BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today announced its legislative priorities for 2018, noting that the threat to Second Amendment rights remains formidable as Congress and state legislatures get back to business.
At the federal level, CCRKBA will focus its efforts primarily on passage of concealed carry reciprocity and the Hearing Protection Act that deregulates noise reduction devices for firearms. The reciprocity legislation was passed by the House of Representatives late last year and is now facing a difficult fight in the U.S. Senate. The hearing protection act also faces a tough battle on Capitol Hill, where opponents have pulled out all the stops.
“We need to raise at least $2.1 million for our direct and grassroots lobbying efforts to fund these priorities and advance gun rights,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “That’s less than ten percent of the $25 million that billionaire Michael Bloomberg has pledged to advance his anti-gun rights agenda.
“Anti-gun groups are working feverishly to kill the reciprocity bill in the Senate, using misinformation and hysteria,” he continued. “We really have our work cut out for us.”
At the state level, CCRKBA will devote considerable energy to stop the erosion of Second Amendment rights in eight battleground states: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington. Elitist anti-gunners are using their wealth as a weapon against honest firearms owners whose only sin is the desire to be left alone to exercise their rights, Gottlieb said.
“The gun prohibition lobby sees opportunity at the state level and they are concentrating their efforts in the states where they have the cooperation of key legislators and anti-gun governors,” Gottlieb observed. “This doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the rest of the country. We’ll be plenty busy all over the map. We’ve specifically identified these issues, and these states, as our top priorities because this is going to be a critical year in which gun owners have a chance to determine our gun rights for decades to come.”