From: "Val W. Finnell, MD" To: firearms-alert@shell.portal.com Date: Wed, 6 Dec 1995 18:20:33 +0000 Subject: VA: Fairfax Debate, After Action Review The debate in Fairfax County, sponsored by the Fairfax Bar Association was an overwhelming success for gun owners in Northern Virginia. Judging from the applause, 2nd Amendment supporters outnumbered the anti-gun crowd by *at least* 4 to 1. The Northern Virginia Citizens Defense Leauge (Director Paul Moog) was instrumental in its grassroots activism in achieving this level of support in the audience. The NVCDL, NRA, and GOA provided handout materials including many op-ed pieces, the Yale and Duke Law Review articles, and copies of the Journal of the Medical Association of Georgia featuring Dr. Edgar Suter's feature article. I wish to personally thank Don Kates, Edgar Suter, the NRA-ILA, and the GOA for their support in this endeavor. The event opened with some comments from Delegate Vince Callahan, a strong supporter of the Concealed Carry reform bill. Del. Callahan was met with cheers and applause from the crowd. He was followed by State Senator Joseph V. Gartlan, an anti-individual rights legislator. Sen. Gartlan was nearly booed off the podium. The debate was "moderated" by John A. Wasowicz, JD. Mr. Wasowicz was blatantly biased to the anti-gun side. He repeatedly asked facilitating questions to the prohibitionists of the panel. The first of his loaded, leading question was directed to G. Gordon Liddy. He brought up some obscure FBI internal memo that Mr. Liddy allegedly wrote saying that concealed weapons were a bad idea. Mr. Liddy quickly put down Wasowicz with cold logic. Wasowicz started to interrupt the G-man, but was met with jeers from the audience to "shut up" and "let him speak." I have never heard such an arousing applause for the honorable Mr. Liddy. G. Gordon continued to represent the pro-gun side well all evening. Perhaps the greatest arrogance and self-serving political boot licking came from Commonwealth's Attorney Horan and Congressman Moran. Horan repeatedly made assertions that the new CCW law was "bad" and that certain "categories" of people should not be allowed to carry guns. He stated that Fairfax County would persue this agenda in the State legislature this season. Horan's horrendous remarks were rebutted by Stephen Halbrook, who quickly pointed out to the audience the *real* history of the CCW law and the injust way it had been applied in No. Virginia compared with the rest of the state. Alas, this had no effect on our County's prosecutor. Citing the 43x fallacy,John Wasowicz asked Dr. Richard Schwartz (local pediatrician) about the medical implications of guns. Dr. Schwartz, in typical doctor style, proceeded to espouse the pseudo-science of Dr. Kellerman and Christoffel. Tanya Metaksa defended the NRA's position and the Eddie Eagle program against the onslaught of complex questions from the "moderator." She performed quite admirably for all of the NRA's 3.25 million members. The question and answer session was severely controlled. Members of the audience were asked to submit questions on cards, thus eliminating any confrontation with the citiznes. Some Town Hall Meeting, huh? However, I coerced John Wasowicz into letting me speak. I was instructed to direct my comments to the "panel at large." I let the psuedo-scientists have it with "both barrels." Refuting the 43X fallacy and the intellectual dishonesty of Kellerman, I asked the panel rhetorically "Why don't we make doctors a public health menace?" since 180,000 Americans die each year of this. The audience cheered. Dr. Schwartz did not refute *any* of my statistics from Professor Kleck, but responded with "Nanny nanny boo boo" style tactics such as: "Aren't you guilty of using your own statistics dishonestly, just as you claim we are?" I quickly put this down by mentioning the stature of Professor Kleck and citing the *medical* references of Dr. Suter. G. Gordon was clapping all the way. The NRA taped this event for NRA-TV. I was interviewed afterwards, so I would look for footage of this debate on NRA-TV in your area. You will no doubt be impressed with the level of support from the audience and how pathetic the arguments of the antigunners were. If you have any more specific questions, e-mail me. Thanks to the entire internet community for their support. ******************************************************************************* Val W. Finnell, MD Pathology Resident Debate Coordinator (Eastern Region), Doctors for Integrity in Policy Research, Inc. Life Member, National Rifle Association Medical Liason, Northern Virginia Citizens Defense League Member, Gun Owners of America FAX: (703)440-6726 Congress.sys corrupted. Reboot Washington, DC (Y/N)? ******************************************************************************