Here we go again. Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced today he will be dumping $50 million into a new gun "safety" organization and campaign.
The new organization, Everytown, will house gun control groups Moms Demand Action, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and others. The organization is being touted as a direct counter to the National Rifle Association. From the New York Times:
Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association.
Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said gun control advocates need to learn from the N.R.A. and punish those politicians who fail to support their agenda — even Democrats whose positions otherwise align with his own.
“They say, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to go after you,’ ” he said of the N.R.A. “ ‘If you don’t vote with us we’re going to go after your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids. And we’re never going to stop.’ ”
He added: “We’ve got to make them afraid of us.”
Bloomberg has already spent millions of dollars trying to do this exact thing in different ways and has failed. He plans to target states like Colorado with this new campaign, despite losing historic recall elections to Second Amendment advocates last fall after lawmakers voted for gun control legislation. Over the past decade, Americans' appetite for more gun control has been waning.
Founder of Moms Demand Action Shannon Watts told the times she wants to get women to the polls on the issue of gun control, a tough task considering women's firearms ownership is up 77 percent since 2005.
A survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation found that 73 percent of gun dealers reported an increase in female customers in 2011, as well as the previous two years. In 2005, just 13 percent of gun owners were women. Today, that number is 23 percent--a 77 percent increase in 7 years.
And then there is this gem from Bloomberg:
“I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”