“Closing down the background check system, and thus suspending all firearms transactions and concealed carry license processing simply allows the Pennsylvania State Police to obstruct the gun rights of law-abiding citizens,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb. “We are not reassured by a promise from the agency that it will expedite this computer system update in order to restore service as soon as possible. Access to the computers for background checks should not be suspended at all.

“Surely,” he continued, “the State Police can find alternate means of processing firearms transactions and permit applications while the upgrade is in progress.”

The system is scheduled for update from 10 p.m. Saturday, May 19 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, May 22. Gottlieb said this highlights a problem with such systems when there is no backup. Authorities can literally suspend the Second Amendment by turning off a switch or pulling a plug, he observed, and use whatever excuse they want.

“We live in an age when computer upgrades should be accomplished considerably faster,” Gottlieb said. “Locking down such a vital system that is important to so many Pennsylvania residents for 60 hours is not an ‘inconvenience,’ it’s an outrage.”

Keystone State gun owners will hold their 7th annual Second Amendment Liberty rally tomorrow, May 8 on the main steps in the capitol rotunda. This would be a grand opportunity for firearms owners to contact their state legislators, and the governor’s office, to express their dissatisfaction over the PICS problem, he suggested.

“Since the last time this happened in 2007, Pennsylvania gun owners have been pushing for an end to the PICS system,” Gottlieb noted. “It is time to put the State Police out of the background check business, and turn over this important job to the NICS system operated by the FBI. They do their upgrades faster, and they deal with the entire country.”

In a letter to Gov. Scott, Mayor Buckhorn asserted, “Normally, licensed firearms carried in accordance with the Florida statute requirements do not pose a significant threat to the public. However, in the potentially contentious environment surrounding the RNC, a firearm unnecessarily increases the threat of imminent harm and injury to the residents and visitors of the city.”

The governor quickly fired back that firearms are protected by the Second Amendment. CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb applauded Gov. Scott’s decision, and called on Buckhorn to apologize to gun owners.

“Mayor Buckhorn insulted tens of thousands of legally-armed Florida citizens who pose no threat at all to visiting Republican delegates,” Gottlieb said. “You can’t suspend someone’s civil rights just because a political convention is coming to town. And to correct the mayor, firearms carried in accordance with the Florida statute do not pose any kind of threat to the public, and he knows it. He’s a gun owner and he’s got a concealed carry license.”

The Tampa Bay Times quoted unidentified “Legal experts” who asserted that “ in the highly charged atmosphere of protests around the convention, someone with concealed weapon could end up in an incident covered by Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law, which is fueling the controversy over a neighborhood watch volunteer’s fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford.”

“The mayor, the newspaper and those so-called ‘legal experts’ seem to suffer from the same paranoia,” Gottlieb observed. “Buckhorn is a Democrat and accused gunman George Zimmerman is a registered Democrat.

“Maybe the mayor is confused about which political party is coming to his city,” Gottlieb concluded. “Unlike members of his own party, Republicans are not afraid of the Second Amendment.”

“How many crimes have been committed in other states by people from New York,” queried CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Instead of complaining about guns imported into his city, by Big Apple criminals, he should be concentrating on the crime that those thugs export to other states. The problem is not out of state guns, the problem is in-state criminals, and he knows it.”

Bloomberg has been campaigning for other states to abolish their strong self-defense laws, yet he has done nothing to stop criminals from attacking the very citizens who need those laws and the protections they include.

“Mayor Bloomberg’s policies are all one-dimensional and his agenda is directed toward the wrong people,” Gottlieb stated. “He has constantly harped about gun dealers and gun shows in other states, but he has not said a word about the people in his own front yard who are providing a market for illegal guns; the people who go to other states, commit illegal transactions there, and occasionally victimize local residents while they’re at it.

“At best,” he observed, “Bloomberg is being disingenuous and most assuredly is a hypocrite. His constant harangues about gun laws in other states is a smoke screen to distract public attention away from the real source of the trouble: Criminals in his own element.

“If Mayor Bloomberg could just keep his own criminal element under control,” Gottlieb said, “he will find that the rest of the country can get along just fine without his interference. He is the mayor of New York, not the emperor of the United States.”

“Instead of disarming law-abiding American citizens,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “perhaps Mayor Bloomberg should keep guns out of the hands of some cops on his public payroll.”

Former police officer Alfredo Rivera was carrying his department-issue 9mm pistol when he and then-Sgt. Rafael Jimenez agreed to move 10 kilograms – about 20 pounds – of cocaine to a buyer in the Bronx at a meeting in January 2010. Two months later, again armed with the same pistol, Rivera showed up at a Long Island warehouse picking up what appeared to be cocaine, and then transported it to the Bronx. Jimenez pulled a 127-month prison sentence and Rivera will be sentenced on May 18, according to an FBI press release.

