BELLEVUE, WA – A new Rasmussen survey released Tuesday shows support for gun control is slipping among likely voters, and it also once again reveals Democrats are the “party of gun control” for wanting stricter gun laws, while Republicans favor enforcing current laws.

“Ten weeks before the midterm elections is a good time for these distinctions to be revealed by a national poll,” noted Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. “You have an overwhelming majority of Democrats saying the U.S. needs stricter gun control laws, and 65 percent of Democrats saying they would vote for a congressional candidate who promises to completely ban modern semi-automatic rifles.

“The timing of this Rasmussen survey is important and not just because of the looming midterm elections,” Gottlieb added, “but also because the U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral arguments in two consolidated cases challenging bans on so-called ‘assault weapons’ in the upcoming term, which begins in October. Both cases were brought by our sister organization, the Second Amendment Foundation, known as Viramontes v. Cook County in Illinois and Grant v. Higgins in Connecticut and we will be submitting an amicus brief.”

According to Rasmussen, a staggering 79 percent of Democrats want even stricter gun control laws, while only 29 percent of Republicans agree. Fifty-two percent of voters overall think stricter enforcement of existing laws would do more to reduce violent crime involving firearms—up two percentage points from last September—while only 34 percent say passing new laws would be better.

“Such surveys are important because they offer some guidance to voters about which candidates better represent their beliefs on important issues, especially the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb observed. “But it is also important that we keep in perspective the fact that constitutionally-protected fundamental rights are not now, and never should be, subject to the results of public opinion polls. Rights guaranteed by the Constitution are special, and recent Supreme Court rulings make it clear the Second Amendment is not a second-class right.”

BELLEVUE, WA – BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms congratulates the three-judge panel of the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for unanimously rejecting a lawsuit by California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the Giffords Law Center (GLC) against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) because they lacked standing as plaintiffs.

The 18-page decision, authored by Circuit Judge Consuelo M. Callahan, a George W. Bush appointee, observed, “Although California and GLC expended resources to combat the spread and use of ghost guns after enactment of the Final Rule, those expenditures were based on their predictions…But we cannot ‘endorse standing theories that rest on speculation about the decisions of independent actors . . . particularly speculation about future unlawful conduct.”

Bonta and the GLC were demanding that ATF adopt tougher regulations on so-called “ghost guns.” But CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb scoffed at the notion, stating, “The gun prohibition lobby and politicians like Bonta are using so-called ‘ghost guns’ as the new bogeyman of American gun politics.”

Gottlieb pointed to language in Judge Callahan’s ruling which added the proper perspective to this case.

“You can’t litigate based on speculation about possible future unlawful conduct,” Gottlieb observed, “and Judge Callahan was pretty clear about it. Thankfully, the justice system hasn’t gotten to the point of acting on speculation. After all, this isn’t make believe and we live in the real world, not one where litigation is based on science fiction.

“The most significant aspect about the decision,” he added, “is that it came from the notoriously liberal Ninth Circuit. Historically, such rulings wind up before an en banc panel, which could happen here, but for the moment, Bonta, the Giffords group and all the anti-gun state attorneys general submitting amicus briefs are on the losing side, which is where they belong.”