Alan Gottlieb, shown here at a training event, blasted Democrats over the gun control sit-in. (Dave Workman photo)
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
The chairman of one of the nation’s largest gun rights organizations blasted congressional Democrats for staging their anti-gun sit-in on Capitol Hill, asserting that “Their party no longer represents the ideals of a free society.”
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said these lawmakers clearly defined by their actions how far the party has strayed from the ideals of liberty their predecessors stood for.
“Democrats in the 1960s used sit-ins to expand Constitutional rights,” he recalled in a scathing statement to the press. “But today, they are using a sit-in to restrict those same civil rights.”
House Democrats were pushing a proposal, rejected earlier in the week by the U.S. Senate, that would deny gun sales to people whose names are placed on “no-fly” or “terrorist watch” lists. But critics insisted that this translates to denial of a civil right to someone without benefit of indictment or trial. The initial proposal was opposed by the American Civil Liberties Union, siding with gun rights groups including the CCRKBA and National Rifle Association.
A Rasmussen poll released the morning after the sit-in started revealed that “Support for additional gun control has risen to its highest level ever, but voters are evenly divided over whether more gun buying restrictions will help prevent future shootings like the one in Orlando.”
The Rasmussen survey said 56 percent of likely voters think the country needs stricter gun control laws, which is up from 45 percent in January. Forty percent remain opposed to more gun laws, but that represents a 10-point drop from January.
There is a divide along political lines, with 81 percent of Democrats and 53 percent of independents favoring more gun control, but 61 percent of Republicans opposed. A majority of Democrats and unaffiliated voters also favor a ban on the purchase of “semi-automatic and assault-type weapons,” the survey revealed.
While 67 percent of Democrats think tougher gun laws would help prevent future incidents like the Orlando terror attack, only 26 percent of Republicans and 42 percent of independents believe that.
The survey was taken June 20-21 in the midst of a national debate on gun control following the Orlando attack. While Democrats focused on gun control, critics contended it was a political feint to distract public attention from administration failures on a variety of issues. Many high-profile administration critics maintain that this is a terrorism issue, not a gun control issue.
“Instead of demanding direct action against dangerous Islamic extremists,” Gottlieb said, “they’re distracting the public by pushing gun control measures that they know would not have prevented Orlando, Boston or San Bernardino. But it creates the deceptive impression that they are doing something, when in fact they are doing less than nothing by trying to penalize the wrong people.”
The debate over guns has become increasingly divisive. Jamelle Bouie, Slate’s chief political correspondent, perhaps best described where Democrats have come as a party, and it may be alarming to Second Amendment purists.
“The kinds of voters Democrats once tried to attract by shying away from gun politics are Republicans now,” Bouie wrote. “And Democrats don’t believe they need to reach out to them. The politics, they argue, have turned.”
If Democrats believe they can turn gun control into the winning issue in November, the firearms community will be hard pressed to excuse themselves from voting this fall. The sit-in turned the battle into political theater. Gottlieb put the demonstration in perspective.
“This is an insult to many of us that participated in sit-in demonstrations to extend civil rights a generation ago,” Gottlieb said. “Many of us were armed to protect participants from the Ku Klux Klan and other bigots. We were also armed with the facts, something that today’s gun prohibitionists know little about. This demonstration is a disgrace, but today’s crop of Democrats don’t seem to care.”
