BELLEVUE, WA – The country could take a lesson from the armed protesters who turned out in Albuquerque, N.M. this week in opposition to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s unconstitutional suspension of Second Amendment rights under the guise of a “public health emergency.”
“Justifiably angry New Mexico gun owners who showed up at the protest didn’t hurt anyone, didn’t burn anything, did not clash with police and nobody was arrested or even cited,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “What a stark contrast to the violent ANTIFA demonstrations and urban rioting we have seen in recent years.
“Instead of setting fires”, he continued, “these gun owners set an example. They didn’t vandalize public or private property, did not engage in physical assaults or looting, and yet they are the people who are repeatedly penalized by left wing politicians, now to include Democrat Gov. Lujan Grisham, for crimes they did not commit, and would never consider committing.”
Crowd size estimates have varied between 100 and 200 citizens, and while at least one report said many of those in attendance were “heavily armed,” it was a peaceful protest during which the loudest noises were the comments from honest gun owners expressing their legitimate fury at an action by the governor that members of her own party are denouncing. Even New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez, himself a Democrat, has announced his office will not defend the governor or other state officials named as defendants in at least five federal civil rights lawsuits filed by several gun rights organizations and New Mexico residents. Municipal police and county sheriff’s departments will not enforce the governor’s order.
“Governor Lujan Grisham’s edict is being almost universally scorned,” Gottlieb noted, “and there is already talk about impeachment. Our concern is that gun prohibitionists will cross the line with their anti-rights agenda and incite violence.
“Something important has happened here, however,” he observed. “The country has now witnessed an example of just how far anti-gun extremists are willing to go in an effort to push their agenda. This should alarm every American citizen, and not just the law-abiding gun owners in Albuquerque who peacefully exercised their First Amendment right to defend their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms, showing the nation in the process they’re the good guys.”
Contact: Alan Gottlieb (425) 454-4911
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation’s premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.
