Monday of last week I filed suit against my Sheriff in Contra Costa County (Warren Rupf) and my Chief of Police in Richmond over CCW issuance policies. I've already posted the suit's complaint and other details to talk.politics.guns and elsewhere, anybody wants info on what I'm up to, let me know. Basic idea is that I'm pushing it from an "equal protection under the law" standpoint rather than a "pure second amendment" fight.
On Wednesday a reporter from the West County Times newspaper called, we talked for about half an hour. A week and a half ago that paper did an excellent two-page spread on the CCW issue. They showed remarkable balance, talking about how the current 40,000 or so Calif. permitholders haven't been trouble, neither have the millions everywhere else…but the "opposing views" mostly consisted of "the Chiefs and Sheriffs just don't wanna issue and don't feel that widespread issuance is what's wanted or needed by the community".
Clearly, the part of the story they missed were the illegal issuance policies, the racism, elitism and corruption imbedded in the process. The reporter I talked to wants to correct this mistake and my suit will be a key part of the PROMISED upcoming followup story.
On Friday I dropped off copies of the Colafrancesco papers with her. I've got her Email address and other contact info, and per her request I'm giving her as much info on screwed up CCW policies as possible.
NOTE: if YOU haven't seen 'em, the Colafrancesco papers are at:
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~jemonaly/hobby/ca_firearms/index.html#CCWAbuse
If there's anything ELSE she needs to know about, let me have it! I'll give your contact info if you want me to...in all cases here I talked to the people reporting info first. This is our BEST SHOT at good PR in a LONG time, any and all info on screwed-up, immoral or otherwise illegal CCW policies GREATLY appreciated, Email me with YOUR stories ASAP from anywhere in California - I want DIRT, people, I want bribery, I want rampant redneckism, I want the lies and idiocy on the part of these cops, I want ALL the BS. I'll pass it to the paper.
This is what she's got so far:
--------------------
I hope you enjoyed the Colafrancesco papers and the court decision on "zero-issue being an abuse of the permit process". The Colafrancesco scandal was "squelched" by the Sacramento Bee prior to Lou Blanas's election to Sheriff of Sacramento; had it been publicized there's no way he would have won.
They're important. These guys have pissed off me and a lot of other people, but I'm not a lunatic - and the continued survival of a LOT of politicritter says that most gun owners aren't.
Second: I only just found out that retired cops (either through age, disability or years on the job) do NOT get CCW permits. Huh? Ya, see, the type of permit I've been trying to get and my suit is over is authorized under Penal Code 12050-12054. Retired cops get a different type of document under PC12027, and it's NOT "discretionary". If they want it, they get it.
This is interesting because whenever we discuss a Chief or Sheriff who's doing "no permits" that does NOT mean the retired cops are denied. They *can't* be, by law.
Fine. Except: with almost no CCWs being issued under 12050-54, guess who gets all the lucrative security contracts for plainclothes ARMED guards, investigators and bodyguards? We're talking BIG bux - STARTING wages over $20/hr, often over $30 on some jobs, more in investigations. Off-duty and
retired cops have a monopoly on these jobs that *usually* pay more than police work. Ever heard of scandals involving cops claiming disability injuries and getting out early? One reason is, with carry rights still guaranteed under PC12027 they can get the highest-grade public-sector security work and make more money there than as a cop.
The Police Chief that denies your permit today guarantees a rich retirement for himself tomorrow.
Care to confirm this? Go talk to Mr. Dale Seago, western regional manager of Guardsmark Security in San Francisco, I don't have his number in front of me but his EMail address is itachi@crl.com . Or Mr. David Wiegand, a quality management specialist at American Protective Services, phone: 510-xxx-xxxx EMail dwiegand@apsinc.com - either of these guys can confirm the rates of pay for the high-end jobs monopolized by cops and ex-cops due to the state's CCW policies.
Phew. Ready for #3?
