Know Thy Enemy: NRA's New $50 MILLION Nemesis Emerges

[JBS]

Michael Bloomberg, the New York mayor responsible for trying to outlaw the sale of soft drinks larger than 16oz. in a "free" country, is now setting his sights on his favorite issue: Gun control.

To do that, he's committed $50 million to form a brand new organization, the sole purpose of which is to advance gun control using methods similar to the National Rifle Association.

This will be no ordinary gun control legislation effort; it's going to be organized, well funded, and sustained, using two main tactics: influencing the female vote, and attempting to intimidate lawmakers who are on the fence about gun control.

Bloomberg told the Times that this new group will try to use the NRA’s own tactics against them, penalizing lawmakers whose stances on gun rights differ from the organization’s. “We’ve got to make them afraid of us,” is how he put it.

The former mayor also said that the effort will deviate from the standard playbook for gun control advocates, throwing less money into television campaigns and more money into field operations to drive single-issue voters, focusing primarily on female voters.

The group will initially focus on 15 states, including Colorado, Washington, Texas, Montana, and Indiana.

http://www.thewire.com/national/201...ntrol-organization-to-take-on-the-nra/360728/


"We've got to make them afraid of us."

 

[AWP]

I heard this on the radio. The announcement should surprise no one and I hope the NRA has anticipated this move. The Nov. elections will be a nasty fight.

 

[Salt USMC]

Gun store owners must love this stuff.

 

[Chopstick]

This was cute.
http://www.guns.com/2014/04/17/pro-gun-group-scoops-bloomberg-grabs-everytown-facebook-page/

A gun rights advocate claimed the “Everytown for gun safety” Facebook page before the newly formed Michael Bloomberg-backed group hopped on it.

The page launched shortly after Moms Demand Action and Mayors Against Illegal Guns merged on April 16, creating the Everytown group.

“Saw Bloomberg was creating another gun control group. So I took the page name before they had the chance. If you don’t like the 2nd amendment – LEAVE,” reads the first post of the page.

 

[JBS]

Gun store owners must love this stuff.

That's an interesting way to look at it.

Do you think gun rights activists should drop their activism, and just ignore liberals when they try to advance gun control legislation? I think a $50 million organization like the one Bloomberg is putting together is a legitimate and formidable potential threat to gun owners.

 

[AWP]

Do you think gun rights activists should drop their activism, and just ignore liberals when they try to advance gun control legislation? I think a $50 million organization like the one Bloomberg is putting together is a legitimate and formidable potential threat to gun owners.

It certainly is a threat, but gun store owners and ammo suppliers make a mint everytime something threatens the 2A.

---

As an aside, I laugh at people who think a contractor in Afghanistan is a war profiteer but someone who turns an inflated profit over a hurricane or this debate or some other emergency is G2G.

 

[TLDR20]

Luckily for the NRA 50 mil is only a quarter of its budget.

 

[JBS]

I'm bothered by the profit taking (surrounding hurricanes or 2A threats) to an extent. The general outrage is proportionate to the level of abuse. So a $25 gallon of water (2500% increase) sold post-natural disaster is more offensive than a gun dealer adding 25% to his SS109 stockpile.

But I'm much more disturbed that every new wave of liberal gun-grabbing BS ends with some level of success. These wins are infrequent, but regular marks of progress.

To put it simply there are more gun regulations today than there were 10 years ago. There are more gun free zones now than there were 10 years ago. This is especially true in the areas that suffered after mass shootings where liberals have capitalized off the emotions immediately following those events. They aren't succeeding at the Federal level in terms of mass confiscation, but the erosion is happening, a little here and a little there.

 

[x SF med]

Hmmmm, where would this country have been without guns say 244 or even 238 years ago? Oh, that's right it would still be Britain and we wouldn't have guns anyway.

Bloomberg is an idiot, he needs to drink a 64 oz soda and go to a range and just chill out. Or walk unarmed and unescorted through Hell's Kitchen in his $6000 suit at 3am on a Saturday morning... Maybe then he'd change his mind about legal firearms ownership.

