‘WHY IS CEASEFIRE REWARDING TOP COP WHO LOST HANDGUN?’ ASKS CCRKBA

BELLEVUE, WA – On the day that the Pacific Northwest’s most extreme anti-gun rights organization plans to honor Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) is asking why.

“Friday at noon, Washington CeaseFire is going to honor Chief Kerlikowske for his efforts to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners, when he can’t even keep track of his own firearm,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “More than a year ago, the chief’s personal 9mm Glock was stolen from his city-owned car while it was parked on a Seattle street, while he and his wife were shopping. Such negligence should not be rewarded.”

Gottlieb noted that CCRKBA’s $1,000 reward for the recovery of Kerlikowske’s pistol still stands.

“This is CeaseFire’s payback to Kerlikowske for supporting their attempt to close a mythical ‘gun show loophole’,” said CCRKBA Executive Director Joe Waldron. “Perhaps the citizens of Washington State would be better served if CeaseFire tried to close the parked police car loophole. With more than one million law-biding gun owners in Washington, Chief Kerlikowske has joined that small group of irresponsible individuals who leave guns lying around where thieves can easily steal them. By now, his missing gun may have been involved in a crime.

“Not only did the Citizens Committee post a reward for the recovery of Chief Kerlikowske’s pistol,” Waldron noted, “the Washington Arms Collectors – the state’s largest gun show operator and grassroots gun rights organization – has been actively watching for it, which appears to be a lot more than the chief or his department has done to recover that firearm.

“Responsible gun owners know better than to leave loaded firearms in their cars, parked on the streets of downtown Seattle,” Gottlieb said. “Yet these are the very people whose firearms rights Chief Kerlikowske wants to help CeaseFire erode, and he’s being rewarded for that.

“Before Kerlikowske, a transplant from back East, tries to tell Washingtonians about firearm responsibility,” Gottlieb said, “he ought to practice a little of his own. Before an extremist group like Washington CeaseFire heaps praise on the chief, they need to know whether his stolen gun has been used to harm someone.”