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Charles Alexander Diez / Asheville Citizen-Times

We last looked at the case of Charles Alexander Diez, the firefighter/gunslinger back in July, when he stopped his car to threaten a bicyclist.

When cyclist Alan Simons tried to walk away, Diez aimed his pistol at Simons' helmet and pulled the trigger -- in front of the Simons' 3-year-old son, who was riding with him.

Diez hit the helmet, but the bullet missed Simons' skull by an inch.

Thursday, with 30 supporters in an Asheville courtroom with him, Diez pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill. A judge sentenced him to 120 days in jail.

Diez lost his job in August.

The verdict/sentence has sparked bike-blogger outrage across the land.

Abusing The Privilege says Diez has been a concealed carry permit holder since 2007.

Big Jonny at DrunkCyclist fired up a fine froth of eloquence and anger:

This time, Diez chose to pull over, he chose to wrap his hand around the grip that firearm, he chose to point his gun at Simon, and he chose fire a round at Simon’s head.

Right in front of the man’s family.

You’d think at this point the motorist has really crossed a line. That he has clearly attempted to kill another man. You might also think that society cannot tolerate such behavior. That this man should be punished for his action, for the choices he made that day, the choices that very nearly left a young boy fatherless.

You might think that, but you’d be wrong.

Bull City Cycling weighed in with a tongue-twisting string of unkind (and hyphenated!) nicknames, and added this:

There's only one reason that Diez shot Simons: Simons was riding a bike, and Diez therefore saw him as less-than-human, so much so that Diez didn't think twice about discharging his deadly weapon at the man.

Sorry to bring you down folks, but it gets worse: by failing to punish him to the full extent of the law, the judge affirmed this belief, essentially saying: "yes, it was bad what Diez did, but can't we all understand?"

Meanwhile, xena at the DC Tri Club Forum jumped in with a succinctly headlined post: Cars don't kill cyclists. Guns kill cyclists.

Erik Ryberg at Tucson Bike Lawyer noted:

I often have to tell my clients that bicyclists are basically hated by a large segment of the public, and must not expect the same treatment by juries, judges, arbitrators, and insurance adjusters that a motorist would receive. If you get hit from behind while on a bike, for example, you are going to be declared to have swerved in front of the vehicle until proven otherwise. Not so if you are a motorist.

And it seems that if you are shot in the head by a firefighter, you shouldn’t expect sympathy either.

In Nashville, Green Fleet Messengers put it this way, under a post headlined: Motorist Shoots Cyclist for his own Good:

Here is another reason to wear a helmet … in case someone shoots at you!!!

Yesterday a motorist shot at a cyclist in Asheville, North Carolina.  Reason for shooting?  The shooter was “upset” because the cyclists was biking on a busy road with his child.  (the kid was in a kiddie seat).   What a humanitarian.

Last but not least, You are the Engine takes U.S. gun laws to task:

Now, I don’t want to say that gun laws in the US are totally f***ed (read: gun laws in the US are totally f***ed), but Diez was recently sentenced to just 120 days in prison.  You read that correctly.  He shot at a man’s head with a child right beside him, plead guilty to “assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill,” and he will go to jail for 4 months.

Like I said, insane. And f***ed.

Colin Goddard was one of the survivors of the Virginia Tech massacre. After graduation, he worked as a volunteer for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, and he's now a paid staffer there.

This past summer, Goddard took a little trip to four gun shows in four states, where he and/or an associate purchased handguns and semiautomatic rifles from unlicensed sellers with no background check, no ID.

The resulting video is rather eye-opening: guns for cash with few questions asked.

The video is part of the Brady Campaign's efforts to close the so-called "gun show loophole," in which licensed sellers are required to perform "instant" background checks on handgun buyers, but unlicensed individuals who sell firearms there are not.

As others on this blog have already noted, some person-to-person gun transactions already happen that way. (Depending on the state, often those transactions are supposed to require ID and a minimum age).

Goddard isn't the only Virginia Tech survivor who's taking an activist stance on the proliferation of guns.

