NEWS RELEASE

Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
12500 N.E. Tenth Place
Bellevue, WA 98005

CCRKBA SAYS ‘THE SENATOR’S CHAMBERS ARE EMPTY’


For Immediate Release: May 03, 2005

BELLEVUE, WA – In an obvious effort to filibuster and ridicule a concealed carry bill now before the Nebraska Legislature, State Sen. Ernie Chambers has introduced a bizarre amendment that would, among other things, punish violators by having their trigger fingers shot off by a fellow lawmaker. Nebraska is only one of four states that do not allow its citizens the means of self-defense.

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) condemned the veteran Omaha lawmaker for injecting a serious debate with what amounts to “the ravings of someone who has overdosed on self-aggrandizement.”

“It appears Ernie’s chambers are empty,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “If this was intended as a joke, the senator needs a different hobby because he’s no comedian.”

Included in the amendment is a requirement for licensed citizens to “carry concealed the maximum number of pistols for personal protection due to paranoia and stark terror of the licensee toward the licensee’s family, friends, neighbors, strangers, and possible enemy invaders.”

Noting that Sen. Chambers has had help in the past to defeat pro-gun rights legislation in Nebraska, Gottlieb observed, “I cannot imagine any rational person standing in line to attach his or her name to this insulting screed. Anyone can appreciate good sarcasm, but suggesting that violators have their index fingers shot off by Sen. Jeanne Combs, the prime sponsor of the concealed carry bill, goes beyond the pale of good taste.”

“Sen. Chambers has been around the Legislature a long, long, very long time,” noted CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “His Omaha constituents, who first elected him in 1970, should be ashamed that he has wasted their time and other legislative resources, on their nickel, to craft this sophomoric amendment.

“Childish behavior should be reserved for children,” Waldron observed. “Perhaps Sen. Chambers is lucky there is not a ‘zero tolerance’ policy in Lincoln as there is on every public school campus in the country, because after this episode, he’d be expelled.”

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.com) 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.

-END-