March 18 : 2010
SAF Helps Spearhead New Int'l Group to Protect Civilian Arms Rights
The Second Amendment Foundation is delighted to be part of a new and growing international organization whose goal is the protection of firearms rights for private citizens.
The International Association for the Protection of Civilian Arms Rights (IAPCAR) met last week in Nuremberg, Germany. Gun rights organizations and activists from several countries, including Sweden, Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy and the United States attended. The group's official slogan is "Liberty and Security."
SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, who serves as an IAPCAR director, just returned from the meeting, and he is encouraged that groups from other countries, including The Philippines, Switzerland, Belgium, Argentina, Finland, India, Israel, Greece, South Africa, and Australia are also interested in joining.
"Self-defense is a human right," Gottlieb observed, "that is not just limited to citizens of the United States thanks to our Second Amendment. We look at IAPCAR as an organization that can counter the world gun control campaign currently being waged by the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA). We will provide rebuttal to IANSA's misinformation and myths about firearms ownership, and work to expand the individual human right to defend ourselves and our families from crime, the violence that often accompanies civil unrest and the growing threat of terrorism."
Current plans call for IAPCAR to have offices in Washington, D.C. and Vienna, Austria, Gottlieb revealed. Washington, D.C. attorney Mark Barnes will serve as managing director.
"I am very encouraged by the response we're getting from firearms groups all over the world," Gottlieb said. "This is an important 'first step' in regaining much lost ground, and putting the brakes on an international movement to strip private citizens of the means to protect their most cherished right, that of self-defense."
Julianne Versnel, another IAPCAR director, said the group already has member organizations in Canada, the United States, Greece, Germany and Italy.
For more information, visit IAPCAR.com.
The Second Amendment Foundation (
www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
Media Contact:
Second Amendment Foundation, Alan Gottlieb, 425-454-7012
