Former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg made official this week what Texas Law Shield and U.S. Law Shield members already knew: he plans to spend some of his sizable bankroll to restrict gun rights across the country.
His plans, announced this week, call for a restructuring of the gun control groups he funds, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. They will be brought under one new umbrella group called Everytown for Gun Safety.
Along with the new group name, Bloomberg announced he plans to spend $50 million this year building an astroturf network to attack the National Rifle Association.
“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.’ We’ve got to make them afraid of us.”
It is our recollection that Bloomberg has already spent millions of dollars trying, and failing, to persuade members of Congress to support intrusive background-check laws.
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, said, “He’s got the money to waste, so I guess he’s free to do so. But I think he’s going to find out why his side keeps losing.”
The N.R.A. had no comment.
So what’s your take on this? Will Bloomberg’s blueprint to build field operations like the N.R.A.’s be effective?
Will he and political operative Shannon Watts be able to target women, and mothers in particular, to create an anti-gun group like Mothers Against Drunk Driving?
The group supposedly will zero in on 15 target states, from places like Colorado and Washington State, where gun and accessory confiscations have advanced recently, to territory that will be more hostile like Texas, Montana and Indiana. What do you think will be the reception in Texas?
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