A pair of leading gun rights organizations announced Thursday they will expand what they’re calling a “two-pronged television advertising offensive” against the Biden-Harris administration’s gun control agenda, asserting the president and his “Capitol Hill cohorts” are actually trying to “eradicate” the Second Amendment.
The grassroots activist group Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and its higher-profile sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, will together air a pair of 60-second messages 143 times during the week of June 14. Those ads will appear on more than 20 cable television networks in an ambitious effort to “alert America” to the threat against the right to keep and bear arms.
“We’re only six months into this disastrous administration,” said Alan Gottlieb, SAF founder and executive vice president, “and it is painfully clear to us that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and their Capitol Hill cohorts want American citizens to be victimized twice, first by criminals and then by the government, through gun bans, gun confiscation and onerous regulations. In addition to radical gun legislation that has already passed in the U.S. House and is awaiting action in the Senate, there are important cases in the federal courts around the country. It’s time to stop this irresponsible folly, and that’s what our campaign is all about.”
The campaign began earlier this year, and over the past 20 weeks, SAF and CCRKBA advertisements have appeared more than 2,000 times. The effort is paying off, Gottlieb revealed. More than 116,000 new members and supporters have joined the two organizations, he said, with the numbers split between the groups.
“To say we’re gratified would be an understatement,” he acknowledged.
The 60-second television spots aired on more than 20 cable-TV networks, and the lineup is impressive: Fox News, Fox Business, One America News Network, Newsmax, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, HLN, TrueTV, DishTV, DirecTV, Weather, Bloomberg, Investigation Discovery, American Heroes Channel, Destination America, SYFY, History, TV Land, CMT, Great American Channel, Rural TV and America’s National Voice Channel.
“We’ve been able to secure several million dollars’ worth of advertising so far this year, and the timing of our campaign has been critical,” he added. “People are waking up to just how far out of step Biden’s Democratic Party has become with mainstream America. Violent crime is skyrocketing. Murders are on the rise. Meanwhile, far left Democrat administrations in cities such as Seattle, Portland, Minneapolis and New York are alienating police officers and talking about defunding law enforcement. The party—with Biden in the lead—also wants to release criminals without bail and add further restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms.
“These are dangerous policies,” Gottlieb said, “and the public response is pretty clear. Gun and ammunition sales, including those to first-time gun buyers, are setting new records.”
According to FBI data, through May the National Instant Check System (NICS) logged 19,188,494 background checks. Not all of those are related directly to firearm sales, the FBI acknowledges.
According to Mark Oliva, director of public affairs for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, May saw more than 1.3 million background checks conducted for the sale of a firearm.
“Over 8.5 million background checks for the sale of a firearm have been completed this year,” Oliva wrote in a June 2 email. “That figure outpaces 2020’s totals at the same point, which topped 8.1 million.”
Echoing Gottlieb’s statement, Oliva observed, “Americans are exercising their right to keep and bear arms before this administration oversteps their Constitutional authority to deny that right.”