“Bloomberg is running around the country, worrying about privately-owned firearms,” Gottlieb observed, “while the city was issuing guns to dirty cops. The activities of Rivera and Jimenez are an insult to every honest and decent hard-working police officer in New York City. Bloomberg’s national campaign against private gun ownership is an insult to every law-abiding gun owner in the country; people who wouldn’t dream of running drugs like this pair of city-armed rogue cops.

“Mayor Bloomberg likes to hold all gun owners responsible for crimes committed by people with guns,” he continued. “He routinely smears the reputations of reputable gun dealers because a few have, perhaps inadvertently, violated some gun regulation. By the same logic, he should be held responsible for crimes committed by sworn officers, including an auxiliary sergeant, who engage in criminal activity under the cover of their badges and guns.

“If Michael Bloomberg wants to attack criminal activity by armed outlaws,” Gottlieb concluded, “we suggest he stick to his own turf and concentrate on his own people rather than citizens in other states. He’s not their mayor, he’s not their president and he’s not their king. He’s just become a big pain in their necks.”

The Friday night shooting in North Bend involved a crazed man who had earlier harassed people at two local gas stations and then apparently tried to break into another residence before he ended up at the house in which an armed resident killed him. The incident happened less than a month after Washington Ceasefire launched a campaign urging people to give up their firearms and “use a knife or baseball bat” to defend their homes.

“The case in North Bend underscores the absolute foolishness of homeowner disarmament,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Based on reports from the Sheriff’s Department, the dead man had smashed his way into the house with a propane tank, and then repeatedly threatened to kill the people inside. The couple locked themselves in their bedroom and called the sheriff’s department. While the homeowner’s girlfriend was on the phone, he armed himself with a pistol and told the suspect that he had a gun, and that the suspect should leave.

“Instead,” he continued, “the man smashed through the bedroom door, and the homeowner fired, killing him. Sheriff’s deputies were at the scene of the first attempted home invasion, proving that police cannot be everywhere at the same time, and that in an emergency, when seconds count, they could be minutes away.”

Ceasefire last month launched a $50,000 billboard advertising campaign on Metro buses that urged people to “think twice about having a gun in your home.”

“After this,” Gottlieb observed, “residents in North Bend won’t have to think twice. While it is regrettable that the homeowner had to fatally shoot the suspect, we are grateful that the homeowner and his girlfriend did not become statistics.

“The silence from Ceasefire is almost deafening,” he concluded. “If the North Bend couple had taken Ceasefire’s advice, they might now be dead. That might satisfy Ceasefire’s habit of exploiting tragedies, but it doesn’t square with responsible people who want to be safe in their own homes.”

Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist today charged Eric Vita, 23, and the boy’s mother, Jahnisha McIntosh, 22, with second-degree manslaughter in the March 14 death of Julio Segura-McIntosh. Vita had placed his 9mm pistol under the seat of his car when he stepped out to pump gas shortly after midnight. The youngster got hold of the pistol and shot himself in the head.

“The Citizens Committee has maintained all along that the answer to this sort of tragedy is not to rush out and pass some restrictive new law,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Instead, Lindquist has acted with an existing statute, and that should send a message to Olympia that we have ample laws already to hold people accountable for their negligent acts.

“This is not an attempt to break new legal ground in prosecuting negligence,” he continued. “Naturally, it will be up to a judge and possibly a jury in Tacoma to determine whether the charge Lindquist filed is appropriate to the situation.”

Gottlieb noted that another, similar case of a firearm-related child death in a car is still under investigation in Snohomish County. He cautioned the public not to make any presumptions about the outcome of that investigation.

“While the cases are similar,” he observed, “we still do not know all the facts surrounding the tragic death of a Marysville police officer’s daughter. What happened today in Pierce County should not be considered a signal about the Snohomish County case one way or the other.

“What today’s criminal charges do signal,” Gottlieb concluded, “is that anti-gun rights state lawmakers should refrain from rushing to exploit a tragedy in order to push their personal political agenda. Let prosecutors do their jobs, and let the existing law work.”

Sen. Moran’s proposed Second Amendment Sovereignty Act, S. 2205, is similar to legislation introduced in the House by Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh in December. Like the Walsh bill, Sen. Moran’s measure would prohibit the Obama administration from attempting to influence Arms Trade Treaty negotiations that might restrict the Second Amendment rights of U.S. citizens.

“We’re delighted that Sen. Moran has unveiled this bill,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “With the U.N. poised to move on its proposed treaty this summer, it is important for Congress to fulfill its responsibility to protect our Constitutional rights, rather than allow them to be eroded by international political correctness.”

Like the Walsh bill, Sen. Moran’s legislation was developed with cooperation and assistance of CCRKBA staff, Gottlieb confirmed.

“In the fall of 2009,” he recalled, “the Obama administration reversed long-standing opposition to U.S. participation in Arms Trade Treaty negotiations. While this treaty purportedly will concentrate on conventional military weapons, including tanks and missiles, there remains a genuine threat that its scope could be expanded during negotiations to include civilian small arms and ammunition.

