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Open Carry Legal Defense Fund $5,000

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Virginia gun owners are under attack.   Virginia's old but vague laws about guns are now being abused and over-used by exploiting the poorly-written text and inherent ambiguities.   

On November 5, 2019, anti-second amendment politicians took complete control of the General Assembly of Virginia and the Governor's mansion. They ran for office promising to restrict the second amendment rights of Virginia citizens and visitors to Virginia. They are already preparing to pass anti-gun laws.

Anti-gun politicians are already THREATENING TO CALL OUT THE NATIONAL GUARD to enforce the new gun-grabbing legislation they plan to pass when they take office in January 2020.   They are pushing legislation that would immediately terminate any police officer or sheriffs deputy who does not implement their promised gun-grabbing legislation.   

The only way to stop this unconstitutional attack by the dominant politicians in Virginia is in the courts.

Here is the problem:   Unable so far to ban gun ownership and possession outright, big government totalitarian Leftists are trying to find ways to make different aspects of guns and owning a gun criminal violations.  

So Virginia prosecutors, some elected with George Soros money, (although there are some whom are honorable) are calling it a crime if you simply display a firearm in other people's presence.   

Some are suggesting that you can own a gun, but only if it is locked up at an official gun range.  You cannot carry it outside of the gun range.  The laws are being abused by more and more aggressive social-justice prosecutors.

A veteran in Fredericksburg, Jon Wolff, was prosecuted for merely holding a B.B. gun down by his leg, upside down, with the trigger hanging near the ground.  Notice who Jon Wolff was charged with FOUR (4) misdemeanor crimes from one single incident lasting about 20 seconds.  He heard a commotion outside his back yard as dawn was just starting to break, where there had frequently been unauthorized parties, drinking, mischief in the past. 

He grabbed his BB gun on the way out the door.  (Yes, Virginia law treats a BB gun the same as an M-60 carbine for these purposes of "brandishing" laws.)    That January morning, there were two road construction "flaggers" parking in a private swimming pool parking lot, which the construction team had broken into and cut the cable blocking use of of the parking lot.

Because there were two people who just NOTICED that Jon Wolff had a BB gun down by his leg, the police and the Commonwealth Attorney's office prosecuted Jon Wolff for TWO (2) misdemeanor criminal violations of Va. Code 18.2-282 for "brandishing" a firearm and TWO (2) misdemeanor criminal violations of Va. Code 18.2-57 (the general assault and battery statute) for "assault by intimidation."  

So if you are hunting and walking through the woods and suddenly come out into a clearing with 100 college students having a bonfire picnic, and they just said they were scared, they can charge you with 100 misdemeanor crimes, one for each complaining witness.  And, yes, Virginia law is vague enough to allow 100 charges from the same incident.

The judge proclaimed that the law is completely 100% subjective, based upon the personal and subjective feelings of the complaining witness.  If someone just says they were afraid, no objective facts matter.   Therefore, you have no way of knowing how to obey the law.  That makes it unconstitutional under the Due Process clauses of the U.S. Constitution because it is "void for vagueness."

Therefore if someone just sees your gun -- and it is not limited to being in public -- and says it made them feel afraid, then you have committed a crime under the new, over-blown, expansive misinterpretation of the law.

Graham Corry -- with a concealed carry permit -- was driving to a meeting.  He had a .45 handgun in his glove box.  Alone in his car, at an intersection, Corry moved it to his left hand, inserted a magazine, and then put it in his coat pocket.  He was alone in his car and thought no one could see.    He was arrested for brandishing the gun and then convicted in the General District Court and again in Circuit Court. 

How can someone be guilty of "brandishing" a gun without knowing that anyone can see them?   The very concept of brandishing -- if it makes any sense at all -- is frightening someone unreasonably.  If you don't know anyone is around who can see you, if you are alone in your car, how can you be "brandishing" a firearm at anyone?

And yet Graham Corry was convicted, even on appeal, and his phony conviction was upheld and he has been tagged as a criminal for holding his gun inside his own car, alone.

We need $5,000 to immediately re-file the federal lawsuit against every Commonwealth Attorney in about one-third of the 95 Counties of Virginia. We have to research the positions of the 95 prosecutor's offices and find plaintiffs for those Counties creating a risk of losing our second amendment rights. We do not want to sue officials who are supportive of our positions, unless they agree and understand the importance of getting a court ruling.

ON APRIL 11, WE FILED A FEDERAL COMPLAINT for "Declaratory Judgment. Case No.  1:19-cv-00432

However, on November 6, 2019, the U.S. District Court decided that the lawsuit must be re-filed not against the Commonwealth per se but against the Commonwealth Attorneys

Under the 11th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution -- even though it only applies on its face to citizens from OTHER states -- the Court ruled that we cannot sue the Commonwealth in Federal court. Therefore, we have to re-file it against County prosecutors.

