WASHINGTON, April 18, 2002 — “The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) supports fully H.R. 2037, the proposed Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act,” John M. Snyder, CCRKBA Public Affairs Director, stated here this morning.

H.R. 2037 is the subject of a public hearing scheduled for today by the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.

Snyder stated that, “enactment of this bill would do much to drive a stake through the heart of third-party lawsuits brought around the country against law-abiding firearm manufacturers, distributors and dealers. In these lawsuits, gun-haters seek to hold law-abiding persons in the firearms industry responsible for the misuse, including criminal misuse, of their products by third parties.”

Snyder, named Dean of gun lobbyists by national media, added that, “the asinine theory underlying these actions could, if allowed to stand, be used to destroy just about any industry in America. The promoters of these actions are enemies not only of the individual Second Amendment civil right to keep and bear arms. They also are enemies of the entire free-enterprise system upon which the greatest economy in the history of the world is based.”

CCRKBA, said Snyder, “commends Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida for introducing this legislation. Congressman Stearns is a CCRKBA Gun Rights Defender of the Month Awardee. Throughout his congressional career, he has been a staunch defender of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. We support him completely in this endeavor. We appreciate also the action of hundreds of U.S. Representatives who have signed onto H.R. 2037 as cosponsors.