“Such a treaty could have a significant impact on hunters, target shooters and every other American citizen who exercises his or her Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms,” Gottlieb stated. “The Citizens Committee will be watching these negotiations under a microscope, and in the meantime, we will encourage our members and every gun owner to contact their two senators and urge them to support Sen. Moran’s legislation.”

Mirkarimi pleaded guilty in San Francisco court this morning to what the San Francisco Chronicle described as “a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment in connection with an incident in which he allegedly inflicted a bruise on his wife.”

“As a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Ross Mirkarimi supported all manner of gun control schemes,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “He had to surrender his guns when the charges were originally filed, and if similar charges had been filed against some gun rights activist or an average gun owner, you can bet Mirkarimi would be looking to pillory that person, and strip away their gun rights permanently.”

Under federal law, domestic violence convictions can cost people their Second Amendment rights permanently. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors reportedly dropped the domestic violence charge and two other misdemeanor counts.

“Why should Mirkarimi enjoy a double standard,” Gottlieb questioned. “Based on reports of what he allegedly did, any private citizen who did the same thing might be facing jail time. You can bet San Francisco prosecutors would not be cutting a deal that would allow that person to get his firearms back.

“Instead of getting his guns back under a sweet plea deal and retaining his job as sheriff,” he observed, “Mirkarimi ought to remain disarmed, and lose his job. Otherwise, from this date forward, San Francisco prosecutors need to apply the ‘Mirkarimi standard’ to every domestic violence case that hits their desk.

“Mirkarimi’s reputation as a double-standard elitist is now solidified,” Gottlieb said. “For a person who has advocated gun control for everyone else, he should be ashamed. Ross Mirkarimi can now be known as the High Sheriff of Low Behavior.”

As many of you know, the Illinois House Executive Committee sent two extremely anti-gun bills to the floor yesterday:

HB5831 – this bill would tack a $65.00 tax on every hand gun you own and require you to register like a sex offender.

HB5167 – this bill would tack a 2% “Sin Tax” on all ammunition sales in the state with the proceeds from the tax going to a fund to help pay for a healthcare program for gang bangers and drug lords.

EACH OF THESE TWO BILLS HAVE ONE PURPOSE AND ONE PURPOSE ONLY – TO PUNISH LAW-ABIDING FIREARM OWNERS

The Emanuel/Obama gun haters aren’t being the least bit bashful about their intent, they have made it clear that they will “screw-over” gun owners by any means possible.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP PRESERVE AND PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS

1. Demonstrate your support for your gun rights – attend IGOLD 2012 – Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day on March 7th. See http://igold.isra.org for further details.

2. Contact your State Representative and politely inform him/her that you are a law-abiding firearm owner and that you do not support taxing ammunition and you do not support registering firearm owners like sex offenders. Tell him/her that you expect to see them vote AGAINST HB5831 and AGAINST HB5167 when these antigun bills come to the floor. If you do not know who your State Representative is, click this link to go to the Illinois Board of Elections:
http://www.elections.state.il.us/DistrictLocator/DistrictOfficialSearchByAddress.aspx ….

Help the Citizens Committee For The Right To Keep And Bear Arms and our Illinois affiliate, the Illinois State Rifle Association defeat these latest attacks on the Second Amendment rights of all Illinois citizens.

As reported by the Des Moines Register, “Iowa Democrats…left the Capitol in protest of two gun bills the Republican majority had planned to debate today…” House Joint Resolution 2009 proposes an amendment to the state constitution that includes a specific right to keep and bear arms. House Bill 2215 is a “stand-your-ground” measure that would expand the use of reasonable force to include lethal force, to resist grave bodily harm or death.

“Once again,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “Democrats have painted themselves as the party of gun control by disappearing rather than debating measures to strengthen the firearm civil rights of Iowa citizens.”

Gottlieb is co-author of These Dogs Don’t Hunt: The Democrats’ War on Guns with Dave Workman. He noted that Democrats claim they were ‘double-crossed’ because the bills were scheduled for debate today, allegedly not giving them adequate time to prepare amendments. Yet, he said, it was reported that they had already offered at least one amendment to one of the bills.

“We are disappointed,” he said, “that once again Democrats choose to be disingenuous about ducking out on gun owners. It is a sad example of legislative cowardice, since both bills will likely pass the Republican-controlled House. Iowa’s Democrat caucus can’t run away from that and live in denial.

“It is telling that Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Sue Dvorsky referred to both of these measures as ‘dangerous bills’ when she spoke with the Des Moines Register,” Gottlieb noted. “There is nothing dangerous about protecting a civil right already delineated in several state constitutions and the Bill of Rights, nor is there anything dangerous about expanding the self-defense rights of Hawkeye State citizens. Democrats are living in denial if they think they can delay these measures into obscurity.

“I will remind them of the words spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King,” he concluded. “A right delayed is a right denied.”