BELLEVUE, WA – Connecticut State Rep. Craig Fishbein has been honored by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms as the 2026 Legislator of the Year. In addition to being a state lawmaker, noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, Fishbein is also a litigator; an attorney who has been part of the team which put together the Connecticut Citizens Defense League’s challenge to the state’s ban on so-called “assault weapons,” which is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. “I’m very surprised and very

BELLEVUE, WA –  Veteran gun rights warrior and a champion of Second Amendment activism in Illinois, Richard Pearson, was the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. The longtime executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), Pearson is also a member of the CCRKBA Board of Directors. He has been leading the charge in Illinois, and was instrumental in creating an annual legislative activism day which has traditionally brought thousands of

BELLEVUE, WA – For the fourth time in its 21-year history, the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AZCDL) was recognized as this year’s Grassroots Organization of the Year by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Formally organized in 2005, the AZCDL has become a powerhouse in the Grand Canyon State, and will undoubtedly have its work cut out in the months and years ahead. Founding President Dave Kopp worked hard to bring the organization to its present status, and after his

BELLEVUE, WA –  With confirmation by police in Bend, Oregon that the suspect in Thursday’s deadly school shooting was stopped by an armed private citizen, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is hailing that person’s actions, which obviously saved lives. “Once again,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “an armed citizen with a concealed carry license has intervened in a tragic incident, bringing it to an end and preventing further loss of innocent lives. We are heartbroken that three children and

BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is founded on grassroots activism, and this year’s “Grassroots Activist of the Year” award goes to a man who is relatively fresh to the fight, Derek LeBlanc, founder of the Oregon Gun Owners Action League—which became a CCRKBA affiliate this year. Not only was LeBlanc active in the state capitol in Salem, he is also tackling the Portland city council’s controversial effort to ban licensed concealed carry in “certain city-owned buildings

BELLEVUE, WA – Internationally-recognized firearms researcher and author Dr. John Lott, founder and president of the Montana-based Crime Prevention Research Center, was honored during this year’s Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC) as the recipient of the “Gun Rights Defender of the Year” by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Lott gained national attention with the publication of his book More Guns, Less Crime almost 28 years ago. It offered a much-welcomed contrast to arguments by gun prohibitionists that increasing private

BELLEVUE, WA – A proposed federal law treating airguns as firearms is an extremist idea which reveals the true intentions of anti-gunners is to ultimately ban anything even resembling a gun, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said.  Democratic Rep. Kevin Mullin (CA-15) is sponsoring “Garrett’s Law,” which would require background checks, and place airgun regulation under the control of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.  “Congressman Kevin Mullin is adding a new definition to the term ‘California Dreamin’,”