Last week, survivor Elita Habtu wrote a column in the Collegiate Times about how easy it is to get a concealed-carry permit in Virginia. Even if you've never touched a gun.

Joshuashearn/Wikicommons

One theory of the free-enterprise system holds that when capitalist A develops an in-demand product or service, he/she can pretty much set the price and reap a tidy profit -- at least until capitalist B comes along with a similar offering.

And I have no doubt that Bob Marcus, the owner of the Concealed Carry Institute, has been raking it in with all the publicity yours truly has been giving his nifty handgun diploma mill. (Bob, if you're reading this, you ought to make a sizable donation in my name to a charitable organization. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence works for me).

In terms of online concealed-carry courses, we now have Capitalist B. American Firearms Training offers a online streaming video course with which you can earn a certificate good enough to meet the "competence requirement" of Virginia's concealed-carry permit law.

Read more »

Here's a case that likely would never happen in America:

A British man was convicting of possessing a sawed-off shotgun -- which he found discarded in his yard -- when turned it into police. From This is Surrey Today:

A former soldier who handed a discarded shotgun in to police faces at least five years imprisonment for "doing his duty".

Paul Clarke, 27, was found guilty of possessing a firearm at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday – after finding the gun and handing it personally to police officers on March 20 this year.

The jury took 20 minutes to make its conviction, and Mr Clarke now faces a minimum of five year's imprisonment for handing in the weapon.

Law professor Jonathan Turley says it's a case that cried out for jury nullification.

The judge disagreed. He said "The intention of anybody possessing a firearm is irrelevant."

Gosh, this is as wrongheaded and dumb as granting concealed-carry permits to people who have never touched a handgun before. And btw: I'm not the only one who did THAT.

Thank you, Jason, for the tip!

The certificate I "earned" in an online course back in July

Elita Habtu, who was shot and gravely injured during the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, recently obtained a Virginia concealed handgun permit.

However, it appears she did it not in the name of self-defense, but to demonstrate the idiocy of a state law, introduced by our soon-to-be Virginia attorney general, that allows permit applicants to meet the Virginia's handgun "competence" requirement with an inexpensive online video course.

Just like me, Habtu had never touched a handgun before she got her Virginia-issued concealed carry permit.

She has a great column about it in today's Collegiate Times:

The “training” I received was simply to watch a 30-minute instructional video on handgun safety and to successfully answer 15 out of the 20 questions on the multiple-choice test. The following is a question that actually appeared on my test:

When talking about semi-automatic handguns, the magazine is:
a) A brochure that describes the firearm
b) An instruction manual for the firearm
c) The part of the firearm that holds ammunition
d) The mechanism that puts the firearm on safety

Pretty tough question, eh? It's the same kind of thing you might hear Jay Leno ask in one of his funny, man-on-the-street TV show bits.

But it serves to make the point that Sen. Ken Cuccinelli has helped turn the "competence" requirement in Virginia's concealed carry law into a joke.

Predictably, the pro-gun folks are coming after Habtu in lots of comments.

Check it out, folks. The column is worth a read.

Just when you thought you'd heard of everything, along comes something like this. NJ.com has the story:

There is “no reason” James Cap, a quadriplegic who is physically unable to hold a gun or pull a trigger, should be denied a firearms ID card — a requirement for the purchase of any gun in New Jersey, a judge in Somerville said today.

. . . When he buys a gun, Cap will be able to shoot with the help of a friend, who can put his firearm in a special wheelchair mount. A mechanical device will allow him to aim and fire with breaths through a tube.

. . . It’s being hailed a victory for gun rights by the National Rifle Association, which had condemned Peltack’s initial denial.

“I think it’s a victory for common sense, at the very least,” said Darren LaSorte, the manager of hunting policy for the NRA’s lobbying arm, who added he’s still offended that Cap was denied his right to a gun at all.

"Common sense, at the very least."

What else would you expect the NRA folks to say?

Below, Gonzo blogger Lynda K has her own take:

This is beyond disturbing. What's next? Blind airline pilots? Limbless firefighters? Pedophile kindergarten teachers?

