Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
12500 N.E. Tenth Place * Bellevue, WA 98005 * www.ccrkba.org

NEWS RELEASE

AS ANTI-GUN DEMOCRATS EXPLOIT BELTWAY SNIPER CASE, GUN OWNERS PREPARE TO VOTE

For Immediate Release Contact: Alan Gottlieb (425) 454-4911

BELLEVUE, WA — The nation’s gun owners are “going ballistic” as the
Nov. 5 elections loom, and they are focusing their attention on anti-gun
Democrats, whose fingerprints are all over new proposals to further
restrict gun rights in the wake of the notorious Beltway Sniper murder
spree.

“For months, Democrats have pretended to be the friends of America’s 80
million gun owners, avoiding gun control as a campaign issue and trying
to convince them that the party is not after their rights, or their
hunting rifles,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee
for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “Yet, no sooner had the Beltway
Sniper started his rampage than have leading Democrats dropped the
pretense and gone right back to their philosophical, anti-gun habits,
exploiting the killings to further their cause.”

High on the list of new gun control schemes is so-called “ballistic
fingerprinting,” a campaign being championed by anti-gun extremist Sen.
Charles Schumer, and Schumer’s “Our Lady of Peace” bill that purports to
close alleged “loopholes” in existing gun laws.

“Chuck Schumer sees loopholes in any law that allows honest citizens to
actually own a firearm,” Gottlieb stated. “In Schumer’s world, the
Second Amendment is a loophole, and he sees no reason why American
citizens might want firearms for self-defense and to protect their
families.”

As for the “ballistic fingerprinting” proposal – a misnomer because the
ballistic signature of a firearm created by tool markings in the steel
can be changed intentionally, or through repeated use – Gottlieb called
it a “gun control Trojan Horse” as currently pandered by its most ardent
advocates.

“The Citizens Committee, like other gun rights organizations and the
Bush Administration, is not opposed to studying the potential
effectiveness of ballistic imaging technology,” Gottlieb stated. “But
anti-gun Democrats are pushing this plan, not to solve crime, but
essentially to create a de facto national gun registry, which could
later be used to confiscate many types of firearms commonly used for
personal protection and home security.

“I think you will see a big upswing of gun owners casting ballots
because they realize Democrats have not been intellectually honest about
their gun control agenda,” Gottlieb continued. “They will remember this
as they go to the polls Nov. 5.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens
Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms 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.

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