By: Kayleigh Hamilton
This is a disaster for the anti-gun lobby.
And Michael Bloomberg is at the center of it.
Now Bloomberg’s organizations are erupting in anger after what Donald Trump just did.
No one quite knew how Donald Trump was going to handle the gun issue, after he had a very mixed record in his first term, but so far the signs have been promising.
Michael Bloomberg’s groups are certainly worried about what Trump is doing in his second term and they are not hesitating to voice their concerns.
In particular, Trump took an action that could have a serious impact on the aggressive lawsuits that have been filed against the gun industry.
The anti-gun lobby has targeted gun manufacturers as a new strategy to attack gun ownership in America, since they’ve had little success passing new laws except in blue states.
But now that strategy could be in serious jeopardy after what Trump did, and Bloomberg’s website, The Trace, is melting down with anxiety over it.
Trump has apparently figured out a way to blunt the anti-gun lobby’s attacks on gun manufacturers, and the anti-gun left is not happy about it.
Here is what The Trace said: “Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison has helped engineer ambitious lawsuits against the firearms industry and provided free legal muscle to gun safety groups and the families of mass shooting victims, allowing them to notch wins against Remington and Smith & Wesson.
“Since President Donald Trump targeted Paul Weiss in March, however, prompting firm chairman Brad Karp to cut a controversial deal pledging $40 million in free legal work to support White House priorities, a page on the firm’s website that touted its victories on behalf of gun safety interests has disappeared. Some advocates now fear that the president’s strong-arming will lead Paul Weiss and other firms to curtail such efforts.”
In other words, the panic that Bloomberg’s groups are experiencing stems from the fact that this particular law firm will apparently not be pursuing anti-gun lawsuits anymore.
They had been targeting the gun industry, but now they will be scaling back their efforts in that regard.
The article continues, “Trump has issued executive orders threatening to withhold federal contracts from Paul Weiss, its clients, and other firms that investigated him, represented his adversaries, or engaged in advocacy that he deems contrary to the country’s interests.”
“The modern gun safety movement relies on the free or reduced cost legal labor, called pro bono work, that firms provide to advocacy groups and individual plaintiffs. States and local governments nationwide depend on this aid from private firms to defend their firearms restrictions. And proactive litigation that involves bringing suits against the gun industry for alleged misconduct is all but impossible without pro bono support.”
Bloomberg’s groups are certainly correct that this is bad news for them, but the gun industry will certainly breathe a sigh of relief.
The anti-gun lobby is going to have to find a new strategy to attack the Second Amendment, as this one is falling apart.