This notion that we should all be allowed to do anything we want, regardless of our actual capabilities, is absurd.

Wikimedia Commons

This is a big week for the Virginia Tech chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus.

It’s Defense Education Week, and the SCCC, which has 100 to 200 members, has organized a week’s worth of seminars and gatherings in support of concealed carry on Virginia college campuses.

Last night’s featured speaker was Philip Van Cleave, president of the pro-gun Virginia Citizens Defense League.

Monday I spoke to Ken Stanton, 32, a serious-sounding engineering grad student and the vice president of the Virginia Tech SCCC chapter.

Here’s his argument in favor of guns on campus:

“We’ve had a couple years since [the April 16, 2007 massacre]  to discuss this issue, to do research, to discuss this with legislators,” Stanton told me. “We have not found a single argument that says we should not allow it.”

Stanton’s chief contention is a familiar one: law-abiding handgun permit holders should have the right to defend themselves from gun-toting bad guys.

Right now at Virginia Tech, where guns are banned, “We have no chance. We literally are sitting ducks. We’re seeing way too much evidence of that,” Stanton said.

Though his argument sounds simple, it has some interesting implications.

Read the rest of the column here.

Joshuashearn/Wikicommons

Whether you think it's a good idea or not, it's a safe bet that concealed carry in bars (and restaurants that serve alcohol) will be a reality in Virginia next year.

Is it possible that concealed carry on campuses will be, too?

Such as, for instance, at Virginia Tech -- the scene of the worst campus massacre in this history of this country?

Yes, predicts Ken Stanton, a columnist for Virginia Tech's student newspaper,  The Collegiate Times:

I’m making a bold prediction: this year, the bill will pass to allow state-permitted individuals to carry on Virginia’s public campuses; next week, we will be making the case for it.

November 9 – 14 is Defense Education Week, hosted by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus at colleges across the country, where the issue will be brought forward as we advocate for self-defense rights on campus. The argument is simple: there are no grounds to deny the right to carry on campus lawfully and responsibly for the purpose of self-defense.

That debate is coming tonight to Virginia Tech tonight and for the rest of the week.

The Tech chapter of Students for Concealed Carry on campus is bringing Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, to a forum tonight at 7 p.m. in McBryde 129. The public is invited. So are pro-gun-control students.

I spoke with Stanton, an engineering grad student, Monday around lunchtime.   He's the vice-president of the Tech chapter of Students for Concealed Carry. He estimates its membership at 100 to 200 students.

Here's the schedule for the other events the group has organized this week.

More about this in my column Tuesday.

My colleagues here in the newsroom just broke a story about the background of former Vinton, Va. resident Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. It's on Roanoke.com, and you can find it here.

One interesting note, among many: Hasan was issued a Virginia concealed handgun permit by the Roanoke County Circuit Court in 1996.

We hear a lot of rabble-rousing from the gun fanatics, but we don't often hear how average Virginia voters feel on subjects such as closing the 'gun show loophole' and concealed-carry in bars.

A new poll by The Virginian Pilot provides some enlightenment on those issues.

Huge majorities of average voters in the state WANT a law to close the 'gun-show loohole' and they DON'T WANT the General Assembly to enact ridiculous legislation to legalize concealed weapons in bars:

The survey, conducted by Christopher Newport University's Judy Ford Wason Center for Public Policy, found that eight of every 10 likely voters interviewed wanted to change a state law that allows someone to buy a firearm from an unlicensed seller at a gun show without first undergoing a criminal background check.

. . .A strong majority of those polled - 68.4 percent - also do not want Virginia to allow people with concealed-weapons permits to bring their firearms into eateries that sell alcohol. More than a quarter of those surveyed - 26.3 percent - disagreed, saying the ban should be lifted.

In the governor's race, Democrat Creigh Deeds is for closing the gun-show loophole, while Republican Bob McDonnell is for preserving the status quo. In other words, McDonnell wants to keep it open, so unlicensed dealers can continue to sell handguns to people WITHOUT a background check.

Unfortunately, both of Virgina's gubernatorial candidates favor legalizing concealed handguns in bars. Insane!