CCRKBA Says Cummings' Gun Forum a Smokescreen to Shift Blame

BELLEVUE, Wash., June 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said Thursday's planned forum on gun trafficking, called by Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings, is a political smokescreen designed to shift blame for a botched gun sting operation from the Obama administration to this country's gun owners, retailers and their firearms civil rights.

Cummings, ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has held hearings on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' Operation Fast and Furious, has invited a Who's Who of anti-gunners to speak at this forum, which begins at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Russell Senate Office Building, Room 428A.

"This isn't a forum," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "It's a Capitol Hill kangaroo court with the singular goal of deflecting public attention away from the Justice Department's horrible mishandling of a gunrunning sting that has flooded Mexico with guns. Operation Fast and Furious is a product of the Obama administration, and Cummings is running interference for the White House and Attorney General Eric Holder."

"The real culprits here are the ATF officials and people in the Justice Department who either approved this operation or knew about it and allowed it to happen, and everybody knows it," he continued. "Operation Fast and Furious allowed guns to get into the hands of people who murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens, including a prominent attorney."

"But Cummings isn't interested in pursuing the truth," Gottlieb stated. "With a speaker lineup that includes anti-gun Sen. Charles Schumer, Kristen Rand from the Violence Policy Center and Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke – and nobody representing any major gun rights organization or any of the ATF whistleblowers – this forum is a flimsy sham with one clear purpose. Mr. Cummings wants to whitewash a Justice Department debacle and blame the mayhem in Mexico on gun rights, gun owners and gun dealers."

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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