Obama's "Drug Czar" pick offers more proof of anti-gun agenda

Reports that Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske has been tapped to become the nation's next "drug czar" offer more proof of the anti-gun intentions of the Obama administration, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

"During his eight-year tenure as Seattle's police chief, Gil Kerlikowske has established himself as a devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "That's pretty hypocritical of a guy whose own gun was stolen out of his department car on a downtown Seattle street. He may pass an FBI background check for an appointment, but he flunked the responsible gun owner's test."

Kerlikowske has lobbied for bans on sport-utility rifles that are owned by tens of thousands of law-abiding Washington residents, and millions of their fellow American citizens. He backed legislation to close the mythical "gun show loophole" with an unsubstantiated theory that private sales put guns in the hands of criminals.

"While he's been Seattle's police chief," Gottlieb noted, "he's become a close ally of the anti-gun Washington CeaseFire, but he's never bothered to sit down with gun owners to discuss crime problems, gun safety or enforcement efforts that focus on felons rather than firearms.

"Kerlikowske's reported appointment to a post with the Obama administration reinforces the genuine concerns of American gun owners that the new president is not their friend," he observed. "The new president has surrounded himself with people who have long anti-gun rights track records, including Joe Biden, Eric Holder, Hillary Clinton and Rahm Emanuel. By adding Gil Kerlikowske to his inner circle, Obama is simply confirming the adage that 'you can tell a lot about someone by the company he keeps.'

"It's no surprise Gil Kerlikowske would jump at the opportunity to leave the Evergreen State," Gottlieb stated. "He and his anti-gun allies have repeatedly failed to erode the civil rights of Washington citizens. But he would be leaving here with unfinished business. He hasn't solved the one crime that poses more of a threat to public safety than a hundred gun shows or a thousand semiautomatic rifles owned by law-abiding private citizens. He still has to find his stolen pistol."