(Mint Press) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg currently is expanding the staff of his organization — Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) — in a number of key states. The expansion is in preparation on voting on gun legislation; MAIG is readying itself to bring in field organizers and press secretaries to lobby and press members of Congress to pass legislation on a stringent firearms control plan, according to officials in the group.
The officials did not indicate which states will be involved, but a poll released by the group shows that 21 states have an average percentage of voters supporting background checks for all gun sales of 86 percent, while the average among 41 congressional districts was 89 percent. Among these are Arizona, in which 90 percent of all voters support background checks, Florida with 94 percent, Georgia with 91 percent, North Carolina with 90 percent and North Dakota with 94 percent.
Officials have confirmed that they will be in some of the high-testing poll states.
“Ninety percent of Americans want background checks for every gun sale, we are helping to make sure their voices are heard,” said John Feinblatt, Bloomberg’s chief policy advisor who is also the point-person with MAIG.
This echoes Bloomberg’s anti-gun agenda, which has been criticized in part due to the amount of influence it played in the House primaries in Illinois recently.
Bloomberg’s expanding reach
Via his SuperPAC, Independence USA PAC, Bloomberg spent $2 million to back Robin Kelly in the special election to replace former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.). Kelly, a former Illinois state representative and an outspoken critic of the National Rifle Association (NRA), won the primary handily.
Following that election, Bloomberg released a statement: “This is an important victory for common sense leadership on gun violence, a problem that plagues the whole nation. And it’s the latest sign that voters across the country are demanding change from their representatives in Washington.”
“Their [the NRA] days of holding our country hostage are coming to an end,” Kelly said, according to AP.
Kelly faces an April 9 general election, but in this heavily-Democratic district, Kelly is favored to win. The amount of money Kelly spent on her primary win was seven times what her competitors spent combined.
It is unclear if Kelly would have won without Bloomberg’s money, as her main opponent had only 29 percent of the vote when Bloomberg decided to bring his money to the race. Some has argued that Bloomberg used this race to raise his visibility in the gun debates.
As the seventh-richest American set his eyes on fighting gun violence, more and more of the establishment is taking notice. On Feb. 27, Bloomberg met with Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), before heading to a press event at the White House.
While it is unclear how much of his $25 billion fortune he is willing to give to this crusade, it is clear that he is committed to the cause of reducing gun violence.
Ed Sullivan, a blogger for City & State, questions if this is a good thing. “The expenditure by one person, Michael Bloomberg, of over two million dollars in one congressional race in Chicago must command the attention of every politician in New York. But the questions present themselves here in New York, especially to political reformers and progressives: Is this application of gigantic sums of personal wealth acceptable in progressive politics, as long as it seems to advance a progressive goal? Is process still as important as substantive goals? Do the ends justify the means?”
Bloomberg has, so far, donated $3 million to the organization, which has used more than $10 million so far since its creation in 2006. He has donated $9.9 million to Independence USA in 2012, which was involved in seven races in November.
“The mayor has been clear he will used his resources to support common sense reforms,” a spokesman for Independence USA, Stefan Friedman, told the MailOnline.
MAIG has released a suite of new public service announcements (PSAs) calling on Congress to take immediate action to prevent gun violence. These PSAs mark a transition by the group from calling for a plan to pushing for a plan to be implemented. Previously, MAIG sponsored a PSA entitled “Demand a Plan,” which spotlighted Hollywood A-Listers asking Congress to move quickly in forging a comprehensive plan for gun legislation.
The fight beyond Bloomberg
The NRA, however, is not taking the mayor’s efforts seriously. David Keene, NRA’s president, said in regard to Bloomberg’s involvement in Kelly’s primary race: “This proves nothing other than that in a four or five person primary, if you spend $2 million you outta be able to get enough votes for your candidate to win,” he said on Feb. 27, speaking on the NRA’s Cam & Co. news show. “It’s only meaningful in that you have a fanatic, anti-gun activist who happens to be the mayor of New York and happens to have billions of dollars who has indicated his willingness to spend up to a billion dollars to get his way. This is indicative of nothing more than the depth of this man’s wealth and his willingness to spend it.”
MAIG, however, are not the only advocates working toward controlling gun violence. Venture capitalists Ron Conway and Ian Sobieski have announce a new group, the Technology Committee to Reduce Gun Violence, which has vowed to back anti-gun violence startups. The group includes some of the more prominent venture capital groups, including SV Angels, General Catalyst Partners, Lerer Ventures and Benchmark Capital.
Last week, gun-control organization Momsrising.org was escorted out of NRA headquarters in Fairfax, Va. after staging a demonstration against the group. Members of Monsrising.org attempted to enter the NRA building to deliver petitions signed by mothers across the nation in support of federal assault ban and universal background checks.
The NRA called the police on the protesters and had them removed.
“Today, the NRA has demonstrated that they don’t want to listen, that they don’t want to hear from families, and that they don’t want to have a productive conversation to make America’s families safer,” MomsRising.org executive director Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner said after the police action.
And on Wednesday, the group Occupy the NRA (ONRA) protested against Blackstone, Cerberus & Owl Creek Asset Management (OCAM), in response to these firms’ holdings and stocks in gun manufacturers or purchase of stock directly as a response to the Sandy Hook shootings. Cerberus is the biggest holder of gun stocks. The protest, which was held in Midtown Manhattan at 12 p.m. Eastern, was a march between all three companies’ headquarters, designed to draw public attention.
In regard to this protest, ONRA states on its website: “We will be silent no more in the face of the wholesale murder of our children while the gun industry, hedge fund managers and Wall Street banks profit off the carnage of our children. We will be silent no more in the face of 30 American gun deaths per day.”