GunPoliticsNY.com

Leftist propaganda website Think Progress is trying to jump on Bloomberg’s latest bandwagon by offering up a shamelessly dishonest op-ed, “5 Ways Gun Safety Advocates Are Using The NRA’s Playbook Against It“:

“Reward lawmakers who vote with you; punish those who don’t. Core to the NRA strategy is to reward those legislators who take positive action and positions on gun reform — and punish those who don’t, even when they otherwise align politically.  This longtime tactic is one gun safety groups have historically stayed away from, and it is the one Everytown has been most explicit about duplicating from the NRA …”

This simply is not true.  Antigun organizations did try to engage in electioneering activity just like NRA, but failed miserably at it because their endorsements mean nothing as they do not represent a voting block.

“Deploy your members to every town hall, where they can hijack the conversation. The NRA has long employed its members to turn out and make gun rights an issue — everywhere they go … Gun safety groups have already started to play this game over the past year …”

This is misleading.  NRA members and supporters turn up at town hall meetings on their own accord, not at some direction from NRA HQ.  Gunnies have grassroots, antis have astroturf.

“Make your constituent base as broad as possible. Everytown plans to boost its membership from 1.5 to 2.5 million over the next year. But the NRA already claims to have more than 5 million members behind it …”

This is misleading as the Bloomberg bunch does not claim to have dues-paying members like NRA, but rather “supporters” which disguises the true number of people who willing join and/or donate to the group.  If they really had 1.5 million dues-paying members now, then why did Mike have to donate $50 million to bankroll this operation?

“Make the conversation about principles, not guns. The NRA has made gun rights about more than guns.  NRA-ILA Executive Director put it this way: “I’ve met thousands of NRA members and I know that we all share the same core belief in freedom.  The Second Amendment is just a guarantee of one specific freedom; it represents a value system that goes far beyond gun ownership. As the old saying goes, ‘Gun control isn’t about guns.  It’s about control.’” … The gun safety movement has always had the obvious symbolism of safety and security.  But in the past year they have tailored their message to emphasize community, and in particular, family …”

This is not true.  While the antis have changed their mouthpieces and talking points every so often in an effort to remain relevant in the eyes of sympathetic media, their core message and objective has always been the same: go after the guns.  How long will Everytown last?  I give it a couple of years before it changes it name and morphs into something else with the same agenda.

“Turn your opponent’s strengths against them. After the Newtown Massacre, Mayors Against Guns invested $12 million in television ads against the NRA in key states. These ads were persuasive and helped make gun safety a national conversation …”

This is not true.  The real “national conversation” on guns is over and gunnies won.  That is why Congress refused to advance the antis agenda.  The antis, their legislative allies and talking heads in the media, simply refuse to admit gun control is unpopular and that the general public is not as dumb and uninformed as they like to think it is.

Mike Bloomberg needs to get a new shtick as his current one is getting old:

“Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association …”

Boring.  He’s put millions into all sorts of antigun legislative, political and public relations initiatives with little to show for it.

“… Mr. Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York, said gun control advocates need to learn from the N.R.A. and punish those politicians who fail to support their agenda — even Democrats whose positions otherwise align with his own.  “They say, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to go after you,’ ” he said of the N.R.A. “ ‘If you don’t vote with us we’re going to go after your kids and your grandkids and your great-grandkids.  And we’re never going to stop.’ ”  He added: “We’ve got to make them afraid of us.” …”

Empty threat.  The antigun movement is now and always has been a small number of professional politicians and activists hiding behind an astroturf facade.  They can’t turn out the vote because they have no genuine public support.

“… The considerable advantages that gun rights advocates enjoy — in intensity, organization and political clout — will not be easy to overcome …”

Because gunnies represent a real constituency money cannot buy.

“… Indeed, Mr. Bloomberg has already spent millions of dollars trying to persuade members of Congress to support enhanced background check laws with virtually nothing to show for it …”

And he is too full of himself to admit why he keeps on failing.

“… Mr. Bloomberg’s blueprint reimagines the way gun control advocates have traditionally confronted the issue.  Rather than relying so heavily on television ad campaigns, Mr. Bloomberg will put a large portion of his resources into the often-unseen field operations that have been effective for groups like the N.R.A. in driving single-issue, like-minded voters to the polls.  Women, and mothers in particular, will be the focus of the organizing and outreach, a path that he and his advisers have modeled after groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving …”

This cannot work because it is based upon the assumption gun control has an untapped voting constituency which it doesn’t.  If it did, at some point over the past 30-40 years some gun control organization would have discovered it.

“… The plans call for a restructuring of the gun control groups he funds, Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. They will be brought under one new umbrella group called Everytown for Gun Safety …”

Yet another reshuffling of the same, tired old astroturf.

“… The strategy will focus not on sweeping federal restrictions to ban certain weapons, but instead will seek to expand the background check system for gun buyers both at the state and national levels …”

The Times isn’t honest enough to call it what it really is: prohibition of private transfers.

“… The $50 million could be significant … They have set a goal of signing up one million new supporters this year on top of the 1.5 million they already have …”

Notice they say supporters as opposed to members.  The Brady Bunch used to say the same thing back in the 90s in a lame effort to claim they were as big as NRA.

“… Previous efforts by Mr. Bloomberg to push gun control have touched off tensions with national Democratic leaders …”

Because they know gun control is a stinker politically.

