When he wasn’t bending over to Wall Street fat cats or real estate moguls, Bloomberg was always an admirably outspoken crusader for gun control. For his first big project since leaving office, he’s decided to up the ante and take on the NRA and the Koch brothers directly with his own gun control group, Everytown for Gun Safety. (We know, terrible name.) He’s tossing in $50 million of his own money and says “we’ve got to make [politicians] afraid of us.” If anyone can out-bully the NRA, its Bloomberg. He’s undoubtedly an expert on the matter — just ask Fran.
Taking on the NRA will demand hubris, and the Times article reminds us that Bloomberg has it in spades:
“I don’t know what your perception is of our reputation, and mine, the name Bloomberg around the country,” he said. But every place he goes, he added, “You’re a rock star. People yelling out of cabs, ‘Hey, way to go!’ ”
And another:
“Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”
We didn’t love him as mayor, but sign us up for Everytown for Gun Safety. If the group can minimize the power of the NRA lobby even slightly we’re excited to get behind it.
This is a frightfully misguided concept from Bloomberg.
Gun control is using two hands. “Mayors against illegal guns” failed.
SOOOO going to hell, douchebag.
Bloomberg needs to start with getting rid of his armed body guards. The hypocrisy is quite impressive.