The Beltway Outsider

Looks like I won’t be voting for anyone in VA-35 this year, both candidates are idiots who support gun control. Mark Keam, and ex K Street lobbyist even went so far as to send several mailings to me decrying the “gun show loophole”. I used those mailings as target practice at the range, along with anything else Keam sent to my door. Jim Hyland thinks VA is a major source for crime guns in NYC and is happy we have one-gun-a-month rationing in addition to closing the “gun show loophole”.

Well, that makes things easy for me at least: If a candidate can’t think straight about a Constitutional right, they cannot be trusted to make other laws, or be trusted with my vote. I will be voting this year, just NOT for either of these two clowns.

Further reading: Candidates Differ Little in Chamber Debate

I moved to Northern Virginia in 2003, and I one thing that has been constant since my arrival is the slow death of  Springfield Mall , currently owned by Vornado Realty Trust . When I first visited the mall it had almost all of its available space leased to retail tenants (which is good). But it was dirty, smelly, and not pleasant to walk around in. For some reason the trash dumpsters for the food court were placed next to two major entrances and they smelled of horrible rotting waste, especially during the summer when outside temps easily reached 100 degrees daily. The retail stores were decent, but I could not understand why mall management was allowing its image to be ruined by bad smells and dirty appearance. Fast forward several years to present day. The mall is a skeleton of its old self, half the retail stores are vacant, and it looks even dumpier than before. Supposedly the reason for the decline in retail stores are  renovations at the mall and Vornado needed the tenants to leave so their space could be redone (the leases were not renewed). Vornado even sought approval for demolition of certain areas of the mall for the renovation work, this link will show all zoning and construction requests for the mall. The current news is Vornado wishes to change Springfield Mall into a “town center” style property, kind of like Reston has done.

But why is Springfield Mall such a hotbed for criminal activity? And why is that criminal activity so serious in nature, ranging from armed robbery, muggings, kidnappings, shootings, and frequent deaths? Part of the answer lies in the fact that the mall is located about 1/2 mile from the Springfield Metro station. Thugs and criminals from other parts of the DC metro area ride the trains to Springfield to commit serious crime in a place where their victims are likely to be unarmed and defenseless (more on that later). Looking at the police reports and news stories for several years you will see that almost all of the suspects who have been captured and convicted committing serious crimes in the Springfield Mall area are from Maryland and the areas served by the Green Line of the Metro system. The Metro is their conveyance to come to more affluent areas in Virginia to rob, mug, carjack and sometimes kill victims who are more well-to-do than victims in their own areas might be.

Also, the victims have one less protection: by Springfield Mall’s very own “Rules of Conduct”, visitors to the mall agree to disarm themselves of weapons, even if legal to carry them unless they are an “Only One“. What’s an Only One you might ask? See the bottom of this post for an explanation. So, the mall disarms law abiding customers by rules and codes of conduct, and cannot or will not protect its disarmed customers once outside in the parking lots and garages. Yes, you can ask for a security escort out to your car, but what good will Springfield Mall’s unarmed security guard do to protect you from a thug with a handgun? The unarmed mall guard is simply a speed bump to be dealt with as efficiently as possible on the criminals path to you, his ultimate victim.

So, what’s the point to this post? First, I want everyone reading this to be well aware that Springfield Mall is not a safe place. If you shop there you’re literally risking your life. And Springfield Mall doesn’t care about your right to defend yourself. Second, I call on everyone who takes this sort of thing seriously to boycott Springfield Mall until they reverse position on lawful self defense and concealed carry of handguns on their property. If you feel compelled to tell Springfield Mall why you won’t be spending money there here is their contact info.

What are “Only Ones”?

From The Daily Telegraph (UK):

Scouts will now be a little worse prepared after they were banned from carrying their traditional penknives (pocketknives -IB) due to the fears of those in charge of health and safety.

Here’s a brief (VERY brief) history of crime control in the UK:

1996 Dunblane Massacre  kills 16 children and one adult.

1997 The UK bans pistols. Not even the UK Olympic team is spared, they must leave the country to conduct pistol practise.

1997 – present: Because firearms are illegal, knife crime and knife murder is skyrocketing in the UK. Also, due to firearms being turned into mystical taboo items, the common Brit is horrified if they even come across a single .22 short bullet.

So, where does that leave the Brits? Well, for one thing, if they are scared of .22 short shells laying in doorways you can bet they will also go pale if they see a young boy use a knife to whittle a new neckerchief slide, build the derby car, or carve a regatta sailboat. All of which are traditional scout activities. Ladies and gentlemen, the pussification of the young man has truly begun, in the UK at least.

Miss Burgin, who offers lessons in carving using penknives, added: “If you teach children to use a knife properly they won’t abuse it. If someone wants to cause harm they will do it anyway. It is a real shame it has come to this.”

