AS ANTI-GUN DEMOCRATS EXPLOIT BELTWAY SNIPER CASE, GUN OWNERS PREPARE TO VOTE

BELLEVUE, WA — The nation’s gun owners are “going ballistic” as the Nov. 5 elections loom, and they are focusing their attention on anti-gun Democrats, whose fingerprints are all over new proposals to further restrict gun rights in the wake of the notorious Beltway Sniper murder spree.

“For months, Democrats have pretended to be the friends of America’s 80 million gun owners, avoiding gun control as a campaign issue and trying to convince them that the party is not after their rights, or their hunting rifles,” said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “Yet, no sooner had the Beltway Sniper started his rampage than have leading Democrats dropped the pretense and gone right back to their philosophical, anti-gun habits, exploiting the killings to further their cause.”

High on the list of new gun control schemes is so-called “ballistic fingerprinting,” a campaign being championed by anti-gun extremist Sen. Charles Schumer, and Schumer’s “Our Lady of Peace” bill that purports to close alleged “loopholes” in existing gun laws.

“Chuck Schumer sees loopholes in any law that allows honest citizens to actually own a firearm,” Gottlieb stated. “In Schumer’s world, the Second Amendment is a loophole, and he sees no reason why American citizens might want firearms for self-defense and to protect their families.”

As for the “ballistic fingerprinting” proposal – a misnomer because the ballistic signature of a firearm created by tool markings in the steel can be changed intentionally, or through repeated use – Gottlieb called it a “gun control Trojan Horse” as currently pandered by its most ardent advocates.

“The Citizens Committee, like other gun rights organizations and the Bush Administration, is not opposed to studying the potential effectiveness of ballistic imaging technology,” Gottlieb stated. “But anti-gun Democrats are pushing this plan, not to solve crime, but essentially to create a de facto national gun registry, which could later be used to confiscate many types of firearms commonly used for personal protection and home security.

“I think you will see a big upswing of gun owners casting ballots because they realize Democrats have not been intellectually honest about their gun control agenda,” Gottlieb continued. “They will remember this as they go to the polls Nov. 5.”