Bloomberg's new $50 million gun safety push, one mom at a time
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Noelle Swan Staff writer
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has vowed to take on the National Rifle Association with moms, police officers, and mayors at his side.
A longtime proponent of gun control, Mr. Bloomberg announced Wednesday that he will donate $50 million to Everytown for Gun Safety, a newly formed advocacy organization that aims to build grass roots support on gun violence prevention, including universal backgrounds checks, gun trafficking, and responsible gun ownership.聽
鈥淭his is the beginning of a major new campaign to reduce the gun violence that plagues communities across the country,鈥� Bloomberg said in a statement. 鈥淭here is no question that more needs to be done to tackle this deadly problem.鈥�
Bloomberg鈥檚 group will focus on strengthening requirements for background checks prior to purchasing a weapon. Currently, mandatory background checks for gun sales do not apply to gun shows or estate sales.
In 2013, Sen. Charles Schumer (D) of New York authored a bill that would make background checks universally mandatory, but failed to garner sufficient support for the bill to progress through Congress.
But while the federal government has stalled, at least 16 states have strengthened requirements for background checks prior to gun sales, Bloomberg told of the "Today" show Wednesday morning.
He hopes that his group will be able to tap into the localized pockets of advocacy and weave them together in a broader message.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to work at it piece by piece,鈥� Bloomberg in an interview published Tuesday. 鈥淥ne mom and another mom. You鈥檝e got to wear them down until they finally say, 鈥楨nough.鈥櫬犫��
Bloomberg鈥檚 Everytown for Gun Safety aims to be an umbrella organization for two existing smaller organizations: Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which Bloomberg founded along with then-Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (D), and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, founded by stay-at-home mom Shannon Watts.
Ms. Watts told The New York Times that Everytown will focus heavily on rallying women for their cause.
鈥淩ight now, women, when they go to the polls, they vote on abortion, they vote on jobs, they vote on health care,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e want one of those things to be gun violence prevention.鈥�
Bloomberg and Watts are deliberate in choosing the phrase 鈥済un violence prevention鈥� rather than 鈥済un control.鈥�
鈥淚t isn鈥檛 gun control,鈥� Bloomberg explained during his "Today" show appearance. 鈥淭his is simply making sure that people that everybody agrees should not be allowed to buy a gun 鈥� criminals, minors, people with psychiatric problems 鈥� [and] make sure that they can鈥檛 buy guns.鈥�
Everytown currently has 1.5 million members across the country and aims to enlist an additional 1 million supporters by the end of the year.
Bloomberg鈥檚 infusion of cash will be used to counter the multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts of the National Rifle Association, but he insists that it's not "a battle of dollars."
鈥淭his is a battle for the hearts and minds of Americans," he said on "Today."
Material from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this report.聽
