By: José Niño
Although gun control has not moved much in the U.S. Congress, billionaire Michael Bloomberg and his consortium of anti-gun organizations are still working overtime to assault the Second Amendment.
Everytown for Gun Safety, the flagship organization of the Bloomberg gun control network, has plans of spending $1.8 million to elect Terry McAuliffe and other Democrats during the 2021 election cycle in Virginia.
According to a report by Fredreka Schouten on CNN, $1 million will be allocated towards electing McAuliffe. An additional $500,000 will go towards a dozen Democrats running for the Virginia House of Delegates.
The remaining $300,000 will go towards the campaigns of Hala Ayala, who is running for Lieutenant Governor, and Mark Herring, who is vying for a third term as Virginia Attorney General.
John Feinblatt, president of Everytown, confirmed that the pro-civilian disarmament organization will continue dumping more money into these campaigns. Feinblatt said that the Virginia elections function as a “bellwether” for the 2022 midterm elections and the power of civilian disarmament as an electoral issue.
“Voters are seeing an epidemic within an epidemic,” he said. “We’ve had to deal with the Covid pandemic, but what we’re also seeing is a rise in violent crime, and that’s making voters even more supportive of gun-safety laws.”
This is not Everytown’s first rodeo in Virginia. Back in 2019, Everytown spent $2.5 million in legislative elections where Democrats attained a trifecta for the first time in over 20 years.
Feinblatt revealed the group plans to launch TV and digital ads, in addition to mailers. Plus, volunteers from its grassroots arms have plans of knocking on doors “until people don’t want to hear from them again.”
Gun Control Inc. means business. They’ve been emboldened by the results of the 2019 elections in Virginia, which allowed the Virginia General Assembly to pass red flag gun confiscation orders and other anti-Second Amendment legislation. Anti-Second Amendment forces are far from satisfied, however. They want to pass more gun control and a resounding victory for them in the 2021 elections will represent a green light for future gun grabs.
Pro-Second Amendment activists in Virginia should do everything possible to deny anti-gun Democrats a trifecta in the 2021 elections. At this point, throwing wrenches in the Left’s legislative agenda is the most viable strategy going forward in Virginia. This will allow for pro-gun organizations to regroup at the local and county level and later launch broader campaigns to retake the state government.
José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Sign up for his mailing list here. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.