Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Says Groups Conspiring To Dupe Americans With Lennon Tribute Concert

U.S.Newswire, 10/2/2001 16:10
http://www.boston.com/dailynews/275/nation/_Citizens_Committee_for_the_Ri:.shtml

To: National Desk
Contact: Alan Gottlieb of the Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms, 425-454-4911;
Web site: www.ccrkba.org
BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 2 /U.S. Newswire/ — The following was released
today
by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms:
The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA)
today
condemned three gun control organizations for attempting to dupe
Americans
into financially supporting their cause by contributing to a benefit
concert airing Oct. 2 on TNT.
Americans who contribute to the John Lennon Tribute benefit concert
in the
belief they are supporting relief organizations that responded to the
World
Trade Center Attack could find their donations going instead to the
Brady
Center to Prevent Gun Violence, Million Mom March and Violence Policy
Center.
The concert, initially set for Sept. 20, was re-scheduled for
broadcast
tonight on TNT. Originally intended to benefit the three anti-gun
groups,
the scope was expanded to include the American Red Cross,
International
Association of Fire Fighters, September 11th Fund, New York Fraternal
Order
of Police WTC Fund, National Organization for Victim Assistance and
the
Twin Towers Fund. Now, according to a Brady Center press release ”a
portion” of the proceeds will be divided among those organizations.
Exactly what percentage was not disclosed.
”This is an outrage,” declared CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. ”The
gun
control crowd has crawled to a new low, and now hopes to exploit this
national tragedy to rake in money to help bankroll their political
agenda.
Don’t these people have any shame?”
Gottlieb hailed the heroic efforts of Red Cross volunteers, police and
firefighters, and rescue workers who traveled immediately to New York
following the vicious terrorist attack on the World Trade Center. He
urged
all Americans to be as generous as possible with their contributions
to the
actual relief effort.
”American are generous, compassionate people,” Gottlieb
stated. ”We were
all attacked Sept. 11, not only in New York City and at the Pentagon.
And
now America wants to support those brave men and women who responded
to the
call, risking, and in some cases, losing their lives in the process.
That
the Brady Center and its cohorts would stoop to take advantage of
America’s
generosity by this so-called act of sharing the stage with relief
organizations is a disgrace.”
Gottlieb noted recent disclosures that the Brady Center and Million
Moms
have fallen on hard financial times because people have learned that
gun
control is a losing issue.
”This amounts to nothing more than a despicable attempt by the gun
control
lobby to balance its books,” Gottlieb charged.
He pointed to a statement on the Brady Center’s own Web site
promoting this
expanded benefit, by Center President Michael D. Barnes, as proof.
Said
Barnes: ”In the wake of the tragic events last week in New York and
Washington, D.C., it has been brought home, for many of us very
personally,
that every life is important. Not one life should be lost to
senseless acts
of violence. Now more than ever, we must redouble our efforts to
prevent
gun violence in America.”
”The attack on Sept. 11 did not involve a single gun,” Gottlieb
replied.
”This was a terrorist act, in which the perpetrators used knives and
box
cutters to commandeer four commercial airplanes, which they turned
into
guided missiles. Until now, I had always thought that there existed,
in the
anti-gun movement, at least some shred of human decency. It is with
utter
disappointment that I now stand corrected.”
——
With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens
Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is one of the nation’s
premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the
Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms
through
active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots
organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout
the
United States.

*************************************************************
Some numbers to call if you want to respond to them:
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
The Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence
1225 Eye Street, NW, Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005
Brady Campaign Phone: (202) 898-0792
Brady Campaign Fax: (202) 371-9615 >br>
Brady Center Phone: (202) 289-7319
Brady Center Fax: (202) 408-1851