Almost official: Guns OK in town parks
Nearly three years after the controversial issue initially surfaced, the town of Culpeper is getting around to changing its ordinance that lifts the ban on guns in town parks.
At its meeting Tuesday, Town Council will consider a recommendation from the Ordinance Committee to delete “firearms” from its list of activities and items that are “strictly prohibited” in town parks.
That’s because state “preemption laws” enacted in 2004 by the General Assembly supersede most local gun laws, including the town’s prohibition of guns in its parks.
Richmond-based Virginia Citizens Defense League, a gun rights activist group, brought the gun law change to the attention of the town of Culpeper in 2005, at which time park signs were changed to remove firearms from the list of prohibited items.
But not before former Town Manager Brannon Godfrey, now Winchester city manager, exchanged a series of interesting e-mails with VCDL about the gun debate — and the age-old debate of state law vs. local law.
According to Philip Van Cleave, president of the organization, any law-abiding Virginia citizen can carry a gun openly (with no permit) or concealed (with a permit) into any local park, he said in an e-mail to the Star-Exponent in October 2005, when the issue came to a head.
It was around this time, and following a multi-month “letter-writing campaign,” according to Godfrey, that the former town manager fired off an e-mail to VCDL member Mike Stollenwerk of Fairfax County — in German.
Here’s what it said: “Mr. Stollenwerk — many thanks for serving as our moral conscience. Culpeper would be lost without the patronizing guidance of the people like you in Northern Virginia. Long live the state! Sincerely, Brannon Godfrey.”
Godfrey later admitted his “attempt at subtle humor was unprofessional,” saying the last part was a reference to “a dictatorial state,” a la the Nazis.
“I closed with ‘Long live the State,” a rather obvious reference to our lack of local autonomy to make our own park rules,” Godfrey said in an e-mail to the Star-Exponent Oct. 4, 2005.
Three years later, the town attorney has prepared the proper ordinance amendment to put the town code in line with state law in regards to guns in parks.
The recommendation made its way out of the Ordinance Committee this week, and it comes before Town Council at its meeting Tuesday for adoption.
If adopted, “firearms” will be removed from the list of items prohibited in town parks, as shown in Sec. 15-4.
Also prohibited are: alcohol, drugs, gambling, littering, loud noise, glass containers, vandalism, swimming in town lakes or ponds, motorized vehicles, skateboarding or biking without a helmet, commercial activities, horses and dogs running at large.
Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or
.
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Reader Reactions
I would like to make a few points to the comments already posted in ascending order:
rjma stated: “So now a glass bottle is illegal but a Uzi is OK to have in a town park.“
Clint’s reply: No citizen can LEGALLY own any type of fully automatic weapon in this nation unless they pay a yearly fee to the Federal Government and have passed a thorugh Federal background check. The media has fooled you into thinking that machine guns are a threat to society. Since the Machine Gun Act of 1934 there have been two homicides in this country involving fully automatic weapons. Anyone who can afford a working uzi is not going to bring it to the park.
CulpeperWalker stated: ...And we have a centralized public park that may soon have to allow a person to carry a firearm into the park.
Clint’s reply: At last count, better than 2% of Virginian LAW-ABIDING residents have Court issued permits to carry concealed handguns. That number is growing exponentially with applications up 60% from the previous year. There are people around you everyday already armed. Your “knowledge” of them being armed is the only variable that could possibly change.
CulpeperWalker later states: Pardon me if I do not feel any safer knowing ANYONE with a permit - criminal, non-criminal, patriot, hater, skater, legal, illegal, with a beef or without one - can carry a gun into a public, recreational park. Somehow this twisted up world where the Patriot Act can take away the privacy of citizens and allow for broad interpretation of laws, yet we can carry around guns like in the old West ...
Clint’s reply: So, you’re all bent out of shape over the Patriot Act but you have no problem with Culpeper IGNORING a mandate from the State Senate signed into law by the Governor stating that the city did not have the legal authority to supercede State law?
semperfi mom asked: WHY do you NEED to carry a weapon in the park?
Clint responds: WHY do you NEED a fire extinguisher in your home?
As an ex-deputy sheriff I can say that you NEVER know when a criminal will strike. People get robbed, murdered and raped in broad daylight and in nice areas. Is it likely to happen in a Culpeper park in the daytime? No, but if it does happen to you, that will be all that matters. Do police leave their guns at in the car during the daytime or while patrolling a park? No, I wonder why?
VCDL President - WHY do you NEED to carry a weapon in the park? I was being sarcastic in my posting - but I am definitely curious as to what real need you have to be armed, during the day, in a community park. I could understand being armed at night, especially walking in that area.
Nice fantasies you guys have! I’ve heard them all before - blood in the streets when two shopping carts bump together, shootouts over parking spots, and nauseum. None of it ever happens. Where is all the mayhem cause by permit holders in parks over the last 5 years? None. Much to do about nothing. But there was an attempted rape in the park last year I believe and I assume it wasn’t a toddler that did it.
I guess it’s important to have a gun with you at the park for the life-threatening toddler who wipes his/her sticky hand on your pants; or, the little old lady who gets in your way on the path; or, the skateboarders being too noisey while having fun on the skateboard ramps; or people laughing and polluting your air zone. Just wait - when a verbal arugment eventually ends with a shooting…
To “VCDL President”: Pardon me if I do not feel any safer knowing ANYONE with a permit - criminal, non-criminal, patriot, hater, skater, legal, illegal, with a beef or without one - can carry a gun into a public, recreational park. Somehow this twisted up world where the Patriot Act can take away the privacy of citizens and allow for broad interpretation of laws, yet we can carry around guns like in the old West - I just don’t get it.
Someone walking around there proprty out in the country with a pistol or rifle seems like one thing ... But in TOWN where little league ball games mix with Hispanic “football” and people of all ages walk and play for exercise why do we need a sidearm?
Law-abiding gun owners have been able to carry in Culpeper parks since 2003 and have been doing so. All that happened is that Culpeper took a law off the books that it could not enforce, and hadn’t been enforcing, for years now.
These are the good guy carrying legally, not criminals. Don’t mix the two up.
Let’s see ... We have a very vocal and passionate group of anti-Anybody Else in this town ... We also have a growing population of People Who Are Not Natives ... And we have a centralized public park that may soon have to allow a person to carry a firearm into the park.
Wow! I can’t wait to take my kids to play in the park or come of the July 4th Celebration, now!
So now a glass bottle is illegal but a Uzi is OK to have in a town park. And I believe it should be “illegal drugs” rather than just “drugs” as surely a bottle of aspirin would be OK (as long as it isn’t in an illegal glass bottle. Watching the skateboarding area, it is hard to find anyone WITH a helmet.
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