Odd as it may seem, a major Second Amendment organization rushed to the defense of journalists following revelations that the Obama Justice Department had targeted several Associated Press reporters and Fox News’ James Rosen for probes.
The investigation went so far as to contend that Rosen might be somehow involved in a crime. It set off a huge controversy that fired up the press.
NBC actually broke a major story regarding the Rosen flap.
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) stepped into the fray, calling government snooping into the telephone records of reporters “deplorable, if not despicable.” “It is disturbing that James Rosen, who covers the State Department for Fox News was targeted,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “but published reports also suggest that the DOJ, in a separate effort, apparently also targeted Fox News reporter William La Jeunesse, who broke several stories about Operation Fast and Furious.” Attorney General Eric Holder denied direct involvement in any of the probes of journalists by his subordinates, but then NBC News revealed that he had personally approved the effort to covertly obtain Rosen’s e-mails.
“We find this deplorable and despicable,” Gottlieb said in a press release, “and a clear sign that the Obama administration is not simply out of touch, it is out of control. It is time for Congress to put a check on the Executive branch and rein these people in, and it is also time for Attorney General Eric Holder to go.” Gottlieb was particularly incensed that La Jeunesse, a reporter who had broken several stories relating to the Fast and Furious scandal—over which Holder obtained executive privilege protection from President Obama for thousands of subpoenaed documents he has refused to turn over to congressional investigators—might also have been a target.
“It is the role of the press to be a watchdog on government, not the other way around,” Gottlieb said. “Rosen and La Jeunesse not only did nothing wrong, they did their jobs. In La Jeunesse’s case, he has been instrumental in exposing the outrage known as Fast and Furious to the American people.” CCRKBA’s support of journalists— not many of whom have been supportive of Second Amendment rights over the years—caught some people off guard.
“It should not surprise anyone that the First Amendment is every bit as important to us as the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb explained. “The Citizens Committee is not an organization that cherry picks from the Bill of Rights. Unlike the Obama administration, we revere all the individual rights protected by the Constitution, while they seem intent on ignoring its very existence.
“In light of these scandals,” he said, “it is clear why gunowners are being joined by growing legions of other citizens in their distrust of government.”
