BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms has named Holly Sullivan, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League as Grassroots Activist of the Year for 2021.

The Constitution State gun rights advocate grew up in a gun-owning family and she is also on the advisory board of the D.C. Project, a grassroots lobbying effort that brings women from all the states annually to the nation’s capitol, where they meet with and educate lawmakers and their staffs about Second Amendment issues.

“Holly Sullivan epitomizes what grassroots activism is all about,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “She is one of those rare people willing to assume a leadership role in a state that can often be considered ‘behind enemy lines’ where legislation is concerned. But she sticks with the challenge through all kinds of adversity, and this is what makes her a standout in the gun rights movement.”

Upon learning of her award, Sullivan said simply, “I am humbled. I got involved with the CCDL and the DC Project about the same time and over the past ten years, I got really passionate about it.”

Born and raised in New York, she moved to New Orleans to live for about five years, where she did volunteer work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. She returned to the Northeast and became an energetic activist. As evidence of her pep and energy, Sullivan recently was elected to the board of selectmen in the town of Southbury, her first turn at running for public office, as a Republican.

Sullivan is no quitter. She believes it is better to stay in an area and fight anti-gunners rather than surrender more political real estate. She says “people have to stay put and fight, we’ve got to hold our ground.”

“At a time when the right to keep and bear arms is under attack from the White House on down to local city and town councils,” Gottlieb observed, “it is grassroots activists like Holly Sullivan who step up to the plate and make things happen. We’re proud to honor her with this award.”

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.