U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) was presented with the “Legislator of the Year’ award by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) for his efforts in combating Operation Choke Point.

“I am honored to receive this distinguished award from the National Shooting Sports Foundation. It is because of foundations like NSSF that stay committed to the cause and educate its members that we have been able to accomplish what we have so far in turning Operation Choke Point into a program of the past,” Luetkemeyer said. “I’ve been working on issues related to Operation Choke Point for the last year and a half, and more work needs to be done to ensure that federal agencies cannot arbitrarily eliminate industries based on the political motivations of the Executive Branch. With the help of organizations like NSSF who are educating their members, many more Americans are more informed. I want to thank NSSF for being committed to combating Operation Choke Point and I will continue to fight regulatory overreach from this administration.”

The NSSF is the trade association for America’s firearms industry. The mission is to: promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports.

“We salute Congressman Luetkemeyer for his outstanding leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives and Financial Services Committee in investigating and working to halt Operation Choke Point and are honored to present him with the 2014 NSSF’s Legislator of the Year Award, said Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF senior vice president and general counsel. “Congressman Luetkemeyer was quick to recognize the essential unfairness to an entire lawful industry and the abuse of power inherent in the overreach of the federal financial services regulators involved. His own significant prior experience in financial services allowed him to cut through the bureaucracy and motivate regulatory agency heads to disavow and end the abusive practices.”