'Gun Rights' Advocates Pack F.C. Chambers to Confront Council on Police Query Policy

About three dozen members and supporters of Virginia pro-gun rights organizations appeared, most wearing handguns, at Monday's meeting of the Falls Church City Council. Many came to the microphone during the public petition period to protest a draft administrative policy developed by City Manager Dan McKeever earlier this month that calls on City employees to contact police whenever they discover person to be bearing a weapon.

McKeever developed the policy in the wake of 15 new pro-gun laws passed by the Virginia State Legislature in the spring that went into effect July 1. He said that his measures violate no existing state or federal law but simply employs "reasonable means" for assessing whether someone is carrying a weapon legally or not.

Citizens spoke strongly on both sides of the issue Monday, including a number of local Falls Church residents who stood strongly behind McKeever's policy.

But no one spoke more stridently than City Councilman David Snyder, defending McKeever's policy. "There may be places where you need your guns, but let me assure you Falls Church isn't one of them," Snyder told the pro-gun protesters. "I am proud of our community and deeply troubled that our community's ability to provide for our own safety, as we see fit, is curtailed by remote politicians and special interests who do not pay taxes here and will not bear the consequences of their own peculiar views of what is good for us."

"I support the direction of the city manager and wish we could do more, consistent with applicable law" Snyder said, and concluded his remarks with a demonstration of his own, rising to his feet to say, "Here I stand and can do no other."

Speaking as president of the 2,300-member Virginia Citizens Defense League, Philip Van Cleve of Alexandria accused McKeever of "butting heads with the General Assembly's intent" with a policy "devised to circumvent state law" to the effect of "harassing law abiding citizens."

Mike Stollenwerk of Fairfax, chairman of the Fairfax Country Privacy Council, called McKeever's policy "a mean-spirited campaign against the constitutional right to carry a gun."

F.C. resident Jason Pence called it "an ill-disguised ploy to deny the natural rights to law abiding citizens."

Among the Falls Church citizens who spoke in support of McKeever, sixth grader Julia Farbstein said that people carrying weapons "can't object to being asked why."

Elizabeth Wright noted that since it is illegal for some persons to carry weapons, "it is appropriate for the City police to ascertain the facts." She equated it to a bartender asking to see identification to prove that someone is 21. "You wouldn't exactly call that harassment, would you?" she asked.

Council member Lindy Hockenberry commented to the protesters, "While I respect your right to speak, and to use guns to hunt or for sport, I must say that I felt very uncomfortable walking into this room" (referring to the large number of protesters openly armed with guns). "It is an excruciating uncomfortableness. No one should have to feel that way in a public meeting."

Witnesses also reported that some gun-toting demonstrators were taunting citizens before the meeting, asking them if they were liberals or if they knew Jane Fonda.

In a related development yesterday, despite the police confiscation of 1,982 firearms from criminal suspects last year, the U.S. House passed a bill stripping the District of Columbia of virtually all locally-enacted gun control laws. The bill passed by a 250-171 margin over the loud objection of Rep. Jim Moran from Northern Virginia.

Also, a "gang summit" drew over 400 people in Tysons Corner yesterday to mull responses to the growing threat of violent crime by organized gangs in Northern Virginia. Much of that discussion dealt with gang access to and use of guns.

While Falls Church Vice Mayor Marty Meserve suggested Monday the Council here will be revisiting McKeever policy issue before its final implementation, McKeever told the News-Press yesterday that his policy will require no action from the Council. It is still in the final draft stages, and it will take time to post signs in the City identifying the boundaries of school zones, he said. It will be about a month before his policy will be in full effect.