SAF Wants Minister Investigated for Threats Against Gun Dealer

    BELLEVUE, Wash., May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Second Amendment
 Foundation is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a
 Chicago priest for threatening to "snuff" suburban Riverdale firearms
 retailer John Riggio during an anti-gun protest rally Saturday, May 26,
 near Chuck's Gun Shop.
     SAF founder Alan Gottlieb is sending a letter to Assistant U.S.
 Attorney General Wan Kim, head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights
 Division, asking that the agency also investigate the Rev. Michael Pfleger
 for essentially encouraging a crowd of about 200 protesters to drive Riggio
 out of business. The gun shop has been in business for more than 30 years,
 and Riggio is the second-generation owner.
     In a stunning audio recording of Pfleger's remarks, the pastor of St.
 Sabina's Church can clearly be heard stating, "John Riggio ... we're going
 to find you and snuff you out." Moments later, Pfleger added, "We're going
 to snuff out John Riggio, we're going to snuff out legislators that are
 voting ... against our gun laws and we're coming for you because we are not
 going to sit idly."
     "It is common knowledge that the term 'snuff' is street slang, in
 Chicago and elsewhere, for killing someone," Gottlieb said after hearing
 the recording. "If John Riggio, or I, or any other gun owner were to make
 that kind of public statement in reference to Rev. Pfleger, you can bet the
 authorities in Chicago, and the local and national press, would want us
 behind bars.
     "We're asking for a Justice Department investigation," he explained,
 "because Rev. Pfleger incited his audience to take whatever action is
 necessary to put Mr. Riggio out of business. Chuck's Gun Shop is a legal
 business, operating under both state and federal laws, and Mr. Riggio has a
 legal right to operate such a business.
     "We simply can't rely on the notoriously anti-gun Cook County
 prosecutor's office for an unbiased inquiry," Gottlieb said. "There is no
 doubt in my mind that Rev. Pfleger's threats should be investigated. You
 cannot hide behind the color of political rhetoric or a clergyman's robe
 when you publicly declare that someone ought to be harmed and deprived of
 his civil rights and livelihood."
     The Second Amendment Foundation 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 600,000
 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform
 the public about the consequences of gun control.
 
 

SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation