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Mike
Super Moderator
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Posted: Thu Oct 9th, 2008 10:38 pm |
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http://tinyurl.com/3o39ge
Hours after Norfolk City Hall visit, gun advocate is detained
By Debbie Messina
The Virginian-Pilot
(c) October 8, 2008
NORFOLK
Hours after guns-rights activists marched on City Hall to demand
police leave them alone, they said one was charged after refusing an
order to leave Waterside because he was openly carrying a weapon.
Danladi Moore – whom the city paid $10,000 in July to avoid litigation
after being stopped by police for suspected weapons violations – was
charged with trespassing at the downtown entertainment complex Tuesday
night.
The 24-year-old Hampton resident said police told him to leave because
he had a gun. Moore said he refused because the law allows him to
display a weapon in public places. He said he was handcuffed, charged
and led out of the building.
Norfolk police spokesman Officer Chris Amos confirmed that a summons
was issued but declined to comment further.
Waterside receives city funding but is officially owned by a private
entity, Waterside Associates, whose partners include the Norfolk
Redevelopment and Housing Authority, said NRHA assistant executive
director John Kownack. Its policy prohibits weapons, yet weapons are
not included on a list of prohibitions posted at Waterside’s
entrances, he added.
The incident happened after about a dozen members of the Virginia
Citizens Defense League finished dinner at the Hooters restaurant at
Waterside. Earlier, they had joined about 50 others at a City Council
meeting to complain that their rights had been violated by police.
Most of them were openly carrying guns, but only Moore and his two
friends were approached, members of the group said.
Philip Van Cleave, who leads the guns-rights group and was with Moore
at Waterside but did not witness the exchange, said it was unbelievable.
“I don’t see a conspiracy here – I see more ineptness,” he said. “And
there may well be prejudice too.”
Moore is black. Van Cleave and most of the others are white.
Moore said a friend who was with him at Waterside also was carrying a
gun and also had challenged police when asked to leave. He said his
friend, who is white, was not charged.
John Pierce, co-founder of the national group OpenCarry.org, said,
“Even if this was a perfectly innocent mistake, the timing could not
have been worse.”
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