Bloomberg's gun control group spends $15M on campaigns in eight swing states

[RandySF]

Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control organization funded by Michael Bloomberg, announced Thursday it is spending $15 million on a digital ad campaign in eight swing states to help boost former Vice President Joe Biden and Democrats in competitive Senate races.

The ad blitz is the opening salvo of the $60 million it has pledged to spend during the 2020 campaign. The targeted states are Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Florida, where the group will spend $5 million, is the only state where Everytown is advertising in the presidential contest. The group is also spending $1.5 million in the North Carolina Senate race to unseat Sen. Thom Tillis (R) and $1.25 million in the Arizona and Iowa Senate races each.

Another $3.5 million is going toward targeting six House races in Texas, and $500,000 is being invested on behalf of Rep. Lucy McBath (D) in Georgia, who used to work as a spokesperson for the group and whose son was killed by gun violence.

Everytown is spending on state legislature races in all eight states.




https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/508656-bloombergs-gun-control-group-spends-15-million-on-campaigns-in-eight-swing

[PTWB]

1. I hope this doesn't backfire.

Trump’s popularity is incredibly low. It just seems like giving them a wedge issue to rally behind is going to encourage their turnout in November.

[lapucelle]

2. This isn't a wedge issue. It's a core value of the Democratic Party.

From the 2020 draft Democratic Party Platform:

Ending the Epidemic of Gun Violence

Gun violence is a public health crisis in the United States. Nearly 40,000 people die annually from guns—devastating countless families, friends, and communities. Addressing the gun violence crisis requires supporting evidence-based programs that prevent gun deaths from occurring in the first place, including by making mental health care more accessible, funding interventions to reduce homicides and gun violence in neighborhoods, and strengthening protections against domestic violence. Democrats will also ensure the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sufficient resources to study gun violence as a public health issue.

Democrats will enact universal background checks, end online sales of guns and ammunition, close dangerous loopholes that currently allow stalkers and some individuals convicted of assault or battery to buy and possess firearms, and adequately fund the federal background check system. We will close the “Charleston loophole” and prevent individuals who have been convicted of hate crimes from possessing firearms. Democrats will ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

We will incentivize states to enact licensing requirements for owning firearms and “red flag” laws that allow courts to temporarily remove guns from the possession of those who are a danger to themselves or others. We will pass legislation requiring that guns be safely stored in homes. And Democrats believe that gun companies should be held responsible for their products, just like any other business, and will prioritize repealing the law that shields gun manufacturers from civil liability.

[Budi]

3. K & R

From the 2020 draft Democratic Party Platform:

Ending the Epidemic of Gun Violence

👍💙

[Polybius]

4. We can work on gun-control next year

2020 is not a good idea to talk gun-control, it was set back many years IMO.