Category: Gun Control

CCRKBA Expands List of Anti-Gun Rights Businesses

BELLEVUE, WA – Four more high-profile names have been added to the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms “Don’t Feed the Gun Prohibitionists” roster of businesses that support gun control by banning guns in their establishments.

CCRKBA launched the educational effort earlier this month to identify businesses, and CEOs, who close their premises or openly support gun control. “Don’t Feed the Gun Prohibitionists” initially listed almost 200 businesses and CEOs. The “Don’t Feed the Gun Prohibitionists” project has developed a dynamic list of businesses and CEOs who have been pushing for new legislation designed to impair the rights of law-abiding firearms owners. The list may be found at www.ccrkba.org/antigunbusinesses.

“Today, we’re adding Subway, Chipotle, Sonic and Panera Bread to the list,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb announced. “All of these businesses have banned guns in their establishments, which is an insult to the millions of law-abiding, legally-armed citizens who have harmed nobody and committed no crimes.” Read more

Gun Control

NCLA Says 10 Circuit Ruling Deepens Circuit Split on Bump Stock Ban

NCLA Bump Stock Ban Reply Brief Says 10th Circuit’s Chevron Waiver Ruling Deepens Circuit Split

W. Clark Aposhian v. William Barr, Attorney General of the United States, et al.

Washington, DC – The New Civil Liberties Alliance, a nonpartisan, nonprofit civil rights group, filed a reply brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit to support its petition for full court review in the case of Aposhian v. Barr. NCLA argues that the panel majority committed legal error in its 2-1 decision denying Mr. Aposhian’s appeal challenging the ban on bump stocks issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The reply brief addresses the ATF’s flawed arguments against the petition for rehearing.

For example, in opposing Mr. Aposhian’s request for en banc review, the government has argued that upholding the government’s waiver of Chevron deference could create a conflict among the circuits. But a decision issued earlier this month by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals directly conflicts with the Aposhian panel’s decision, thereby eliminating the government’s rationale for denying rehearing in the Tenth Circuit.

According to the Ninth Circuit, Chevron should not be applied to defer to an agency’s statutory interpretation when, as here, the government waives any reliance on it. The Ninth Circuit has now joined at least two other circuits in holding that Chevron deference is not a standard of review but is instead just one tool for statutory interpretation—and is thus subject to waiver.

The Aposhian panel majority also erred by disregarding the rule of lenity. When a criminal statute is ambiguous, the rule of lenity dictates that the law be interpreted to the benefit of the criminal defendant. Any other interpretation risks violating fundamental due process considerations of notice and an opportunity to be heard. Although Mr. Aposhian is not charged with a crime, the statute he is challenging carries criminal penalties, so the rule of lenity applies to it.

Not only has the panel created a deep split amongst the circuits, but it also broke ranks with prior decisions of the Tenth Circuit itself and with the U.S. Supreme Court. If the Tenth Circuit denies en banc review, Mr. Aposhian will either have to appeal the denial of his preliminary injunction to the U.S. Supreme Court or return to federal district court for a trial on the merits. Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA: Gun Ban Lobby Sides With Portland Rioters

BELLEVUE, WA – A Seattle-based gun prohibition lobbying group has reached a new low, siding with rioters, looters and urban terrorists in Portland, Oregon in an attempt to smear law-abiding gun owners, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“We’ve seen some outrageous claims by the gun control crowd over the years,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “but Friday’s fund raising appeal that tried to blame federal agents dispatched to Portland to protect federal property for continued riots is simply unconscionable.”

The Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a billionaire-backed anti-gun rights group, claims “federal agents have descended on the city turning the largely peaceful protests against racism and police brutality into violent clashes.”

“Like their usual anti-gun rhetoric,” Gottlieb observed, “the false image of Portland’s protests the Alliance is trying to create is a myth and they know it. Street thugs, using legitimate demonstrations as cover, have rampaged in downtown Portland for about two months before the Trump administration sent federal agents to protect Government property.

“Maybe the Alliance doesn’t care about the attempts by some rioters to blind officers by shining lasers in their eyes,” he added. “What’s next, blaming match companies for the arson at the Portland Police Association offices? Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA Identifies “Anti-Gun Rights” Businesses

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has launched a public campaign alerting gun owners about businesses and their CEOs who push for increased gun control and prohibition, identifying the culprits.

The “Don’t Feed the Gun Prohibitionists” project has developed a dynamic list of businesses and CEOs who have been pushing for new legislation designed to impair the rights of law-abiding firearms owners. The list may be found at www.ccrkba.org/antigunbusinesses.

“Many brand name businesses and corporate leadership have a nefarious agenda to limit gun rights,” said CCRBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Their current and potential patrons should have the knowledge of what their hard earned dollars are actually funding. Read more

Gun Control

NSSF Survey Shows Firearm Free Choice a Key Election Issue

NEWTOWN, Conn. – NSSF®, the trade association for the firearm industry, surveyed likely voters in 18 election battleground states and learned that enforcing existing gun laws and protecting lawful firearms sales is on the forefront of voters’ minds. The survey results can be found here, at NSSF’s website.

NSSF learned that 94 percent surveyed are very likely to vote. Nearly three quarters responded they would be more likely to support a political candidate that supported true firearm safety programs. Nearly 60 percent believe a ban on semiautomatic Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs) would not reduce crime in their community and more than half said law-abiding citizens should be able to choose the type of firearm and amount of legal ammunition for lawful use. More than half also oppose a ban on MSRs.

