Zogby/O'Leary Report Poll Finds Majority of American Voters Don't Fault U.S. Gun Laws for Mexican Drug Violence

/PRNewswire/ -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has stated that the Obama administration would like to resurrect the Clinton ban on semi-automatic firearms, as well as other gun control laws.

One of the reasons for bringing back these unpopular laws, according to Holder, is that Mexican drug cartels are becoming increasingly violent and warring with Mexican government troops. Holder says that some of the guns being used by the Mexican drug mafia are being obtained illegally from the United States.

Mexico is a country with a reputation for political corruption and a healthy disregard for the individual rights of its citizens. Still, Holder and the Obama administration think that limiting the Second Amendment rights of U.S. citizens is a cure for drug violence in Mexico.

However, according to a recent poll conducted by The O'Leary Report and Zogby International, a vast majority of the American voting public disagrees.

The poll, which was conducted March 20-23 and has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 1.5 percentage points, asked 4,523 likely voters:

"Mexican officials, gun control groups and officials at the Department of Homeland Security claim drug cartels are crossing the U.S. border in order to obtain guns illicitly. Others say that the Mexican drug cartels are equipped with military hardware including grenades, anti-tank missiles and mortars - all weapons that are not available to the American public. Which of the following do you think is the main source for Mexican drug cartel arms?"

Sixty-five percent of voters say that the international black market is the main source for Mexican drug cartel arms; while only 13.5 percent think these arms are coming from U.S. gun stores (3.5 percent think the arms are coming from somewhere else and 18 percent are not sure).

Among voters aged 18-29 years old, one of President Obama's strongest groups of supporters, 73 percent say international black market, and just six percent say U.S. gun stores (two percent say somewhere else and 19 percent are not sure).

A strong majority of self-described Independent voters (66 percent) also say that the international black market is main source of arms for Mexican drug cartels, and only 12 percent say U.S. gun stores (four percent say somewhere else and 19 percent are not sure).

Obama Lied to Gun Owners, Says CCRKBA; Attack Plan Revealed by Holder

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama deliberately and repeatedly lied to America's 90 million gun owners across the country when he insisted that he would not try to take away anyone's firearms, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, reacting to yesterday's remarks by Obama's Attorney General Eric Holder that the president will seek to reinstate the ban on semi-automatic firearms, said Obama "knew he was lying to the nation because his own Web site touted his plan to revive the gun ban and make it permanent."

"We warned America that Obama's 'support' for the Second Amendment was empty rhetoric," he stated, "and now Holder's disclosure has confirmed it. Obama was lying, and now gun rights may be dying."

Several times on the campaign trail, Obama told voters "I'm not going to take your guns away." He said it at rallies in Duryea, Pennsylvania and in Boise, Idaho. He also told a news conference that "Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear... I think people can take me at my word."

"Right now," said Gottlieb, "I wouldn't take Obama's word if he said it rains a lot in Seattle. Apparently, law-abiding gun owners have nothing to fear unless they own sport-utility rifles, semiautomatic shotguns, handguns and any other firearm that Obama and his anti-gun attorney general don't like."

"Thanks to Eric Holder, who has been far more honest than his boss about his anti-gun philosophy, it is now clear that the new president doesn't support the Second Amendment at all," he observed. "American gun owners should remind Democrats in Congress that the Second Amendment means what it says, especially when the president doesn't."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) 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.

Reaction to Gillebrand Proves Democrats Still Party of Gun Control, Says CCRKBA

/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The hysteria-laden reaction from members of her own party to last week's appointment of New York Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton proves that Democrats are still the party of gun control, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

"Kirsten Gillibrand gets high marks from the ACLU and from the Americans for Democratic Action," noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. "She supports abortion rights, stem cell research and health care protection for children -- all hot button issues for Democrats -- but because she supports gun rights, members of her own party have chosen to excoriate her and Gov. David Patterson. Well, so much for being the party of tolerance and inclusion.

"Where does it say that gun owners in New York State should be deprived of a voice in the Senate Democratic Caucus?" Gottlieb wondered. "Gillibrand recently said she believes there can be much common ground between those who protect gun rights and those who believe in gun control. Isn't that the same thing that the extremists at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence have been claiming? Isn't that the same philosophy that gun control zealots on Capitol Hill have expressed in the past?

"The difference," he continued, "is that Gillibrand has a 100-percent rating from the NRA, while too many of her fellow Democrats have made careers out of giving only lip service to the Second Amendment.

"What this controversy really proves," Gottlieb stated, "is that too many Democrats remain devoted to crushing gun rights, and they will even stoop to attacking and demonizing a rising star of their own party to further their agenda. This is not the party of 'change' that so many Americans supported in November. It is apparently a party of narrow views with no tolerance for different opinions, especially if those opinions support the rights of millions of law-abiding American firearms owners."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) 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.