Kerry's Debate Comments Draw Fire

NEWS RELEASE
October 14, 2004

NOT TAMPER WITH 2ND AMENDMENT?
'SEN. KERRY ALREADY HAS,' SAYS CCRKBA

When Sen. John Kerry insisted during Wednesday's third and final presidential debate that "I will not tamper with the Second Amendment," he was being disingenuous, because he already has, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.

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Once again portraying himself as a pro-gun-rights candidate, Kerry insisted, "I am a hunter. I'm a gun owner. I've been a hunter since I was a kid, 12, 13 years old. And I respect the Second Amendment and I will not tamper with the Second Amendment."

"Sorry, Senator, but that claim does not pass the smell test," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "One look at Mr. Kerry's record on gun control proves that actions speak louder than words. Over the years, there is not a single gun control proposal which Sen. Kerry did not support. He backed the Brady Law, part of which was found unconstitutional. He supported the Clinton semi-auto ban, an issue that cost his party control of Congress. He supported a proposal earlier this year that would have banned virtually every centerfire hunting rifle cartridge in the country. He backs legislation that would effectively ban all semi-auto shotguns, including the one he held in front of an audience in West Virginia on Labor Day.

"Senator, when you vote to restrict the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms," Gottlieb observed, "you are tampering with the Second Amendment. When you support bans on certain firearms because of cosmetics you don't like, you are tampering with the Second Amendment. When you proclaim that you are a hunter, believing that gives you legitimacy in the shooting community, you are demonstrating that you don't have a clue what the Second Amendment is all about.

"And when you say you respect the Second Amendment," Gottlieb added, "you conveniently don't explain whether you respect some silly notion that it allows states to establish national guard units, or that you unflinchingly believe that it guarantees – not grants – the right of an individual citizen to own any kind of firearm he or she wants.

"And when you said, Sen. Kerry, that you ‘would not roll back any constitutional right, whether it's the First Amendment, the Fifth Amendment or a woman's right to choose,' you skipped over the Second Amendment," Gottlieb concluded, "because you've been trying to roll the Second Amendment right off a cliff since you were elected 20 years ago."

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.