BELLEVUE, WA – The U.S. House of Representatives acted properly this week to overwhelmingly reject an amendment to a spending bill that would have banned the export of .50-caliber rifles, said the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).

The amendment, by Rep. James Moran (D-VA), would have blocked exports of the rifles to “non-governmental entities.” The House turned it down 278-149.

“This amendment was just one more example of an anti-gun attempt to demonize a firearm just because it is different,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Congressional anti-gunners did the same thing when Glock introduced its polymer-framed pistol years ago, falsely claiming it to be an ‘undetectable plastic gun’ and the so-called ‘weapon of choice of terrorists.’ Today, that pistol rides in the holsters of a majority of American law enforcement officers, proving once again that the gun control crowd does not now, and never has, known what it’s talking about.

“Critics of .50-caliber rifles continually claim that these guns can bring down jet liners from a mile away,” Gottlieb said. “That’s just more hyperbole from a movement that specializes in spin and outright lies. They claim now that these rifles, which are owned and used by thousands of law-abiding American recreational shooters, as well as our crack US troops overseas, are the ‘weapon of choice of terrorists.’ Their script needs a revision because they sound like a broken record.

“Congress set an example from which some state legislatures should take a lesson,” Gottlieb observed. “In a rush to make it appear they are doing something about crime and national security, anti-gunners would focus on a perfectly legal and legitimate firearm when they ought to be taking steps to secure our borders and round up actual suspected terrorists who may be in this country illegally. It’s just easier to create panic over a firearm than it is to promote security and apprehend criminals.”