BELLEVUE, Wash., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- While the City of Chicago is currently in federal court stubbornly defending its new gun ordinance, data reveals that the city's United Center Park is the most dangerous neighborhood in the country, a situation that reeks of hypocrisy, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.

"The city's new gun ordinance is deliberately designed to discourage citizens from obtaining handguns for personal protection," noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, "yet today's news reveals citizens in at least one Windy City neighborhood are in desperate need of the training and tools to defend themselves. It is time for Chicago residents to demand that the city amend or abolish its new gun ordinance, and stop defending it in federal court."

Gottlieb was referring to the city's defense against a lawsuit filed by the Second Amendment Foundation – CCRKBA's sister organization – that seeks to undo the new ordinance, which requires training and time on a gun range, but prohibits the operation of gun ranges in the city.

The report broadcast by the city's NBC affiliate said that "anyone walking down Lake Street between Damen and Western has a 1 in 4 chance of being a victim of a crime."

"How about people who live in that area," Gottlieb wondered. "The city is throwing up all kinds of obstacles against people wanting to exercise their recently-restored Second Amendment rights. This is simply unconscionable.

"The Daley administration acts like a shepherd that doesn't want any sheep dogs, yet expects the sheep to continue grazing amid hungry wolves," he added. "Thousands of Chicago residents don't consider themselves part of Mayor Daley's flock, and they are tired of having Daley and the City Council pull wool over their eyes about personal safety and civil rights.

"Stubborn resistance is one thing," Gottlieb concluded, "but defending an indefensible ordinance in the face of this revelation is not just stubbornness. It is malfeasance."

With more than 650,000 members and supporters nationwide, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (www.ccrkba.org) is one of the nation's premier gun rights organizations. As a non-profit organization, the Citizens Committee is dedicated to preserving firearms freedoms through active lobbying of elected officials and facilitating grass-roots organization of gun rights activists in local communities throughout the United States.

SOURCE Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms