Bloomberg Spends Again to Publicize His
Bought-and-Paid-For Background Check Law
Friday, August 14, 2015
Recently, Amy Schumer – Millennial comedy sensation and
cousin to gun
control standard-bearer Sen.
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) – insisted that money is at the center
of America’s gun control problem. We agree with that premise, but the money is
flooding in from gun ban advocates, and the problem is that they think they’re
better than you are and that your rights are up for sale.
Nobody illustrates this better than billionaire Michael
Bloomberg, whose ego and checkbook are propping up a disarmament
movement that disproportionately attracts the showy philanthropy of fat cats,
rather than enduring grassroots support. With another of his signature antigun
initiatives sucking wind right out of the blocks, it’s time again for the sugar
daddy of gun control to reach deep into his well-stuffed pockets.
Oregon’s “universal” background check law became effective
Aug. 9, and already expectations are tempered. The state’s Public Broadcasting network
ran a story featuring a skeptical county sheriff who summarized the measure’s
likely effects as follows: “[T]he bad people are going to get the guns
regardless. So I truly think it’s a waste of time.” Meanwhile, the
Register-Guard editorialized, “Oregon gun-sale background
checks law gets off to a rough start.” The article goes on to
report, “Several sheriffs in mostly rural counties … have said they simply
won’t enforce the law at all.” Yet advocates of civilian disarmament know
that they cannot succeed unless the state knows which Americans actually own
firearms. That process starts with creating a record of every firearm
transfer.
More and more Americans are becoming aware of how the
National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) has repeatedly failed
to stop the perpetrators of high-profile crimes from obtaining their crime guns
(including, recently, in Charleston, S.C., and Lafayette, La.). Small
wonder, then, that a number of Oregon law enforcement officials, faced with
limited resources and the constant pressures of serious person and property
crimes, have decided the new background check law is low on their list of
priorities, if it even makes the list at all.
Yet advocates of civilian disarmament know that they cannot
succeed unless the state knows which Americans actually own firearms. That
process starts with creating a record of every firearm transfer. Thus, despite
the consistent failure of the current background check system to make a
difference when it matters most, gun prohibitionists want to make a NICS check
mandatory each time a gun changes hands. That’s why Everytown for Gun Safety, the
front group for Bloomberg’s gun control apparatus, continues to insist:
“Requiring a criminal background check for all gun sales is the single most
effective policy for keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people and
saving lives.”
Thus, Bloomberg, whose fortune helps bankroll gun control
efforts throughout the U.S., is now ponying up again to publicize the Oregon
law. According to the Register-Guard story, “Everytown for Gun Safety has
reserved six-figures worth of airtime” to run a television ad promoting
Oregon’s new law in the Eugene and Portland markets. The ad was announced at a
press conference on Monday by Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy and will feature
Portland’s former police chief Mike Reese extolling the supposed ease of
complying with the new requirements. Thus, despite the consistent failure
of the current background check system to make a difference when it matters
most, gun prohibitionists want to make a NICS check mandatory each time a gun
changes hands.
Despite the fact that the ad promotes a political agenda
Bloomberg is pursuing throughout the country, and despite its use of current
and former public officials for promotion and production, the Register-Guard
notes that Everytown will not have to report the outlay as political spending.
This is because the ad is financed by Everytown’s nonprofit “educational” arm.
The usual wailing and gnashing of teeth that accompanies money in politics has
nevertheless remained strangely muted this time.
Bloomberg’s latest effort follows another recent six-figure ad
buy in D.C. area publications to advocate for national background
check legislation. That of course follows a six-figure publicity blitz
this past spring in Oregon while the state background check
legislation was still pending. Even these figures, however, pale in comparison
to the $12 million Bloomberg dumped
into trying to sway Heartland support for the failed expansion of the federal
background check system in 2013. With these sorts of resources, Bloomberg is a
virtual political party unto himself, offering cradle to grave support for his
pet policy projects.
So while we may not agree with Amy Schumer on the answers to
gun crime, we certainly agree that big money is attempting to influence the
debate. The big difference is NRA’s grassroots army, millions strong and
fighting the battle $35 at a time, versus a big city billionaire and media
mogul hoping to recreate America in his own image with torrents of cash. Rest
assured, however, that while Bloomberg will keep spending, your NRA will keep
fighting. With your votes and support for pro-freedom candidates, the Second
Amendment can still prevail!
Michael Bloomberg
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, a co-chair for Mayors
Against Illegal Guns, was a contributor for Americans for Responsible Solutions, the founder of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, and a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone.
Note: George Soros was a
benefactor for the Harlem Children's
Zone, and the chairman for the Foundation
to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Harlem Children's Zone, and Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety”
group for guns.
Mayors
Against Illegal Guns is a “Gun
Safety” group for guns.
Americans
for Responsible Solutions is a “Gun
Safety” PAC for guns.
John
J. Mack was a benefactor for the Harlem
Children's Zone, is an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety, and a director at the Bloomberg Family Foundation.
Warren E. Buffett
is an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and an adviser for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think
tank) was a funder for the Nuclear
Threat Initiative (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank),
was the president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), a director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think
tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population
control by involving the United
States in war)
Bloomberg
Family Foundation was a funder for the Campaign
for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Clyburn
Consulting LLC is the lobby firm for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, and Charleston (SC).
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