There should be a special place in hell for those who lie to influence public policy - like Sheriff Rupf did on 7/2/96. Rupf was involved in a press conference discussing a bill to put in non-discriminatory permits with
training standards and such much like other states.
In discussing the potential "horrors" of widely available gun permits for "peons" Rupf cited a Texas shooting that took place in February of '96. This was perhaps the very first shooting by one of the new Texas permitholders; nobody disputes that on 2/21/96 Gordon Reid Hale, age 42 and a permitholder shot and killed Kenny Tavai, age 33 with a single shot. Tavai was unarmed.
Sounds terrible, right? Permitholder goes nuts?
Except Sheriff Rupf KNEW the whole story. On 3/20/96, a Dallas County Grand Jury no billed Hale, acquitting him in the death of Tavai. What happened was, Tavai "road raged" after a minor traffic collision; walking up to Hale's car, Hale rolled down the window to talk and was assaulted while
seated. Tavai literally broke Hale's face, his cheekbone to be exact, and caused a detached retina on Hale's left eye. Not content with that much damage, Tavai was in the process of dragging Hale out through the window of Hale's car when the long-suffering Hale finally had just about enough of the BS and shot the SOB once. Texas's laws on "deadly force use" are similar to California's in this area: you can use deadly force to save yourself from "death or great bodily injury". The grand jury decided that a broken cheekbone and detached retina certainly qualified as "great" and that Hale was certainly looking at even worse damage coming when he finally shot.
Texas had JUST put in CCW. This case was *widely* reported, Rupf knew DAMN WELL what had really happened and decided to use it to make gun-grabber political hay.
God damn him to hell.
Mr. Bill Maggiora was at the press conference and took notes. His number is 925-xxx-xxxx, EMail is lbillm@earthlink.net - and any Texas paper will have reported this case in excruciating detail.
As Bill said:
"I found it striking that Sheriff Rupf could not find a better example to support his opposition to AB638 (that year's permit reform bill). At that time there were several million CCWs outstanding in the various shall issue (such as Florida) and may issue (such as California) states and the Hale incident was all he could find."
Are you starting to see why us "gun nuts" get if anything MORE nuts <grin!>?
As an aside, in private EMail Bill also sent me this:
"Would you like me to go with you to talk to the Times? I have a Gunsite certificate, a POST certificate, a spotless record, and, when I had a job, I had a security clearance (type unmentionable). I have a bad back and I am over 50. None of this makes me good enough to even get CCW application forms in any of the 9 Bay counties.
Bill Maggiora"
"Gunsite" is a serious, professional handgun training facility located in Arizona, HIGHLY respected, founded by Colonel Jeff Cooper. Most classes are a week long. POST is the minimal qualifications for being a cop...and Bill can't get a permit.
Let me leave you with one last mental image.
In Israel, when teachers and (typically) some parent volunteers plan a field trip for the kids, they make preparations. One such is to go to their local police stations, explain who they are, they sign a few papers and are led into a room containing the gear they're expected to borrow from the station for the trip.
The gear? As many handguns, full-auto rifles and submachine guns (and ammo) as they can stagger out the door with. Hand grenades require special permission but are not totally out of the question. Teachers are encouraged to wear their personal handguns to school and class, and in high-risk zones rifles in the hands of playground monitors are common.
Gee, guess what? Lunatics don't tend to use the local schools as shooting galleries. Despite lots of terrorism in the country, no mass shootings of ANY type have happened at Israeli schools. There was, however one tragedy: when a busload of Israeli kids and teachers visited Jordan for a special
"peace ceremony" the Jordanian police disarmed the teachers at the border. At the site in Jordan, the terrorists were waiting and attacked, killing several kids.
That particular mistake has never been repeated. Need I mention they've got CCW policies to equal the best US states?
Please God lady, if you can treat this issue fairly it'll be a media breakthrough. I've kept your name and contact info private because if it gets out, you'll be *flooded* with years of pent-up anguish.
