BELLEVUE, WA – The horrible truth emerging in the aftermath of the Rancho Tehama Reserve rampage is that California’s legal system and restrictive gun control laws failed miserably, allowing killer Kevin Neal to remain loose and commit mass mayhem, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.”After Assistant Sheriff Phil Johnston’s acknowledgement that his department knew, or at least suspected, that Neal had firearms in violation of a court order and did not take proactive steps, it is clear that the legal system in Tehama County, if not the entire state, is a train wreck,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Johnston’s revelation that Neal had four guns illegally, and that he was able to manufacture two rifles at home prove that the state’s Draconian gun control laws are a joke to be laughed at by any criminal or crazy person who wants a gun.”

Johnston told reporters Wednesday that, “we’re seeing that the more restrictive that the laws come to people that purchase firearms, we’re going to see those criminal elements build their own. That’s what they do.”

“Sheriff Johnston’s astonishingly candid remark literally eviscerates California’s piecemeal gun prohibition strategy,” Gottlieb observed. “Here was a man who was out on bail, on multiple felony charges, and who was a walking violation of every major gun control law in the state.

“The explanation for not confronting Neal is simply outrageous,” he continued. “Johnston said Neal was ‘not law enforcement friendly.’ What a shock! Neal was facing felony prosecution, his neighbors had a restraining order and he had apparently been shooting guns that he wasn’t supposed to have, on his property. Of course he’s not going to be friendly, but that’s why we have search warrants and SWAT teams and jails. Read more

BELLEVUE, WA – As more facts emerge from the tragic Sutherland Springs, Texas church shooting, gun prohibitionists and their cheerleaders in the media are stymied in their efforts to exploit this case, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

“The perpetrator’s rampage was stopped by a law abiding citizen, using an AR15-type rifle,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “The shooter bought his guns at retail and passed background checks because the military failed to forward his criminal records to the National Instant Check System. Now it is being reported that the gunman once escaped from a mental health facility in New Mexico.

“Isn’t it ironic,” he mused, “that a private citizen, who the anti-gunners would prefer to be defenseless, used a rifle that gun control extremists have tried to ban with the claim that such guns do not belong in civilian hands?” Read more

SACRAMENTO, CA — Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) has issued the following statement concerning demands for new gun control following the shooting in Sutherland Springs, Texas:

We are deeply saddened by the loss of life and grieve for all those affected by the hand of an evil man in Sutherland Springs, Texas; indeed, we mourn for every man, woman, and child lost to unjust violence and unconscionable circumstance wherever and however they may fall.

In the aftermath of the horrific and illegal premeditated killing at the First Baptist Church we see once more, and quite clearly, that only virtuous people bearing arms can effectively respond to those evil or insane people who, devoid of a moral core, take deliberate actions to kill and injure others when they are at their most vulnerable. And, too, such virtuous people are not limited to those in government service; rather, they are found in abundance throughout our great nation, standing as sheepdogs, vigilant for the cause of peace but prepared to defend life if needed, perhaps even at the cost of their own. Read more

BELLEVUE, WA – For the third time, a legally-armed private citizen has intervened in a church shooting, once again underscoring the importance of the right to keep and bear arms, the Second Amendment Foundation said today.

Sunday’s tragic mass shooting might have been even worse, according to some officials, had not an armed “good Samaritan” fired at mass shooter Devin Patrick Kelley. It was that exchange of gunfire that caused the killer to flee Sutherland Springs with the armed citizen and another man in pursuit, eventually veering off the highway, where he apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“What happened Sunday in Sutherland Springs once again demonstrates that armed, law-abiding Americans will step forward when the need arises to defend their neighbors and their communities,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “This is not the first time an armed citizen has engaged in a heroic act at a church. Read more

BELLEVUE, WA – In response to the senseless attack in Las Vegas, the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have issued the following statement:

“The Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms support a productive dialogue concerning “bump stocks,” National Concealed Carry Reciprocity and the proposed Hearing Protection Act.

“We recognize that banning firearms accessories is not a solution to violent crime.”