 

[Salt USMC]

Pertinent thread ressurection:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankmi...-dollar-desire-for-gun-control-is-backfiring/
How Bloomberg's Million-Dollar Desire For Gun Control Is Backfiring

With the midterms just over a month away New York City’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending at least $50 million to make his gun-control agenda part of this election. His gun-control group Everytown for Gun Safety has endorsed more than 100 federal and state candidates. They are also running television commercials, holding events and pushing their studies into the newsrooms of a mostly favorable press.

John Feinblatt, Everytown’s president, told USA Today, “We want gun safety to be an issue that people vote on.”

John R. Lott, Jr. says he’s fine with that statement. He just wants people to know the truth about what really reduces violence before they vote. He says, “I can’t find a single study from Bloomberg’s groups that aren’t loaded with errors. They have an anti-gun agenda and will lie to achieve it.”

Before getting to the inside story behind the politics, the piles of money being used to shape public opinion and to how the truth is stubbornly winning the debate despite—or because of—Bloomberg’s spin, I’d like to tell you how I first met John R. Lott, Jr. He is an important voice in this debate and this anecdote shows what kind of researcher he is.

I've said it before and I will say it again: gun control is not an issue that (Democratic) campaigns are willing to stake their votes on. The cultural zeitgeist in America just doesn't support it right now. I'm not saying that gun control advocates aren't going to win, but the kind of sweeping changes that Bloomberg is looking to implement through his $50 million gamble just will not happen.

 

[AWP]

Pertinent thread ressurection:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankmi...-dollar-desire-for-gun-control-is-backfiring/
How Bloomberg's Million-Dollar Desire For Gun Control Is Backfiring


I've said it before and I will say it again: gun control is not an issue that (Democratic) campaigns are willing to stake their votes on. The cultural zeitgeist in America just doesn't support it right now. I'm not saying that gun control advocates aren't going to win, but the kind of sweeping changes that Bloomberg is looking to implement through his $50 million gamble just will not happen.

No, but they will try with all of the ripples from their efforts playing out over time. They are too stubborn or stupid to see the second and third order effects (a run on gun purchases, ammo shortages, another chance for the NRA and other pro-2A groups to counter their BS), but will keep at it like kamikazes...

 

[JBS]

Pertinent thread ressurection:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankmi...-dollar-desire-for-gun-control-is-backfiring/
How Bloomberg's Million-Dollar Desire For Gun Control Is Backfiring


I've said it before and I will say it again: gun control is not an issue that (Democratic) campaigns are willing to stake their votes on. The cultural zeitgeist in America just doesn't support it right now. I'm not saying that gun control advocates aren't going to win, but the kind of sweeping changes that Bloomberg is looking to implement through his $50 million gamble just will not happen.

Not immediately worried about all out gun bans. Extreme measures like that would equal civil war instantly.

More concerned about the erosion of gun rights at the hands of the Far Left; they've steadily been able to advance their cause, in part, due to a "tuned-out" center/moderate population that are simply not vigilant, or not aware/concerned about the consequences that come from loss of gun rights.

I'm also concerned about the changing demographics in America (influx of unassimilated immigrants with no loyalty to America). Two decades ago, people came here because they wanted to be American. I grew up in Miami, and had so many family friends who escaped Communist Cuba, and whose families came here to be American. Now most of the immigrants I meet don't even bother referring to themselves as American, they just work here and send money back "home". America isn't home to them. They'll stay 10 or 20 years, make money and then leave. Many of the ones that do stay aren't the least bit indoctrinated in the ideals of freedom that we used to aspire to. I'm convinced people aren't flocking to enter this country for the same reasons they once did. They could care less about gun rights, and come from countries where such rights don't exist anyway.

The Liberal-dominated education system in America (which is producing very poorly educated high school grads by the millions) is no longer emphasizing what were once "classic" American values (including a reverence for the Constitution and the Founding Fathers). Perhaps no greater example of a once-classic American value is the erosion of self-reliance/self-determination- out of which all other "classic" American values spring. Instead of self-reliance and ownership of one's condition, we now live in a society that is dominated by reliance on the government, community programs, and dependence on "the system". It's a huge shift in paradigm, and it's happened over a 20 year span. Personal responsibility isn't as important as being given "access" to this program, or that.