Thank you for listening,
Jim March
(Minor note: there's been edits to this from the original correcting a mistake I made. A brief memo correcting this has been sent to the reporter in question, so if this looks different from what hit ca-firearms and ba-firearms, that's why.)
On Wednesday a reporter from the West County Times newspaper called, we talked for about half an hour. A week and a half ago that paper did an excellent two-page spread on the CCW issue. They showed remarkable balance, talking about how the current 40,000 or so Calif. permitholders haven't been trouble, neither have the millions everywhere else…but the "opposing views" mostly consisted of "the Chiefs and Sheriffs just don't wanna issue and don't feel that widespread issuance is what's wanted or needed by the community".
Clearly, the part of the story they missed were the illegal issuance policies, the racism, elitism and corruption imbedded in the process. The reporter I talked to wants to correct this mistake and my suit will be a key part of the PROMISED upcoming followup story.
On Friday I dropped off copies of the Colafrancesco papers with her. I've got her Email address and other contact info, and per her request I'm giving her as much info on screwed up CCW policies as possible.
NOTE: if YOU haven't seen 'em, the Colafrancesco papers are at:
http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~jemonaly/hobby/ca_firearms/index.html#CCWAbuse
If there's anything ELSE she needs to know about, let me have it! I'll give your contact info if you want me to...in all cases here I talked to the people reporting info first. This is our BEST SHOT at good PR in a LONG time, any and all info on screwed-up, immoral or otherwise illegal CCW policies GREATLY appreciated, Email me with YOUR stories ASAP from anywhere in California - I want DIRT, people, I want bribery, I want rampant redneckism, I want the lies and idiocy on the part of these cops, I want ALL the BS. I'll pass it to the paper.
This is what she's got so far:
--------------------
I hope you enjoyed the Colafrancesco papers and the court decision on "zero-issue being an abuse of the permit process". The Colafrancesco scandal was "squelched" by the Sacramento Bee prior to Lou Blanas's election to Sheriff of Sacramento; had it been publicized there's no way he would have won.
They're important. These guys have pissed off me and a lot of other people, but I'm not a lunatic - and the continued survival of a LOT of politicritter says that most gun owners aren't.
Second: I only just found out that retired cops (either through age, disability or years on the job) do NOT get CCW permits. Huh? Ya, see, the type of permit I've been trying to get and my suit is over is authorized under Penal Code 12050-12054. Retired cops get a different type of document under PC12027, and it's NOT "discretionary". If they want it, they get it.
This is interesting because whenever we discuss a Chief or Sheriff who's doing "no permits" that does NOT mean the retired cops are denied. They *can't* be, by law.
Fine. Except: with almost no CCWs being issued under 12050-54, guess who gets all the lucrative security contracts for plainclothes ARMED guards, investigators and bodyguards? We're talking BIG bux - STARTING wages over $20/hr, often over $30 on some jobs, more in investigations. Off-duty and
retired cops have a monopoly on these jobs that *usually* pay more than police work. Ever heard of scandals involving cops claiming disability injuries and getting out early? One reason is, with carry rights still guaranteed under PC12027 they can get the highest-grade public-sector security work and make more money there than as a cop.
The Police Chief that denies your permit today guarantees a rich retirement for himself tomorrow.
Care to confirm this? Go talk to Mr. Dale Seago, western regional manager of Guardsmark Security in San Francisco, I don't have his number in front of me but his EMail address is itachi@crl.com . Or Mr. David Wiegand, a quality management specialist at American Protective Services, phone: 510-xxx-xxxx EMail dwiegand@apsinc.com - either of these guys can confirm the rates of pay for the high-end jobs monopolized by cops and ex-cops due to the state's CCW policies.
Phew. Ready for #3?
There should be a special place in hell for those who lie to influence public policy - like Sheriff Rupf did on 7/2/96. Rupf was involved in a press conference discussing a bill to put in non-discriminatory permits with
training standards and such much like other states.
