Category: Anti-Gun Folks

Richard Aborn, former head of the Brady Campaign, goes down in flames in the New York City District Attorney primary.   He ran his entire campaign on his record fighting for gun control, and came in dead last, despite raising a lot of money and having a ton of endorsements from the who’s who in New York City gun control politics.  Even in New York City, people really care more about other issues.

Dennis Henigan of the Brady Campaign wonders when they’ll be relevant again.  I’ll bet these ladies are wondering the same thing.

In looking over the mayors who are not actually in office, I tried to put together how many of those mayors were not actually in office on the day that Bloomberg ran the anti-concealed carry advertisement in USA Today. I did this a while ago in my Mayors Against Guns research, but I completely forgot to note it. I have since updated with more information, and what I found was rather jarring.

It would appear that at least 19 of the mayors whose names ran in the USA Today ad were not actually mayors of the cities listed. At least one was attributed to a city he has never represented while most were long booted from office. That’s not a policy spin dispute, that’s a matter of flat out lying.

Add to the fact that at least two mayors have directly said they never approved their signature to the advertisement, and I would say that USA Today should be asking some serious questions before accepting any other ads from Mayor Mike.

Last night’s episode of Cam & Company featured a spokesman from Buckeye Firearms Association who argues that several mayors he’s heard from or about did not even know they were members since they do not ever recall signing up for the coalition. This raises concern that they did not give Bloomberg permission to print their names in support of his policy position in the USA Today advertisement. That would put the number of names erroneously printed at 24. Two dozen errors on one page is not acceptable in any newsroom, why would USA Today publish such falsehoods as part of an advertisement?

If you are looking to advertise with USA Today, perhaps signing Bloomberg’s name to a pro-gun measure, you can find the specs here. Technical specs are widely available, but ethical specs are apparently optional.

UPDATE: The Mayor of Winter Park, FL is on Cam & Company tonight. He confirmed that Mike Bloomberg never checked with them before signing their name to the advertisements and letters to Congress.

I’ve noticed a trend in the media coverage of mayors who have been asked to leave Bloomberg’s anti-gun group. For the most part, the mayors getting coverage are those who are sticking to their anti-gun positions. The mayors who looked at the policies Bloomberg was signing them onto and leave are getting very little coverage. Here’s a summary of headlines about avowed anti-gun mayors:

Edler notes NRA pressure to quit Mayors Against Illegal Guns (WA)
NRA wants York mayor to quit gun group (PA)
Mayor stands up to NRA pressure (SC)
Rhinelander Mayor Responds to “Anti-Gun” Accusations (WI)
NRA slams Jones (AL)
NRA slams mayor’s ties to gun control group (SC)
Henry resists heat from NRA (IN)
Mayor attacked by NRA (WI)
NRA mailer targeting Roefaro hits local mailboxes (NY)
Mayor Fretti joined “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” (GA)
NRA targets Walaker’s gun position (ND)
What We Think: A lesson on civility (GA)
NRA targets Riley affiliation (SC)
Riley stands by membership in group targeted by NRA (SC)
Walaker gets off best shot (ND)
SC mayor targeted by NRA for illegal guns stance (SC)

And here is the only article I can find that talks about a mayor who left:

Wiggins Denies Being Member Of Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition (IN)

Here is a rather odd letter to the editor calling for support for a mayor’s anti-gun participation, but the mayor left. So I’m not sure how to classify it:

Support Bouley (NH)

Consider that at least 46 members have left according to NRA’s map. That’s more than 10% of the claimed numbers of the group. Since NRA pointed out MAIG actually included 28 members in their 450 claim who aren’t actually mayors of those cities, it’s up a tick to 11%. (That’s on par with the loss in Pennsylvania of 12% of his mayors.) None of those facts are making it into the media accounts.

View “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” in a larger map

If your mayor has left the group, make sure to write and say thank you. You might also consider a letter to the editor in support of your mayor’s decision. Don’t let the narrative be that every mayor is standing by Bloomberg & NYC-style gun control.

UPDATE: There are more headlines today. The skew is again in favor of those sticking by Bloomberg:

“Mayors Against Illegal Guns” under fire (AL)
NRA criticizes SC mayors for joining group that fights illegal guns (SC)
Praise Mayors Against Illegal Guns for tackling a problem (WA)

One in favor of a mayor who dropped:

Pa. mayor quits organization after NRA mailing (PA)

One mixed:

NRA takes aim at Akron mayor (PA)

NRA is targeting mayors in South Carolina too.  We’ve only touched on this, but NRA has engaged Bloomberg’s anti-gun mayors coalition in an attempt to get mayors to leave the coalition.   You can see their site here.   Since the campaign began not too long ago, 20 mayors have already left.

Go check out the site.  This is a project Bitter and I have lent some assistance to NRA on, sharing some of our research.  I think they got the idea for the Google map from us too :) It’s a great example of what can be accomplished when NRA and blogs work together, and we were happy to lend whatever information we could.

…later. There has been so much activity on the issue in the last two days, and I haven’t had time to keep up with it. My mom came to town the same day that Sebastian left, so I haven’t been able to keep up with all of the good news from the field.

Suffice it to say, if your mayor is on the list, call them promptly. There is a very strong movement afoot to clear the ranks of anti-gun politicians, and they can join their right-thinking peers in a wave against Bloomberg. By Monday, I might be able to add your city to the full list of drops. I will also have an updated Pennsylvania map for you.

It looks like gun owners in Utica, New York are making some waves with the very anti-gun mayor.

Members of the National Rifle Association and the administration of Mayor David Roefaro verbally fired back and forth Wednesday, after an NRA mailer targeting the mayor showed up in some city mailboxes.

The mailer focused on the Roefaro’s involvement of “Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” which it said was founded and funded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Unfortunately, the article reveals that he is standing firm with Bloomberg. It’s not completely a shock, and he was a surprising target given that he has been an outspoken critic of gun rights.

Josh Sugarmann and Ladd Everitt don’t seem to be too happy that the Washington Post ran a story about guns in the District of Columbia, feeling the need to point out that guns are dangerous, and you’re really better off without one.