user
Accomplished Advocate
If you are arrested for anything related to assault or battery where the victim is related to you or someone you live with, here's a REALLY IMPORTANT TIP: do not, repeat, DO NOT sign the "waiver of counsel" form they will shove at you and tell you to sign. You do not have to sign it, you are not required to waive your right to counsel, and you should not, under any circumstances, sign that form!!! There's a place at the bottom of the form where the judge can sign it saying the court rules that you have, by refusing to sign, waived your right to counsel, but that doesn't matter.
Here's why: if you are convicted of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence", you lose your right to defend yourself with firearms. Forever. And there's a recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in which members of the majority expressed the opinion that any assault on a family member (remember, "assault" does not require actual touching) constitutes "violence". That opinion is what's called, "mere dicta", things the court talked about in the opinion that have nothing to do with the holding in the case, and in this case, members of the Court were sort of spouting off from amicus curiae briefs that contained nothing but other people's anti-gun opinions and anecdotal evidence. In other words, not legally binding as precedent.
Nevertheless, the Virginia State Police, acting on instructions from the carpetbagger who's opposed to the individual's right to defend himself, his home and his family from criminal violence, are treating the dicta as if it were law and refusing CHP's and gun sales without there having ever been any actual crime involving force or violence directed against a family member or co-habitant. There is an exclusion in the statute for people who were not represented by counsel and who did not knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waive their right to counsel. So DON'T SIGN THE FORM.
Here's why: if you are convicted of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence", you lose your right to defend yourself with firearms. Forever. And there's a recent U.S. Supreme Court opinion in which members of the majority expressed the opinion that any assault on a family member (remember, "assault" does not require actual touching) constitutes "violence". That opinion is what's called, "mere dicta", things the court talked about in the opinion that have nothing to do with the holding in the case, and in this case, members of the Court were sort of spouting off from amicus curiae briefs that contained nothing but other people's anti-gun opinions and anecdotal evidence. In other words, not legally binding as precedent.
Nevertheless, the Virginia State Police, acting on instructions from the carpetbagger who's opposed to the individual's right to defend himself, his home and his family from criminal violence, are treating the dicta as if it were law and refusing CHP's and gun sales without there having ever been any actual crime involving force or violence directed against a family member or co-habitant. There is an exclusion in the statute for people who were not represented by counsel and who did not knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently waive their right to counsel. So DON'T SIGN THE FORM.