Citizens' Rights Action League of Rhode Island
PO Box 20434
Cranston, RI 02920

June 24, 2004

For Immediate Release

The Citizens' Rights Action League commends the Senate Judiciary Committee for its courageous vote defeating bills S2475 and S2571. These flawed and unfair bills, if adopted, would have allowed judges to confiscate the legally owned firearms of people who have not committed any crime nor even made any threats simply because someone else said they are "in fear" of the firearm owner. "Depriving law abiding people of their constitutional and property rights based solely upon the perception or uncorroborated allegation of someone else is fundamentally wrong. We greatly appreciate the committee's vote today" said James Archer, President of the RI Citizens' Rights Action League.

These bills proposed the worst of both worlds. Far from protecting victims of domestic abuse, these bills would have left people who are among those at the greatest risk of domestic abuse, the spouses of police officers, in danger because judges would have been prohibited from ordering officers to surrender their firearms. Simultaneously, ordinary citizens could be ordered to surrender their guns and pay an unspecified price for their storage. Creating a special class of protected individuals, in this case police officers, based upon the political muscle of their organizations may be politically expedient but is wrong.

It is our position that any confiscation of firearms should be, at a minimum, pursuant to actual misdeeds of the gun owner as documented by objective evidence and that any law providing for such a surrender should apply equally to all members of society. CRAL RI will oppose any future legislation that is not fair and equitable.

The Citizens' Rights Action League is a non-profit association of gun owners dedicated to advancing self defense rights, gun rights, hunting rights and shooting sports. For more information, see http://www.cralri.org or email: info@cralri.org