Days after he appeared next to Vice President Joe Biden and the families of those killed in the Newtown shooting last December, Mayor Bloomberg announced that he will pour $12 million of his own money into an ad campaign supporting universal background checks. Bloomberg acknowledged that he was disappointed that an assault weapons ban wasn't included in the legislation pending before the Senate, but told the Times, “You don’t want to lose everything in the interest of getting the perfect."
A scholar from the Brookings Institution says that Bloomberg's ad money is unlikely to influence the vote, unless lawmakers believe that they will be paid or punished for their position afterwards. "That is absolutely key," the scholar says, of the predictable role of politicians' unslakable greed. The $9.3 million donated by Bloomberg to candidates of both parties in the last election didn't necessary translate into victory for his favored policies.
About 40% of all gun transfers in the country don't require a federal background check, which amounts to 6.6 million guns every year. As the Senate prepares to vote on legislation that would instill universal background checks, create tougher laws and harsher penalties for gun trafficking, and provide more money for school safety, the mayor's ad campaign targets both Democratic and Republican senators in states like New Hampshire, Arizona, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
“What [Mayor Bloomberg] is going to find out is that Americans don’t want to be told by some elitist billionaire what they can eat, drink and they damn well don’t want to be told how, when and where they can protect their families,” Chris Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist told the Times.
A recent CBS/NY Times poll showed that 92% of Americans support universal background checks. According to a release from Mayors Against Illegal Guns that cites statistics from the DOJ, the 14 states with universal background checks have 48% less gun trafficking, and have a 38% lower rate of women being murdered by an intimate partner.
You can watch one of the ads below.