In discussing the potential "horrors" of widely available gun permits for "peons" Rupf cited a Texas shooting that took place in February of '96. This was perhaps the very first shooting by one of the new Texas permitholders; nobody disputes that on 2/21/96 Gordon Reid Hale, age 42 and a permitholder shot and killed Kenny Tavai, age 33 with a single shot. Tavai was unarmed.
Sounds terrible, right? Permitholder goes nuts?
Except Sheriff Rupf KNEW the whole story. On 3/20/96, a Dallas County Grand Jury no billed Hale, acquitting him in the death of Tavai. What happened was, Tavai "road raged" after a minor traffic collision; walking up to Hale's car, Hale rolled down the window to talk and was assaulted while
seated. Tavai literally broke Hale's face, his cheekbone to be exact, and caused a detached retina on Hale's left eye. Not content with that much damage, Tavai was in the process of dragging Hale out through the window of Hale's car when the long-suffering Hale finally had just about enough of the BS and shot the SOB once. Texas's laws on "deadly force use" are similar to California's in this area: you can use deadly force to save yourself from "death or great bodily injury". The grand jury decided that a broken cheekbone and detached retina certainly qualified as "great" and that Hale was certainly looking at even worse damage coming when he finally shot.
Texas had JUST put in CCW. This case was *widely* reported, Rupf knew DAMN WELL what had really happened and decided to use it to make gun-grabber political hay.
God damn him to hell.
Mr. Bill Maggiora was at the press conference and took notes. His number is 925-xxx-xxxx, EMail is lbillm@earthlink.net - and any Texas paper will have reported this case in excruciating detail.
As Bill said:
"I found it striking that Sheriff Rupf could not find a better example to support his opposition to AB638 (that year's permit reform bill). At that time there were several million CCWs outstanding in the various shall issue (such as Florida) and may issue (such as California) states and the Hale incident was all he could find."
Are you starting to see why us "gun nuts" get if anything MORE nuts <grin!>?
As an aside, in private EMail Bill also sent me this:
"Would you like me to go with you to talk to the Times? I have a Gunsite certificate, a POST certificate, a spotless record, and, when I had a job, I had a security clearance (type unmentionable). I have a bad back and I am over 50. None of this makes me good enough to even get CCW application forms in any of the 9 Bay counties.
Bill Maggiora"
"Gunsite" is a serious, professional handgun training facility located in Arizona, HIGHLY respected, founded by Colonel Jeff Cooper. Most classes are a week long. POST is the minimal qualifications for being a cop...and Bill can't get a permit.
Let me leave you with one last mental image.
In Israel, when teachers and (typically) some parent volunteers plan a field trip for the kids, they make preparations. One such is to go to their local police stations, explain who they are, they sign a few papers and are led into a room containing the gear they're expected to borrow from the station for the trip.
The gear? As many handguns, full-auto rifles and submachine guns (and ammo) as they can stagger out the door with. Hand grenades require special permission but are not totally out of the question. Teachers are encouraged to wear their personal handguns to school and class, and in high-risk zones rifles in the hands of playground monitors are common.
Gee, guess what? Lunatics don't tend to use the local schools as shooting galleries. Despite lots of terrorism in the country, no mass shootings of ANY type have happened at Israeli schools. There was, however one tragedy: when a busload of Israeli kids and teachers visited Jordan for a special
"peace ceremony" the Jordanian police disarmed the teachers at the border. At the site in Jordan, the terrorists were waiting and attacked, killing several kids.
That particular mistake has never been repeated. Need I mention they've got CCW policies to equal the best US states?
Please God lady, if you can treat this issue fairly it'll be a media breakthrough. I've kept your name and contact info private because if it gets out, you'll be *flooded* with years of pent-up anguish.
Thank you for listening,
Jim March
(Minor note: there's been edits to this from the original correcting a mistake I made. A brief memo correcting this has been sent to the reporter in question, so if this looks different from what hit ca-firearms and ba-firearms, that's why.)