Gun-rights advocates say Coliseum staff challenged free-speech rights
The Virginia Citizens Defense League is used to fighting for the right to carry guns.
But now it's having to defend the right to wear stickers about carrying guns.
The group says officials at the Richmond Coliseum recently attempted to stop members from handing out blaze-orange "Guns Save Lives" stickers before an appearance by radio and television talk-show host Glenn Beck.
"It's bad enough they're trying to trample the Second Amendment. Then you come and attack the First," President Philip Van Cleave said, referring to the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of the right to bear arms and to free speech.
Dolly Vogt, who manages the Coliseum as a regional general manager for SMG, did not respond to three messages Friday. Van Cleave described the incident and his group's concerns to the City Council on Monday. A city spokesman had no comment but said officials are looking into the matter.
Van Cleave said the confrontation occurred June 6 as guests were arriving to see Beck, a defender of guns-rights and other personal liberties. Group members were handing out stickers when Coliseum officials told them to stop and advised that stickers were banned from the city-owned venue, he said.
"Our people stood their ground, [saying] this is public, this is freedom of speech," Van Cleave said.
Then, Coliseum officials turned their attention to people who were wearing the stickers as they entered the building. "They had to throw the stickers away," he said. "They couldn't hide it."
Van Cleave said most people followed the instructions. He said the incident was particularly disturbing because other stickers were being worn into the show without any apparent objection.
"I think that kind of speaks for itself," he said. "It was about our sticker."
Rebecca K. Glenberg, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, said members of Van Cleave's group were clearly within their rights if they were handing out stickers on public property. She said it's less clear whether Coliseum officials could ban stickers but added that any restriction would have to be enforced evenly and be reasonable in a way that's unrelated to content.
"They cannot prohibit stickers about guns while allowing stickers about other topics," she said.
Van Cleave suspects Coliseum officials are still chaffed from last month's challenge by group members that he said established that guns could be brought into the venue if carried openly or concealed with a permit.
"They didn't want to advertise that you could legally carry there," he said.
A list of banned items on the Coliseum's Web site includes laser pointers, backpacks and stickers; however, Van Cleave said his group determined through Internet searches that stickers were added after the Beck show.
He said the Virginia Citizens Defense League isn't looking to file a lawsuit or asking for an apology.
"We just want this policy changed and that be the end of it," he said.
Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or
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Reader Reactions
I am a cop with 29 years on the street.
Fed Up is just the kind of liberal that thinks he has all the answers. People like him are what I call victims.
You people need to be responsible for your own safety. The police cannot do everything for everybody. I encourage law abiding citizens to arm yourself and know how to use a gun properly and safely. Remember “When seconds count, the police are only minutes away…“
theobserver & fedup,
I don’t know what to say…
Perhaps the two of you should teem up and actually “observe” the violence around you, perhaps you would notice that there are many, many decent people in this country that enjoy not only the outdoors and the shooting sports, but the ability to speak freely on issues that they believe in such as the rights granted in the second Amendment of our constitution. The two of you have a right to challenge their beliefs with your own, but when you personally attack and slander those who are exercising their right to free speech you cross the line from intelligent reasoning to idiocy, but lucky for you the 1’st Amendment grant you the full and unrestricted right to do just that.
Please allow me to give you an example: I consider myself a Republican (although I would never consider myself an extremist), I believe strongly in both the first and second amendments as well as the remainder of the bill of rights and each and every amendment to the constitution with the exception of the 18’th. I believe every body should have the ability to choose to own a gun if they so wish, but I’m also glad that extremists like yourselves refuse to have anything to do with them because its evident that you don’t possess the competency to do so, as someone that thinks of a gun as a tool to be used only for the purpose of violence against mankind is likely the type of person that would use it for just that.
I would never ask that folks like you make the attempt to understand the thought processes of a rational human being as that would be asking far to much from small minded people like yourselves.
Like I said “observe” the current events in the world today, take a look at the events in Iran over that past few weeks then let us all know how you feel about having no need for the freedom of speech, take a look at Mexico where the majority of the police force is tied in with the drug cartels, and let us all know if the people there should have a right to defend themselves against the corruption and violence, take a ride down Jefferson Davis and count the stores that have been robbed over the past months, should those innocent store owners not have the right to defend themselves against the criminals who will kill for a couple hundred dollars?
It doesn’t really matter if you personally like guns or not, the facts cannot be changed… Guns both Save and Take lives, if you remove law abiding citizens from the equation they will only “TAKE”. The benefits of personally owned firearms (i.e. hunting, shooting sports, collecting, and self defense among others) far outweighs the benefits of banning them (i.e. non stoppable, robberies, rapes, murders, and mayhem). We are a very diversified nation of many types of people, some kind, some not so kind and some evil. Simple laws will not fix this problem, in fact some laws have caused it…
Good luck in your quest for socialism and tyranny and have a nice weekend…
Simple task for you Fedup or anyone else - Show me one (1) verifiable cite/example of where a legal citizen (not law enforcement) has ever in these United States had their gun snatched from their holster and then used to harm someone. Movies and other works of fiction are disallowed.
Warning - should you find this needle in the haystack, the resultant ratio of of negative to positive will look something like .000001%. These are odds I will embrace for the safety of myself and loved ones.
Ignorance worn as a cloak will not protect you from harm but it will leave you looking ignorant.
PS - I’m waiting. Show us one example.
Surely that shouldn’t be too hard for such an intelligent, well informed individual as yourself.
The pro-gun crowd is just another group of crazy conservatives—just like the pro-lifers who want to tell women how to live their lives. The NRA wants everybody in America to carry guns and pedals this notion that doing so will make us all safer! I guess they forget about all the angry unemployed misfits who walk into the offices of their former employers and shoot 3, 5 people. I’m sure they all seemed perfectly fine when they got their gun license. It’s the fear factor with conservatives too—always worried about boogeymen. Isn’t it ok in Richmond to carry guns into bars? That’s a smart idea. It’s 2009, we’re trying to create a civilized society here. You don’t do that with guns.
I’m with you DC, I’ll help them pack….
fedup, that was probably the dumbest thing anyone has typed on this board since its inception.
You can surrender your rights. I will personally pay for your one way ticket to China. Start packing.
It is truly nice that we live in a country that a communist like fed up to express his totalitarian rant and not put him up against a wall and shoot him. Why would the city of richmond want to block free speech in support of the people and program going on at the Coliseum. Are the officials so radicalized that no part of the Bill of Rights means anything to them? If we are not careful it will soon be illegal to openly support any political view other that the one in power. Freedom to the people!
The gun toting mobsters that want open carry are throwing a little sticker around, a strawman, just so they can show off their six shooters and intimidate the public at large.
I don’t trust you yokels to maintain control of your iron when people start yelling at you for being such trash.
Sworn officers have trouble keeping crowds controlled. Them we are forced to trust with the hand cannons. Ignorant outer borough armed trash should just stay home!! Hate the city so much? Stay away!
I find it amazing how some folks think it is perfectly fine to stifle free speech when the don’t agree with the message. Another reason not to support the coliseum or the city.
fedup, while I don’t really agree with every issue as a conservative or a liberal, I do believe in our first amendment. To make a big assumption based on your comment, I could say that you’re pro-choice. For the sake of argument we could say I’m pro-life. Do you think I have the right to says you can’t wear a sticker to support your cause.
I’m not one that would open-carry a firearm in an assembly however I do know that those with permits are the most law-abiding cross-section of our society. You may be strongly against firearms outside the house but if the city can say these people can’t politically demonstrate, where will it stop? It’s not that far a stretch from being beaten or shot for protesting the party in power (Iran)
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