CCRKBA Says Hypocritical, Anti-Gun San Francisco Sheriff Should Quit Over DV Charges

BELLEVUE, Wash., Jan. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today called on newly-sworn-in San Francisco County Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi to step down as a result of domestic violence charges now filed against him.

Mirkarimi, who was a staunch anti-gun rights advocate while serving on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, also has a major problem with hypocrisy, said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. The San Francisco Examiner reported that the anti-gun Mirkarimi owns three handguns, which he had to surrender because of the domestic violence charges.

"Mirkarimi's case presents a massive irony," Gottlieb observed. "Here's a man who has supported restrictive gun control measures while on the Board of Supervisors, and yet he had three handguns. He just was elected sheriff, and now he's accused of a crime that, if he is convicted, could cost him his gun rights for the rest of his life under federal law.

"Perhaps Mirkarimi's biggest problem is that he is now exposed as a double-standard elitist," he continued. "News reports about this case over the past few days suggest that he may also have an anger-management problem."

Gottlieb said the case also brings focus on a domestic violence law that seems to treat people as though they are guilty until proven innocent. What other law allows the state to deprive someone of constitutional rights – in this case, the right to keep and bear arms – before they are convicted of a crime?

"Hardly would we advocate allowing someone who has abused a spouse or domestic partner to be armed," Gottlieb stated, "but our justice system isn't supposed to penalize someone until after they've been found guilty.

"Someone who has been legally disarmed over a criminal charge," he concluded, "should not be permitted to serve as a chief law enforcement officer. Someone like Mirkarimi, who has done whatever he could to discourage others from owning firearms, should admit his world-class hypocrisy and walk away from the public arena."

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.

SOURCE Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

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