Gun rights leader Alan Gottlieb fires angry response at allegation he is ‘leading the fight for national gun registration.’
Days after the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) launched a fund-raising e-mail that attacked Alan Gottlieb, the veteran gun rights leader fired back with a blistering reaction that accused NAGR Executive Vice President Dudley Brown of engaging in rhetoric that “has done more to marginalize Second Amendment activism than all of the slanders from gun prohibition lobbying groups combined.”
Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, was furious. What ignited his anger was Brown’s allegation – complete with a request for contributions – that Gottlieb had been “leading the fight for national gun registration.”
Below is Gottlieb’s response to the accusation, which was posted to both the SAF and CCRKBA Facebook pages:
Dudley Brown’s despicable deception
Dudley Brown and his “National Association for Gun Rights” (NAGR) have built a reputation by attacking every other major gun rights organization and even pro-gun politicians, to the detriment of the gun rights movement. His rhetoric has done more to marginalize Second Amendment activism than all of the slanders from gun prohibition lobbying groups combined.
Now Dudley has spewed his venom toward Alan Gottlieb, a true champion of Second Amendment advocacy with a proven track record of accomplishment. Gottlieb is founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).
In his latest effort to raise money for his own self-aggrandizement, Dudley Brown has launched a vicious canard against Alan Gottlieb, accusing the veteran gun rights advocate of “Leading the fight for national gun registration.”
Alan Gottlieb has never advocated for gun registration in his life. His legislative efforts have been to prevent that, and Dudley knows it.
Sean Tonner, deputy chief of staff for former Republican Colorado Gov. Bill Owens, was quoted by The Denver Magazine, asserting, “All Dudley wanted to do was create controversy. He makes his money when there’s turmoil, real or perceived, because that’s what gets his members to write him checks.”
It is time to call Dudley what he is, a political bomb-throwing bully whose stock in trade is to incite distrust and discontent within the ranks of the gun rights movement to enhance his own fund-raising efforts and power base.
Instead of directing his energies toward fighting the real enemy, Dudley Brown has attacked other gun rights organizations in an effort to elevate his own group, but at what cost to gun rights?
Perhaps he believes the only way to raise his own status outside the borders of Colorado is to trample on people and organizations with whom he should be allied for the common cause of advancing Second Amendment rights, rather than inflating his own ego.
When anti-gunners see people in the gun rights movement attacking one another they cheer. Such vicious attacks provide aid and comfort to the enemies of the Second Amendment.
WHERE WAS DUDLEY?
The Second Amendment Foundation has championed gun rights legal actions and won in federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court. Remember, it was SAF that took McDonald v. City of Chicago to the Supreme Court and won. Where was Dudley?
SAF and CCRKBA have conducted the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference for more than 25 years, bringing together major gun rights leaders with grassroots activists to unify and expand the gun rights movement. Where was Dudley?
When SAF and the National Rifle Association joined forces to stop the unconstitutional gun grab in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, where was Dudley?
When SAF and NRA joined forces to defeat the San Francisco gun ban, where was Dudley?
When SAF, NRA and CCRKBA joined forces to defeat the City of Seattle’s parks gun ban – thus strengthening state preemption in Washington state and providing a lesson for anyone who might challenge other states’ preemption laws, where was Dudley?
When the International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (IAPCAR) was created, Alan Gottlieb was there to help bring together an organization that now has member groups from every continent and several nations. Where was Dudley?
When multi-national gun rights organizations gather in Europe to resist global gun control efforts, Alan Gottlieb is there, but where is Dudley?
Where is Dudley? We’ll ask again: WHERE – IS – DUDLEY? He is AWOL!
CCRKBA is currently fighting oppressive gun control legislation in Washington State, to prevent passage of the kind of gun laws that were adopted in Colorado, right under Dudley’s nose. Instead of isolating CCRKBA – as is Dudley’s “my way or the highway” style – Alan Gottlieb has helped bring together a coalition of organizations that includes gun collectors, hunters, competitors and law enforcement professionals. Their goal is to prevent expansion of federally-mandated background checks and state handgun registration, and prohibit government gun confiscation (a’la post-Katrina New Orleans).
Where is Dudley now? Maybe he’s trying to figure out how to exploit this battle to raise funds that would never be spent in Washington State, and perhaps even to scuttle the grassroots gun rights effort there. Remember, his forte is to create turmoil, exploit it and raise money from it, not win battles.
WHERE DUDLEY WASN’T
Two years ago, Dudley tried to claim credit for a lawsuit victory that wasn’t his, in a case he didn’t pay for.
When Students for Concealed Carry won a judgment against the University of Colorado, Dudley created the impression that it was his victory, claiming in an e-mail fund-raiser that his “National Foundation for Gun Rights” and Dudley’s Colorado-based Rocky Mountain Gun Owners (RMGO) had “successfully overturned the college campus gun ban in the Colorado Supreme Court.”
SCC President Daniel Crocker sent a blistering letter to Dudley that criticized him for “misleading remarks for the pecuniary gain of your organizations…”
In that letter, Crocker stated that Dudley’s message was “not only misleading but patently false.”
What was Dudley’s contribution to that case? RMGO provided an amicus brief. Alan Gottlieb and SAF also filed an amicus brief in that case, but they never claimed credit for winning the case.
Dudley claimed to be at the United Nations for the Arms Trade Treaty conference, yet nobody saw him in the building, but they did see Alan Gottlieb there, fighting to protect Americans’ gun rights.
IS DUDLEY BROWN A CHARLATAN?
Last year, the Minnesota Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance felt it necessary to respond to one of Brown’s e-mails regarding legislation that the MGOCRA had been supporting. Without naming him, the group posted a message on its Facebook page stating, “There is an inflammatory email being sent to Minnesotans by an out-of-state individual who has never actually accomplished anything for Minnesota gun rights (or those of any other state that we can see).
“The real purpose of this email is the same as all the rest of the emails this individual sends: to solicit donations,” the message added.
Last year, when NAGR launched an attack fund raiser against Wayne LaPierre and the National Rifle Association, gun owners in North Carolina became fed up. Some members of the NC Gun Owners forum asked questions such as, “Where was Dudley Brown during the Senate hearing on AWB and Magazine limitations?” Another observed, “I never liked an organization or person trying to build themselves up by putting others down.” A third noted, “I have not supported them at all, as I feel they are opportunists that seem to be looking for donations more than actually helping the fight.”
While SAF has as its motto “Winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time,” and CCRKBA’s motto is “The Common Sense Gun Lobby,” Dudley may as well say that his motto is “Destroying the gun rights movement from within, one selfish attack at a time.”
We have never made it a practice to disparage other gun rights organizations. That’s not constructive, nor does it further the cause of Second Amendment freedom. We are all supposed to be in this fight together.
However, we cannot ignore this calumny, especially from someone whose rhetoric has gun owners constantly fighting one another, rather than uniting against a common enemy.
What Dudley Brown and NAGR have done with his e-mail attack on Alan Gottlieb is deliberately divisive, disturbingly deceitful and downright despicable.
And Alan Gottlieb isn’t asking for a penny from anyone with this e-mail. He’s just setting the record straight.