“… Underscoring his desire to work with both parties, Mr. Bloomberg is bringing on a new advisory board with prominent Republican and Democratic figures …”

Who all share the same statist,  “Government is God” philosophy regardless of their party registration.  Why can’t he have an advisory committee made up of ordinary citizens?  There’s that astroturf problem again.

“… He was also dismissive of skeptics who might question whether he could ever build an organization that rivaled the N.R.A. And he seemed unaware of, or unwilling to acknowledge, the ways in which his own persona — of a billionaire, Big Gulp-banning former mayor of New York — could undercut his efforts, especially in rural, conservative states.  “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!’ ” …”

The man is insane.  The only possible way I can think of for Bloomberg to make himself even more unpopular than he is now is to start doing commercials for erectile dysfunction pills.  “Hi.  My name is Michael Bloomberg and I’d like to talk to you about E.D. …”

“… “Right now, women, when they go to the polls, they vote on abortion, they vote on jobs, they vote on health care,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action. “We want one of those things to be gun violence prevention.” …”

Why don’t you explain why they don’t do that now?

“… 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.” …”

He’s bigger than God.  What more is there to say?

Meet Alex Crohn, self-proclaimed author of the SAFE Act:

“An assistant counsel to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who professed himself to be the author of the NY SAFE Act, was ultimately selected as the lead writer of the Moreland Commission on Public Corruption’s December 2013 report after several independent candidates for the position were nixed, according to multiple sources within the Moreland Commission.  Alex Crohn, the self-proclaimed author of the SAFE Act, had not been the Moreland Commission co-chairs’ first choice to write the much-anticipated report the Commission released on Dec. 2 …”

Cuomo is in a bit of hot water with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara over shutting down Moreland.

“… Crohn, a graduate of Harvard Law School, came to the Commission directly from the executive chamber, where he worked under Mylan Denerstein, the governor’s counsel.  Crohn spoke widely with members of the Commission about his work in the governor’s office, claiming that he played a significant role in writing legislation. He was particularly proud of his role in authoring The New York Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act of 2013, commonly known as the NY SAFE Act.  “This is the hardest thing I’ve had to write since the SAFE Act,” several Commission sources recall Crohn bemoaning aloud on numerous occasions while working on the December Moreland report. Commission sources also say they overheard Crohn, who sat in the bullpen with the rest of the Moreland Commission’s staff members, engaged in long conference calls that appeared to focus on the implementation of the SAFE Act …”

Interesting considering Cuomo blamed then Mayor Bloomberg for authoring SAFE back in March ’13:

“… “Much of what’s in the law was drafted by people connected to Mayor Bloomberg and the Brady Center, not by the governor’s staff,” the source said. “That’s why there are so many problems with it.’’ …”

Looks like someone isn’t telling the truth here.

“…  Crohn could not be reached for this article, and the computerized message that answered his cell phone number stated that “the person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time.” …”

I don’t see why not.  After all, the media keeps saying that there is widespread public support for SAFE.  If that is there case then why not do a victory lap and get a warm fuzzy from the outpouring of love?

A major media outlet has finally acknowledged what I’ve been saying for some time, Democrats do not like Gov. Cuomo:

“After his worst week in office since becoming governor, Andrew Cuomo is now viewed for the first time by important Democrats as potentially vulnerable to Republican challenger Rob Astorino, The Post has learned … Several Democratic strategists said Cuomo’s eroding support among politically powerful New York City-based unions, including those behind the influential Working Families Party, all but assures an unusually low turnout among the city’s heavily Democratic voters, normally the foundation for a statewide Democratic victory.  At the same time, they expect Astorino, the popular and recently re-elected Westchester County executive, to do well, offsetting Democratic votes in his large suburban county, and his message of property-tax and spending cuts, educational reforms and economic development to appeal to suburban voters on Long Island as well …”

They left out how many people Andy pissed off with the SAFE Act.

Democrats are having flashbacks to the gun control glory days of the early ’90s:

“Nearly 100 congressional Democrats are asking President Barack Obama to take executive action to close loopholes in a ban on the importation of military-style firearms.  In separate letters sent to the White House over the past week, a dozen Senate Democrats and 82 House Democrats urged the president to use his broad authority under the 1968 Gun Control Act to impose a stricter ban.  Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer of New York are among the Senate letter’s signatories.  Fifteen of New York’s 27 House members signed the other letter, including Reps. Louise Slaughter of Fairport, Nita Lowey of Harrison and Eliot Engel of the Bronx …”

Representatives from urban garbage dumps which have been run into the ground from decades of “progressive” policy failures including gun control, welfare, drug prohibition and wealth redistribution schemes.

“… Engel said he has lobbied unsuccessfully for the stricter ban for the past decade and urged Obama to take action beginning shortly after the president took office in 2009.  “I really am at a loss to know why the administration hasn’t implemented it,” Engel said Thursday …”

Two reasons: it is a policy failure and a stinker of a political issue.

“… White House spokesman Keith Maley had no comment …”

Which is the same as No.

“… Engel said he privately discussed the issue with Vice President Joe Biden more than a year ago when Biden was formulating the administration’s response to the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. …”

That’s like having a high-level meeting with Ronald McDonald.

“… “His last words to me were that he was all for this and this would be a great thing to do,” Engel said.  “So if there’s some reason that’s holding up the administration, I’d like to know it, because no one has told me.””

Engel isn’t that stupid.  The political landscape is looking toxic for Democrats due to the Obamacare disaster.  Bringing up gun control now would be like throwing gasoline on a fire.