Alphecca

Virginia CDL to Boycott Gun Store

See what happens when you cave to Bloomberg?

At a time of unprecedented scrutiny, Virginia gun dealers look to at least one group for support: gun buyers.

But now that a South Boston dealer has signed a settlement agreement in a New York City lawsuit, he might find his customers in the parking lot instead of at the counter.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League is gearing up to boycott and perhaps picket Cole's Gun Shop, saying owner Mark Cole put their privacy in jeopardy when he agreed to let a court-appointed officer scrutinize his gun sales for the next three years.

Attorney Michael Cole, who represented his brother's shop in the settlement, says it was purely an economic decision.

"Was it going to eat into our profits and ability to make a living more to defend this case or to settle it under the terms that we were offered?" he said. "It's a no-brainer."

As far as VCDL president Philip Van Cleave is concerned, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg himself might as well stand behind the counter at Cole's.

"And Bloomberg is not a friend," Van Cleave said. "He is not being altruistic about it; he has got a problem with crime and he's trying to blame someone else for it."

Bloomberg and the city have been hounding what they call "rogue" dealers in Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Ohio and Pennsylvania over the past year. Cole's Gun Shop was one of 15 dealers named in a public nuisance lawsuit filed in the Big Apple in May.

Again I ask, why hasn't the BATF arrested Bloomberg and his undercover teams for making "straw purchases?" These suits are nothing more than attempts to legislate through litigation and extortion.