Click here to read the Declaratory Judgment lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to strike down Virginia's "brandishing" law.
http://www.jonathonmoseley.com/ComplaintDeclaratoryJudgmentFederal.pdf

The lawsuit seeks to declare Virginia's "brandishing" statute 18.2-282 ruled unconstitutional as clashing with the Second Amendment and also for being unconstitutionally void for vagueness (violation of due process if one cannot know from the statute what is legal and what is not legal so as to act within the law without risking legal jeopardy). Virginia's generic "assault" statute 18.2-57 was also used, but that is a very broad, wide-ranging statute. As used for having an "open carry" gun in public, that is also unconstitutional "as applied" to holding a gun in public for the same reasons.

We ALSO need $5,000 in seed capital to launch a bigger fund-raising campaign to defend the rights of "open carry" and "constitutional carry." A fund-raising company, led in part by a strong patriot I trust who is also one of the founders of www.BigLeaguePolitics.com, has agreed to launch a nationwide fund-raising effort to fight this battle in Virginia first of all and then also in other States as funds are available. We need start-up funds

We created the "OPEN CARRY LEGAL DEFENSE FUND, Inc." as a non-profit organization in Virginia. However, we need start-up costs of approximately $5,000 to be able to set up the website, "caging" company to receive and account for all finances, a Treasurer, etc.

They are willing to do something truly extraordinary: Start fund-raising to support "open carry" and "constitutional carry" of weapons protected by the Second Amendment ON CONTINGENCY -- WITHOUT charging a fee up front. That is extraordinary and almost unheard of.

Most fund-raising companies require $20,000 to $50,000 start-up money. We are getting an awesome opportunity here because the guys at Tidewater Strategies are as motivated and conservative as any of us.The Second Amendment mandates that "The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

But WE DO NEED $5,000 in out of pocket expenses (that is NOT to me, NOT to our organization, NOT to the fund-raiser, but to vendors to do set-up work) to set up a website with the ability to process donations and keep records, and have different landing pages for each fund-raising appeal, hire some of the vendors for receiving and accounting for donations, etc.

Anti-gun activists are trying to work around the Heller decision. They can't ban guns outright so they are trying to make gun ownership meaningless. They are trying to make it so you can own a gun, as long as you keep it disassembled in your house and never show it to anyone.

Along with George Soros funded organizations, Democrat Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring, the Democrat Virginia Governor and the nationwide gun-grabbing organizations are going to come down like a ton of bricks against our lawsuit because it is a mortal threat to their agenda of disarming U.S. citizens and taking away guns.

But we have to set up a legal structure to do this. The "Open Carry Legal Defense fund, Inc." will hire an independent firm to receive the donations and account for every dollar under strict standards. The Fund will hire a bookkeeper to account for and report on this.

If you can help, we are going to start raising the $5,000 in hard out-of-pocket expenses to pay to third party vendors and professionals. None of this money goes to me or anyone in the legal defense fund. This is all "seed money" to create a much bigger engine.

Virginia has actually convicted citizens of just HOLDING a B. B. gun "in such a manner" as to make someone feel afraid.

Under the Second Amendment and the Virginia statute, they did nothing wrong.

Simply holding a gun in public is called "open carry" or "constitutional carry."

It is legal. It is a constitutional right.

But now gun-haters are trying to change the law to say that if anyone else is present when you hold a gun and they claim to be afraid, then you are a criminal and they will prosecute you for a misdemeanor of "brandishing" and a misdemeanor of "assault by intimidation."

It is very clear: They are claiming that merely if someone in the area claims to be afraid -- in their purely subjective claim from their point of view -- then you just holding a gun are committing a crime in Virginia.

We are asking for help from second amendment organizations. They will not be able to make a decision without reading the transcript.

You can follow the status at: http://www.JonMoseley.com/brandishing.html

which will include updates and notes and also an itemized spreadsheet of how these donations are being used.

Money will be disbursed out of the escrow account at SunTrust Bank only for authorized purposes to support this campaign to reform these ambiguous and vague laws to defend your Second Amendment rights.

NOTE: Donations under $200 for sure are not publicly revealed, and possibly none of the donations will be publicly known. But we will have to file a Form 990 income tax return for non-profit organizations

NOTE: For your donations and efforts, we have complete bookkeeping records. I don't want to publish them widely because it does reveal some strategy. But if any donor wants a copy, just email me.

I am a Virginia attorney, licensed in Virginia, Jonathon Moseley in Woodbridge, Virginia . (703) [phone redacted]. [email redacted]. www.JonMoseley.com

Organizer

Jonathon Moseley
Organizer
Woodbridge, VA

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