Since my time has been short this week, by now most of you have probably heard from other sources that Gabby Giffords group, Americans for Responsible Solutions has merged with the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. I’ve read several takes on this, and usually when something like this happens, it means one of them was too short on money to continue functioning. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, without Bloomberg’s money coming into the fight, most of these gun control groups would have either folded up shop years ago, or would have descended into a jobs program for a small handful of passionate, yet irrelevant people. Bloomberg’s money is the only thing keeping this issue alive.
Giffords was pretty successful at fundraising for her PAC from high-profile billionaires, including Bloomberg, but fundraising for their 501(c)(4) started out strong, but then took a dive. Could be Giffords and Kelly were just tired and wanted out. But it’s hard to believe that finances didn’t play a role, even if the group’s trouble was long term. I haven’t seen recent 990s from Brady yet. I can’t imagine they are in very good shape at this point.
The consolidation and sorting of the AstroTurf anti-gun groups was inevitable. The ones who didn’t exist before the Newtown massacre are not going to exist in 10 years. Brady, Mayors, etc. are shell groups spawned from the beltway groups. Their tone doesn’t resonate with anyone outside of their small, shrill, aging contingent. The only way the professional anti-gun movement exists is through blood dancing.