The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and Alan Gottlieb don’t think much of the “forum” that Rep. Elijah Cummings has planned for Thursday. And I think most people will see it for what it is – a smokescreen, a diversionary tactic, a whitewash to take the attention off of Project Gunwalker.<\/p>\n
BELLEVUE, WA \u2013 The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said Thursday\u2019s planned forum on gun trafficking, called by Democrat Congressman Elijah Cummings, is a political smokescreen designed to shift blame for a botched gun sting operation from the Obama administration to this country\u2019s gun owners, retailers and their firearms civil rights.<\/p>\n
Cummings, ranking member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has held hearings on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives\u2019 Operation Fast and Furious, has invited a Who\u2019s Who of anti-gunners to speak at this forum, which begins at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Russell Senate Office Building, Room 428A.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis isn\u2019t a forum,\u201d said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. \u201cIt\u2019s a Capitol Hill kangaroo court with the singular goal of deflecting public attention away from the Justice Department\u2019s horrible mishandling of a gunrunning sting that has flooded Mexico with guns. Operation Fast and Furious is a product of the Obama administration, and Cummings is running interference for the White House and Attorney General Eric Holder.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe real culprits here are the ATF officials and people in the Justice Department who either approved this operation or knew about it and allowed it to happen, and everybody knows it,\u201d he continued. \u201cOperation Fast and Furious allowed guns to get into the hands of people who murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and countless Mexican citizens, including a prominent attorney.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Cummings isn\u2019t interested in pursuing the truth,\u201d Gottlieb stated. \u201cWith a speaker lineup that includes anti-gun Sen. Charles Schumer, Kristen Rand from the Violence Policy Center and Brady Campaign President Paul Helmke \u2013 and nobody representing any major gun rights organization or any of the ATF whistleblowers \u2013 this forum is a flimsy sham with one clear purpose. Mr. Cummings wants to whitewash a Justice Department debacle and blame the mayhem in Mexico on gun rights, gun owners and gun dealers.\u201d<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n