That Miss Burgin sounds like she has her head screwed on right. We can create all the laws and policies we want, but only the peaceful will abide while the criminal reigns supreme. I hope and pray this nanny-state nonsense never comes to our shores.

Hat tip to David Codrea – The War on Guns

From WTOP News:

If you’re headed to Union Station Wednesday, expect to see extra police. They’re part of a massive security exercise called Operation ALERTS.

Officers from more than 100 federal, state, local, rail and transit police agencies are participating in a counterterrorism exercise. The exercise is being conducted at 150 railway stations in 13 states along Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor.

Heads up, if you plan to open carry (in Virginia only of course) on Amtrak be prepared to see a larger police presence. They may possibly conduct a “consensual stop” on you if they see you carrying. What is a consensual stop? It’s when an officer is not detaining you, but is asking questions to determine what you are up to. You are free to leave of shut up at any time and you are not under suspicion (yet). Consensual stops sometimes lead to probable cause for further detainment, I’d advise not speaking to police about any topic outside of the current weather conditions.

From The Washington Post

It took $833.69, a total of 15 hours 50 minutes, four trips to the Metropolitan Police Department, two background checks, a set of fingerprints, a five-hour class and a 20-question multiple-choice exam.

Is this what the Founding Fathers meant by “Shall not be infringed”? That the common citizen should waste a whole bunch of time and money simply to enjoy a freedom allowed by our Bill of Rights? Who set this system up this way and why?

But as my four trips to the police department attest, D.C. officials haven’t made it easy. Which was exactly their intent. The day the Heller decision was announced, Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray (D) vowed that the city was still “going to have the strictest handgun laws the Constitution allows.” Fenty decried the ruling, saying that “more handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence.”

Well, Chairman Mao, err…. I mean Gray your city’s scheme is still unconstitutional, and you’re being sued again! Gee, I wonder if you’ll win this time? And Mayor Fenty, can you show how many of these newly registered handguns has caused an uptick in “handgun violence”? (I’ve never seen a handgun commit violence, I’ve only seen a human commit violence with a handgun) No? None of them have? How long must we wait?

And how things done in Virginia, according to Post writer Chris Davenport:

If I lived in Virginia, I’d simply walk into a shop, show my ID, fill out forms and then wait while the store calls for my background check, which can take all of three minutes. If I pass, the gun is mine. Or I could buy a gun from a private citizen and forgo the background check. No safety course required (unless I’m applying for a concealed-handgun permit, which is not even an option in the District). No need to register the gun with the government (unless it’s a machine gun, which is, again, not an option in the District).

Wow, how refreshing! I should have named this post “A tale of two cities” but Virginia isn’t a city now, is it? It’s too bad D.C. can’t come to its senses and figure out that keeping the citizens unarmed leads to more violence. You may as well fill a fish tank full of goldfish and then let loose a couple predatory fish like piranhas in the tank. The goldfish are the citizens and the piranhas are the criminals. Swell idea, eh? Well that’s exactly what D.C. has done and they seem quite happy about it.

From: NBC-4

The victim and suspect both worked in concessions at the stadium. The suspect apparently stabbed the victim in the kitchen area of the Presidents Club, a VIP section, at about 8 p.m., about an hour after the Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins game began, police said.

The facts are unknown, we don’t know what caused this or even if the knife was brought into the park or was one of the kitchen knives used in the Presidents Club. I wish the victim a speedy recovery.

From WTOP News:

A man with a handgun forces a woman into the trunk of her 2010 Chevrolet Camaro. The broad daylight carjacking/abduction occurred in the parking garage at the Franconia-Springfield Metro station. Surveillance video from the Metro parking garage may have captured what happened. Police are working to get and examine that video.

Police have an extraordinarily difficult job, they can’t be everywhere and they certainly aren’t around when most serious crimes occur. Smart criminals case the area and make sure they have a safe operating environment before “going to work” (criminal activity is after all their job, see?). None of the security measures WMATA implemented worked that day, and now after the fact Metro is going to review the security cameras to figure out what happened. This is the same as the police drawing a chalk line around your cold dead body. They didn’t/couldn’t protect you, they arrived at a later time to clean things up and perform an investigation. How could this be different? Well for starters I have NEVER seen a transit police employee patrolling a parking garage. In fact, I’ve never seen any Metro employee in one of the garages I frequent. Why? Where are the police? They certainly weren’t watching the security cameras when this woman was stuffed into her trunk or they could have stopped this crime.

Step one: Get the transit police out on foot patrol in the garages. There should be at least one officer (or other Metro employee) on patrol in every garage at all times Metro is operating.

Step two: Metro riders must take their protection seriously. Buy a handgun, learn how to use it properly, and get a concealed handgun permit.

The Metro web page says customers can request a Metro employee escort them to their vehicle. I suggest until Metro provides appropriate security inside their garages those who cannot defend themselves use this option.