CCRKBA’s Alan Gottlieb
By Dave Workman
Senior Editor
As the Democratic National Convention looms in late July, front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton will arrive in Philadelphia with the endorsement of two gun prohibition lobbying groups, and that development brought a quick reaction from two national gun rights organizations.
Clinton was endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, two organizations supported by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg. He put up $50 million to launch Everytown.
According to the Washington Examiner, “Clinton has promised gun control on her ‘very first day’ as president, and has in the past backed new taxes on weapons and a ban on some firearms.”
Everytown President John Feinblatt declared in a prepared statement, “Gun Sense Voters have a champion in Hillary Clinton. Our litmus test is simple: does a candidate side with the public or with the gun lobby? Hillary Clinton passes that test with flying colors — pushing back against the N.R.A.’s extreme ‘guns for everyone, everywhere’ agenda, and ushering in a new political calculus that saving lives from gun violence is a winning issue.”
[pullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“It’s no surprise that the gun prohibition lobby has a litmus test based on erosion of the Second Amendment, and it is less of a surprise that Hillary Clinton passed it with flying colors,”–Alan Gottlieb[/pullquote]
Quick to react were the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund.
“It’s no surprise that the gun prohibition lobby has a litmus test based on erosion of the Second Amendment, and it is less of a surprise that Hillary Clinton passed it with flying colors,” said CCRKBA chairman Alan Gottlieb. “If there were any remaining doubts among American voters about Clinton’s intentions if she wins in November, these endorsements make it clear that she is determined to rip the right to keep and bear arms from the American fabric.”
Chris Cox, chairman of the NRA/PVF, said it is clear that “The Second Amendment is on the ballot this November.”
Chris Cox, NRA/PVF
“Hillary Clinton does not believe that law-abiding Americans have the right to use a firearm to protect themselves in their homes,” Cox said. “She said the Supreme Court got it wrong in its landmark Heller decision, which held that the Second Amendment guarantees the individual right to keep and bear arms. Gun control groups are endorsing Hillary Clinton because they believe that she will work to eliminate individual gun ownership in this country.”
While the double endorsement may have been the biggest non-surprise of the 2016 campaign, it focused the political spotlight on Clinton’s gun control record and her high-profile attacks on the so-called “gun lobby.”
In a statement circulated to supporters via e-mail, Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, noted that “the NRA named Hillary Clinton as their biggest threat. And we couldn’t agree more. Hillary Clinton wears her ‘F’ rating from the NRA as a badge of honor, and has shown that she is the only candidate who has the conviction to take on the NRA’s extremist worldview of guns everywhere, for anyone, no questions asked.”
Many observers believe this can only energize Second Amendment activists and bring gun owners to the polls in November like they turned out in 2000 to prevent former Vice President Al Gore from succeeding Clinton’s husband, Bill, in the Oval Office.
The acknowledgement that there is a “litmus test” for gun control groups is another issue. Democrats have long been identified as “the party of gun control.” Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s rival, has disagreed with her extreme positions on gun control, and during one debate asserted that her proposals would shut down the American firearms industry.
Early last fall, Clinton was caught on audio at a private fund raiser declaring that “The Supreme Court was wrong on the Second Amendment.” Gottlieb said today’s endorsements by Everytown and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America – two organizations supported by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg – amount to “damning proof” that a Clinton presidency would pose a direct threat to the individual right to keep and bear arms.
“Throughout her public career,” Gottlieb said, “Hillary Clinton has never been a friend of gun owners, and (the) double endorsement merely confirms that she is their avowed enemy.”
The endorsement came exactly two weeks after the NRA threw its support to presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump during its national convention in Louisville.