Politically, the climate is toxic. There's a decade long (relatively new) trend to demonize anyone on the Right who protests or demonstrates as "extremists". The strategy originates with the Far Left crew that came together just before the Obama camp was formed. The Right cannot presently protest without instantly being labeled as "extremist" or "racist". A perfect example of that was the Tea Party. Overnight, they mobilized and almost instantly were countered by the Left, and Left-leaning media as "racists" and "extremists"- hilbillies and homophobes and every other juvenile label possible.

An all out ban isn't possible, but the attacks on the 2nd Amendment will certainly come.

 

[Marine0311]

I don't like any of this. To often I hear that if you like guns the Left will call you all sorts of childish names. I'll be renewing my NRA membership also. I feel helpless that I don't have the power to do more.

 

[Gunz]

...I'm also concerned about the changing demographics in America (influx of unassimilated immigrants with no loyalty to America). Two decades ago, people came here because they wanted to be American. I grew up in Miami, and had so many family friends who escaped Communist Cuba, and whose families came here to be American. Now most of the immigrants I meet don't even bother referring to themselves as American, they just work here and send money back "home". America isn't home to them...They could care less about gun rights, and come from countries where such rights don't exist...

QUOTED FOR TRUTH

 

[104TN]

This affront on the 2nd Amendment by Bloomberg and his ilk is dangerous not just because it threatens to erode one of the last bastions for the preservation of personal liberty promised by our Constitution, but because of the foundation it lays for nullifying other rights. If the 2nd Amendment is repealed it won't be because of a shift in morality, an outpouring of public support, or even because of some legal precedent - it'll be because those on the right have come to embrace silence as the best retort to those on the left whenever their opinions differ.

 

[TLDR20]

I'm glad we have @JBS to speak for an entire generation of immigrants.

 

[104TN]

I'm also concerned about the changing demographics in America (influx of unassimilated immigrants with no loyalty to America). Two decades ago, people came here because they wanted to be American. I grew up in Miami, and had so many family friends who escaped Communist Cuba, and whose families came here to be American. Now most of the immigrants I meet don't even bother referring to themselves as American, they just work here and send money back "home". America isn't home to them. They'll stay 10 or 20 years, make money and then leave. Many of the ones that do stay aren't the least bit indoctrinated in the ideals of freedom that we used to aspire to. I'm convinced people aren't flocking to enter this country for the same reasons they once did. They could care less about gun rights, and come from countries where such rights don't exist anyway.

The agenda for the wholesale naturalization of illegals is being championed by many of the same politicians pushing for bans on voter ID laws and the nullification of the 2nd Amendment. Coincidence?

Think about the end-game too. These folks (here for whatever reason) are being told, " Si se puede, si votamos! Yes we can, if we vote!" The world is their oyster, all they need to do is allow themselves to be wielded as blunt instruments for one parties political gain to get it. Feeling marginalized yet?

 

[TLDR20]

The agenda for the wholesale naturalization of illegals is being championed by many of the same politicians pushing for bans on voter ID laws and the nullification of the 2nd Amendment. Coincidence?

Think about the end-game too. These folks (here for whatever reason) are being told, " Si se puede, si votamos! Yes we can, if we vote!" The world is their oyster, all they need to do is allow themselves to be wielded as blunt instruments for one parties political gain to get it. Feeling marginalized yet?

Y'all can call bullshit but this same stuff has happened before and will happen again. Be it Italians, Irish, Chinese, or various other immigrants, they have been coming for a long time and for as long as America is a beacon of opportunity they will continue to come.

 

[x SF med]

This affront on the 2nd Amendment by Bloomberg and his ilk is dangerous not just because it threatens to erode one of the last bastions for the preservation of personally liberty promised by our Constitution, but because of the foundation it lays for nullifying other rights. If the 2nd Amendment is repealed it won't be because of a shift in morality, an outpouring of public support, or even because of some legal precedent - it'll be because those on the right have come to embrace silence as the best retort to those on the left whenever their opinions differ.

It is no more than the powerful securing their power through benevolent tyranny couched as concern. Bloomberg wants to be the de-facto emperor ad-causem of the US without the bother of elections, a Midas or a Nimrod is more his style, purchase the hearts of the people in order to control them.

 

[JBS]

I'm glad we have @JBS to speak for an entire generation of immigrants.

By what manner of twisting and turning the meaning of my post could you possibly come to that conclusion??

Ah, yes. I see. By utterly and completely ignoring the actual text.