Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group has fired its first 2014 midterm elections volley at the powerful National Rifle Association (NRA), asking that candidates publicly declare where they stand on the issue of gun-control legislation.
According to
The Washington Post, Bloomberg’s 1.9 million member group, Everytown for Gun Safety, is emulating the NRA’s own tactic of surveying politicians with a 10-item questionnaire and plans to advise its members on who deserves their votes.
The
survey poses tough, direct questions, such as, "Do you support requiring background checks for all gun sales (with reasonable exceptions such as for transfers between close family members and temporary transfers for hunting and self-defense)" and "Do you support limits on the capacity of ammunition magazines?"
After tallying answers, as well as previous voting records, Everytown’s political arm, Gun Sense Voter, will advise members on politicians’ stance on gun control.
"For too long, the gun lobbyists have had the field to themselves," Everytown President John Feinblatt told the Post. "People deserve in this country to know where candidates stand on reasonable gun measures."
In 2013, when Everytown formed from a merger of Bloomberg-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, Bloomberg said he planned to hold politicians accountable for their position on gun control.
"This guy or woman is in favor of leaving guns in the hands of crazies who can kill your kids, the other one is not. I think you should vote for the other one," Bloomberg told the
Post in 2013.
Gun control is shaping up to be a major issue in the Nov. 4 elections, with
36 Senate and
435 House seats up for grabs.
Multibillionaire Bloomberg has pledged to more than double the NRA’s yearly $20 million expenditure on political action, but NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told the Post, "Money cannot buy the hearts and minds of the American people when it comes to the Second Amendment. Michael Bloomberg is just the latest incarnation of a long line of anti-freedom billionaires who tried to take on the NRA."
However, Mitch Stewart, Everytown political adviser, told the Post, "The NRA, they have this aura of being invincible. We’re going to show these candidates and these members of Congress that here is a sizable group of people in their districts and states who care about these issues, and they’re going to demand some answers."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.