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Bloomberg Takes on NRA with Moms and $50 Million

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Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is heavily invested for tougher gun control.
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is heavily invested for tougher gun control.
Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking on one of his favorite targets, the NRA. Bloomberg said he will spend $50 million to develop and expand grassroots programs that will eventually get stricter gun-control laws passed. His plan will include absorbing gun control groups that he has already funded such as Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

They will now fall under the group EveryTown for Gun Safety. Bloomberg hopes to enroll a million new backers  this year alone. This is a long term approach as Bloomberg wants to build a ground swell of opposition to the NRA power lobbyists and eventually take on the no holds barred lobbying tactics of the NRA head on.  Bloomberg said “you must work at change piece by piece, one mom at a time.”  He added “We’ve got to make them afraid of us”

While he was Mayor, Bloomberg regularly criticized the shortcomings of federal and state gun laws and related them to the many fatal killings in NYC as a result of illegal guns. Former New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was a high profile case in which Bloomberg was able to reiterate his tough policy on unregistered guns being brought into New York. Burress spent over two years in jail for an accidental self inflicted wound, however the shot was fired from an unregistered gun.

Bloomberg has spent big money before to further his commitment to tougher gun policies. He spent $1.1 million in campaign advertising for Democratic candidate Terry McAuliffe in Virginia who is also an advocate of stricter gun control laws. McAuliffe wound up defeating Republican Ken Cuccinelli in the gubernatorial race. He also spent money in Arkansas in an effort to defeat Senator Mark Pryor.

A main focus of the grass roots drive is to bring women, especially mothers into the mix via the advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Bloomberg has had his funded initaives release statistical data related to the increase of gun violence especially around schools. Critics of the numbers say that included in the findings are 11 suicides that took place on school grounds late at night, probably more about going to an open lot than about doinbg at a school. “There was no danger to the students and including these deaths in “school related” shootings is misleading.

Still one can only wonder where all thye guns are coming from to commit these acts whether against a community or self inflicted. Certainly the mere fact that an illegal gun is in the possession of an unstable individual who would do harm to themselves is the main issue. Having access is what Bloomberg wants to deny for those who are known to have past mental conditions or those who do not meet a stricter level of criteria to get possesion of the firearm in the first place.

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