Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Condemns Justice Department Probes of Reporters

BELLEVUE, WA – Citing concerns about First Amendment erosion based on revelations about covert Justice Department probes of journalists, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today called the government snooping “deplorable, if not despicable.”

“It is disturbing that James Rosen, who covers the State Department for Fox News was targeted,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “but now published reports suggest that the DOJ, in a separate effort, apparently also targeted Fox News reporter William La Jeunesse, who broke several stories about Operation Fast and Furious.

“We find this deplorable and despicable,” he added, “and a clear sign that the Obama administration is not simply out of touch, it is out of control. It is time for Congress to put a check on the Executive branch and rein these people in, and it is also time for Attorney General Eric Holder to go.”

Gottlieb noted that, “It is the role of the press to be a watchdog on government, not the other way around.” He said Rosen and La Jeunesse “not only did nothing wrong, they did their jobs. In La Jeunesse’s case, he has been instrumental in exposing the outrage known as Fast and Furious to the American people.”

Fast and Furious is the scandalous Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives gun trafficking operation that authorized at least 2,000 AK-type rifles to be purchased by known criminal suspects. It was terminated immediately after a gun associated with the operation was recovered at the scene of a gunfight in 2010 that resulted in the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.

“It should not surprise anyone that the First Amendment is every bit as important to us as the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb observed. “The Citizens Committee is not an organization that cherry picks from the Bill of Rights. Unlike the Obama administration, we revere all the individual rights protected by the Constitution, while they seem intent on ignoring its very existence.

“In light of these scandals,” he concluded, “it is clear why gun owners are being joined by growing legions of other citizens in their distrust of government.”

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.

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