More than half believe self-defense is the primary motivation for firearm ownership. Nearly half surveyed said magazine capacity limits for self-defense would have no effect on crime reduction. Forty-one percent said enforcing existing laws would have an immediate impact on reducing criminal misuse of firearms. Read more

Gun Control

SAF: Paycheck Protection Funds to Anti-Gun Groups “An Outrage”

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation today said the recent revelation that the anti-gun-rights Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence took a federal Paycheck Protection Loan worth up to $1 million, while working to keep gun stores closed is an “outrageous exploitation of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent people from exercising their constitutional rights.”

The Brady group reported received between $350,000 and $1 million on April 10. Likewise, the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence reportedly accepted a loan worth between $150,000 and $350,000 in April, to meet payroll for 16 employees.

“SAF had to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars from contributors to file lawsuits during the coronavirus shutdowns to keep gun stores open as essential businesses so Americans could exercise their Second Amendment rights,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said. Read more

Gun Control

Firearm Industry “Disappointed” by Supreme Court’s Refusal to Accept Second Amendment Cases

NEWTOWN, Conn. – NSSF®, the firearm industry trade association, expressed profound disappointment and frustration by the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to accept any of nearly a dozen Second Amendment-related appeals.

The Supreme Court requires just four justices to agree to hear an appeal at the nation’s highest court. Four justices, including Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Thomas Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh have all expressed concern over the court’s decade long unwillingness to address infringements on Second Amendment rights. Justice Thomas previously noted, “…the Second Amendment is a disfavored right in this Court.” That pattern has not altered with today’s petition denials. Justice Thomas, again, drew attention to this fact in his dissent.

“But today, faced with a petition challenging just such a restriction on citizens’ Second Amendment rights, the Court simply looks the other way,” Justice Thomas wrote in his dissent. Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA to Biden: “Find the Second Amendment”

BELLEVUE, WA — The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today reacted to Democrat Joe Biden’s challenge that President Donald Trump should “open the U.S. Constitution” to find the First Amendment by suggesting the former vice president is the one who needs a refresher on constitutional rights.

“If Joe Biden would open the Constitution,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “he would find the Second Amendment. It’s obvious President Trump has already read the Second Amendment, and that Biden and his Democrats wish it didn’t exist.”

Biden has boasted on the campaign trail he would come after citizens’ firearms. He promised to put extremist anti-gunner Beto O’Rourke in charge of his administration’s gun control policies. He wants to ban whole classes of firearms and turn a fundament right into a government-regulated privilege, Gottlieb explained.

“Donald Trump takes an opportunity during nearly every public appearance to declare his loyalty, not just his ‘support,’ to the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb stated. “And what has Joe Biden done? He’ been traveling the country bragging about how he wrote the Brady gun control law, and how he would take on the so-called gun lobby and push for radical restrictions on law-abiding gun owners.

“It is clear to us that Donald Trump knows the First Amendment protects the right of people to peaceably assemble,” he continued. “But unlike Biden, the president understands that the First Amendment does not protect looting, vandalism, arson and felony assault disguised as legitimate protest. President Trump hasn’t been contributing to a bail fund project to get these criminals out of jail, as have members of Biden’s campaign staff, while Biden, himself, would like to see these people released without bail. Read more

Gun Control

SAF: Ventura County Caves, Re-Opens Retail Gun Stores

LOS ANGELES — Just days before a hearing on a motion for preliminary injunction against orders banning gun stores from operating, lawyers for the County of Ventura, California, have filed documents with federal District Court Judge Consuelo B. Marshall saying the defendants, including the County, Sheriff Bill Ayub, and Dr. Robert Levin, the County’s Public Health Officer, have issued a new order to re-open firearm and ammunition dealers throughout the county.

Key filings in McDougall v. County of Ventura, including the County’s latest order, can be viewed or downloaded online at https://www.firearmspolicy.org/mcdougall.

Ronda N. Baldwin-Kennedy, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said that the County’s latest filing was a move to avoid losing the case early. “The defendants were obviously wrong on the law and had no constitutional support for their frivolous arguments, so it makes sense for them to change course now. We are delighted that this lawsuit moved the County to issue another order so that our clients and the people of Ventura County can exercise their constitutional rights.”

“The facts are that the Ventura County defendants made it a crime for individuals to patronize and operate firearm and ammunition retailers, and worse, these government officials banned travel for firearms and ammunition as ‘non-essential’. Those are precisely the kinds of actions our Constitution was designed to protect against, so we look forward to the next phase of litigation in this lawsuit,” said the plaintiffs’ co-counsel, attorney Raymond DiGuiseppe. Read more

Gun Control

CCRKBA: Garcia Calif. Victory a “Warning” to Gun Control Lobby

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today congratulated Republican Congressman-elect Mike Garcia for winning election over anti-gun-rights Democrat Christy Smith, and said the victory should serve as a warning to the gun prohibition lobby that their big bucks spending effort to fill Congress with anti-gunners is in trouble.

“There is a message in Mike Garcia’s victory,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “You can be a conservative, pro-Second Amendment candidate and win in California, a state dominated politically by anti-gun Democrats, in the legislature and governor’s office in Sacramento, and within the delegation to Capitol Hill.

“Smith’s campaign was supported by the gun control lobby,” he continued, “but dollars don’t vote, people do. And people are getting tired of far-left politics that trample on fundamental rights, especially the Second Amendment. Read more

Gun Control
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