VCDL tries to expand the rights of gun owners in any direction, it is always the same "end-of-the-world" prophecies from liberty-haters. And they are methodically proven wrong each and every time.

That's the only play they have in their playbook, so we'll see it again next year as VCDL keeps moving the ball forward.

Unfortunately things weren't perfect. There were two incidents in the first year involving permit holders. One was where a permit holder who, in trying to pay for a beer, proceeded to shoot himself in the leg as he pulled money from a pocket that was shared with his concealed gun. He won't find any sympathy from me on a variety of fronts, including breaking the law and putting a handgun that probably was not holstered into a pocket full of other items. At least the only person who was hurt was the permit holder.

The other incident was an intoxicated permit holder who intentionally drew attention to the outline of a concealed handgun in his pocket, leaving the waitress feeling threatened. There is no excuse for that kind of behavior, so, again, I have no sympathy.

While these two events were frustrating, one has to look at them in perspective - there are almost 1/4 MILLION permit holders in Virginia! Neither event was a violent crime, but more along the lines of foolishness with some stupidity thrown in for good measure. No innocents were hurt and the law worked, as both permit holders were punished.

Here is the article, WITH A POLL. I have inserted a few comments in the story:

From the Richmond Times-Dispatch: http://tinyurl.com/3svxsns

Gun crimes drop at Virginia bars and restaurants

By Mark Bowes

Virginia's bars and restaurants did not turn into shooting galleries as some had feared during the first year of a new state law that allows patrons with permits to carry concealed guns into alcohol-serving businesses, a Richmond Times-Dispatch analysis found.

The number of major crimes involving firearms at bars and restaurants statewide declined 5.2 percent from July 1, 2010, to June 30, 2011, compared with the fiscal year before the law went into effect, according to crime data compiled by Virginia State Police at the newspaper's request.

And overall, the crimes that occurred during the law's first year were relatively minor, and few of the incidents appeared to involve gun owners with concealed-carry permits, the analysis found.

A total of 145 reported crimes with guns occurred in Virginia bars and restaurants in fiscal 2010-11, or eight fewer than the 153 incidents in fiscal 2009-10. State police track all murders, non-negligent manslaughters, aggravated assaults, forcible sex crimes and robberies in more than two dozen categories, including "bars/nightclubs" and "restaurants."

"The numbers basically just confirm what we've said would happen if the General Assembly changed the law," said Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League, which strongly lobbied for the law's change that made Virginia one of 43 states to allow concealed guns in restaurants that serve alcohol. "It's sort of a big yawn. So from my point of view, none of this is surprising."

"Keep in mind," Van Cleave added, "what the other side was saying — that this was going to be a blood bath, that restaurants will be dangerous and people will stop going. But there was nothing to base the fear-mongering on."

State Sen. A. Donald McEachin, D-Henrico, who was a strong opponent of the law, said it's not clear what conclusions can be drawn from just a year's worth of data.

"Most folks obey the law, and that's a good thing," said McEachin, who remains staunchly opposed. "But I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out that just like drinking and driving doesn't mix, guns and drinking don't mix." [PVC: People drink and drive legally all the time. Being intoxicated is the issue. Hopefully the good Senator has actually read the law he is speaking about and understands that it prohibits drinking while carrying concealed with a CHP, making his sweeping generalization nonsensical.]

David Rittgers, an attorney and decorated former Army special forces officer who is now a legal policy analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the growing number of states that are adopting concealed-carry measures like Virginia's have seen no appreciable rise — and in some cases a decline — in violent crime.

"The worst that you can say about these laws is that they are statistically value neutral" in terms of impacting the crime rate, Rittgers said.

Rittgers said states that have enacted such concealed-carry legislation — "even when they've done some relatively restrictive provisions upfront" — have relaxed those over time "because of the lack of violent incidents that might be connected with persons carrying concealed (weapons) with a permit."

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