CCRKBA: ‘This is about the Second Amendment and they know it!’

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has called out the White House and the gun control groups in a scathing press release that said, among other things, “calling the gun prohibition lobby a ‘gun safety’ group is tantamount to suggesting that Ted Bundy was an advocate for battered women.”

CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb reacted to statements made yesterday by Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, who told reporters covering his meeting with Vice President Joe Biden’s “gun violence” task force that this “is not a debate around the Second Amendment.”

“The hell it’s not,” he bristled. “The Brady Campaign and other such organizations are all about gun prohibition, not safety.”

There are concerns that Biden’s meeting Thursday with the National Rifle Association, National Shooting Sports Foundation and representatives from the hunting community was little more than a sham, designed to give the Obama administration cover when it pushes tough new gun restrictions. They cite a statement from Biden quoted by the Weekly Standard:

“And so the kinds of things that there's an emerging set of recommendations, not coming from me but coming from the groups we've met with…”

Translation: Biden got his talking points from the gun prohibition lobby; agenda items that he and Obama believe the firearms community might reject, allowing them to tell reporters that “we tried but the gun lobby refused to cooperate.”

Breitbart is also suggesting that the Thursday session was more flash than substance because another powerful group, the Second Amendment Foundation, was not invited even though they had asked to attend.

He also said Wednesday that Obama is looking at possible “executive orders” or “executive action.” However, he appeared to back away from that Thursday, and he also came under fire from Republican lawmakers who took issue with any suggestion that the president might try to bypass Congress, according to Fox News.

“Vice President Biden would do well to read the Second Amendment and revisit the meaning of the phrase ‘shall not be infringed,’” said Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) in response. “Bypassing Congress to implement radical policies is never acceptable.”

On Biden’s radar screen prior to Thursday’s meeting with NRA’s James Jay Baker and others were universal background checks, closing the so-called “gun show loophole.” Regulating gun shows is always high on the gun ban agenda, despite the fact that gun shows have not been the source of firearms used in any recent mass shootings, including Tucson, Aurora, Clackamas and Sandy Hook.

Gottlieb blasted the White House and the press for continually referring to gun control organizations as “gun safety groups.”

In addition to the Brady Campaign, Wednesday’s lineup attending the Biden meeting included representatives from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Violence Policy Center, Arizona for Gun Safety, the Campaign to Keep Guns off Campus & States United to Prevent Gun Violence, Cease Fire Pennsylvania, CT Against Gun Violence, Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Protect Minnesota and something called “Cure Violence.”

“They’re not interested in safety when all they want is to disarm law-abiding Americans and taking the best means of self-defense away from crime victims while doing nothing to disarm criminals,” Gottlieb said about the various organizations.

Gross was also quoted by Politico.com and in the Kitsap Sun insisting, “Words like ‘comprehensive’ and ‘broad’ don’t mean taking guns away from law-abiding citizens.”

“That statement is so demonstrably untrue it’s ridiculous that he expects anyone to believe it,” Gottlieb responded. “Banning an entire class of firearms based primarily on cosmetics is taking them away from people. Imposing extremist regulations on the exercise of a civil right amounts to taking that right away and treating gun ownership like a privilege.”

Because of all the anti-gun activity, Politico noted that NRA membership has soared by 100,000 since the Sandy Hook shooting. Likewise, contributions and new memberships have reportedly been heavy at other gun rights organizations as well.

Biden reportedly will deliver his recommendations to the president on Jan. 22, the first day of Obama’s second term, and the same day that anti-gun California Sen. Dianne Feinstein is scheduled to introduce her gun ban legislation.