CCRKBA Launches Petition to Bondi for ‘Dirty Dozen’ Investigations

In its April 14th letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi asking for attention from her newly-created “Second Amendment Task Force” to be directed at a dozen anti-gun states stirring national interest, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has just stepped up its game.

CCRKBA has launched a national online petition calling for investigations in each of the named states “to ultimately seek injunctions and/or restraining orders against any and all state laws and local regulations which are determined to infringe and/or impair the exercise of rights protected by the Second Amendment.”

The states are California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington, now referred to by podcasters as “the Dirty Dozen.” Their Democrat-controlled legislatures have been pushing increasingly restrictive gun control laws, essentially turning the constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms into a government-regulated privilege, according to CCRKBA.

According to CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “A Task Force investigation of even one of the states on the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list would send a legal shot across the bow of lawmakers in all of those states to cool their jets where restrictive gun control is concerned. After years of incremental gun rights erosion by anti-gun politicians, the time has come to put them on the defensive and reveal just how constitutionally repugnant their gun prohibition crusade has become.”

CCRKBA’S specific identification of offending states has been the subject of two widely-viewed YouTube presentations, at Washington Gun Law, where more than 54,000 people have viewed attorney Bill Kirk’s analysis, leaving more than 750 comments; and Guns & Gadgets, where host Jared Yanis offers his perspective. The Guns & Gear video has been viewed more than 56,000 times and garnered nearly 1,500 comments. By any measure, this is huge support for the CCRKBA effort.

The petition, which may be viewed below, says the U.S. Constitution and individual state constitutions protect and enshrine an enumerated individual right to keep and bear arms. It recalls how the Second Amendment was incorporated to the states via the 14^th Amendment by the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago. It asserts each of the “Dirty Dozen” states have engaged in “blatant and egregious legislative efforts to restrict the firearm rights protected by state and federal constitutions.”

And, the petition states, “the legislative attacks on our Second Amendment rights will continue unabated unless and until they are legally challenged.”

By launching this petition, CCRKBA has taken what might be considered the logical “next step” in an effort to bring national attention to what embattled gun owners have been facing in the listed states, in some cases for decades, and in other cases—Oregon, Washington and Colorado—only for the past few years. All three states have apparently similar experience in terms of population growth by way of migration from other states, such as California. Changing demographics has included what many natives in those states sometimes complain is an influx of people who “brought their politics with them.”

The phrase “Don’t Californicate (pick a state)” has become popular in the West over the past several years as more people fled to other states, but still support the political philosophy which has, according to critics, ruined life in California.

• Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recently signed restrictive gun legislation with restrictive requirements for anyone wanting to own a modern semiautomatic rifle.
• Washington’s Democrat-controlled Legislature has passed, and sent to Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson a bill requiring a permit-to-purchase a firearm, a provision which an NRA representative said is blatantly unconstitutional.
• In Oregon, lawmakers are scrambling to adopt provisions of legally-encumbered Measure 114 before the State Supreme Court has even announced whether it will take the case.

The most recent problem in California concerns a vote in Sacramento defeating what the California Rifle & Pistol Association called a “common sense wildlife bill” aimed at controlling the mountain lion population. This legislation, though not strictly related to the Second Amendment, would be aimed at reducing cougar-human interactions, which have already proven fatal in the Golden State.

As noted by Survival World, “There is reason for hope among gun rights advocates. Just two weeks prior to this announcement, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division opened an investigation into Los Angeles County. That investigation stemmed from complaints that concealed carry applicants were waiting 18 months or more for approval – effectively nullifying their rights during the delay. Now, the CCRKBA is asking why that standard of scrutiny can’t be applied to the twelve states on the Dirty Dozen list.”

Since Bondi announced formation of the 2A Task Force, the Second Amendment debate has been elevated to a level well beyond its traditional slot as an argument about guns to a discussion about rights, and the gun prohibition lobby and their allies in Congress and state legislatures are not happy about it.

A strong showing of support for the CCRKBA online petition will make them even less happy because it could persuade Bondi to take action.

PETITION TO THE HON. PAMELA BONDI, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES

WHEREAS the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects and enshrines the individual right to keep and bear arms, which shall not be infringed, and

WHEREAS the individual right to bear arms is enumerated and protected by individual state constitutions, and

WHEREAS the Second Amendment was incorporated to the states by the U.S. Supreme Court via the 14^th Amendment in its landmark 2010 ruling in McDonald v. City of Chicago, thus bringing the authority of the federal constitution to bear on the states, and

WHEREAS twelve states, currently identified by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and popularized on social media as the “Dirty Dozen” for their blatant and egregious legislative efforts to restrict the firearm rights protected by state and federal constitutions, and

WHEREAS those states have been alphabetically identified as California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington, and

WHEREAS the Attorney General has created a “Second Amendment Task Force” within the Department of Justice “to implement Executive Order 14206 and protect the fundamental right secured by the Second Amendment” by “developing and executing strategies to use litigation and policy to advance, protect, and promote compliance with the Second Amendment,” and

WHEREAS the legislative attacks on our Second Amendment rights will continue unabated unless and until they are legally challenged, therefore

We, the undersigned citizens of the United States respectfully urge the Attorney General and the 2A Task Force to launch constitutional investigations in each of the 12 states listed above, to ultimately seek injunctions and/or restraining orders against any and all state laws and local regulations which are determined to infringe and/or impair the exercise of rights protected by the Second Amendment.

Yours Respectfully,

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.