The well-financed Giffords gun control lobbying group is putting big bucks into political campaigns this fall, including one municipal mayoral race that shows just how serious they are about weeding conservative, pro-Second Amendment rights politicians out of office.
According to the Denver Post, Giffords PAC has launched a $50,000 digital ad buy for a 30-second advertisement urging voters in Aurora, Colorado to vote against former Congressman Mike Coffman, now running for mayor of that tragedy-linked city. The newspaper said Giffords PAC “helped oust” Coffman from Congress last year.
Following the 2012 mass shooting at a theater in Aurora, according to the advertisement, Coffman “went to bat for the NRA.” Centennial State gun owners could easily counter that he “went to bat” for his constituents who had no involvement in, nor were they in any way responsible, for the shooting that left 12 people dead.
Elsewhere, as reported by the Washington Post, Giffords PAC has announced a $300,000 effort to oust Republicans from the Virginia legislature because they have resisted extremist gun control measures being pushed by the gun prohibition lobby.
Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 5 in both states.
The Denver newspaper quoted Giffords political director Joanna Belanger asserting “We are fully aware of the fact that Mike Coffman is probably using this as a stepping stone to get back into higher office.”
The Giffords group has thrown its weight behind Democrat Omar Montgomery. The race is supposed to be non-partisan, but it appears the Giffords PAC favors Democrats. Former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle “Gabby” Giffords, who founded the gun control group after she was seriously wounded in a shooting in Tucson several years ago, is a Democrat.
Coffman, meanwhile, told the Denver Post, “The last thing we need is national politics infecting our mayor’s race. Aurora deserves better.”
Stories about the money being spent by Giffords PAC might be a sign of what gun owners and Second Amendment activists can anticipate from the gun prohibition lobby in 2020. Anti-gunners will likely pull out all the stops as they push to change Capitol Hill to a Democratic majority, and take the White House away from President Donald Trump.
Since he took office, Trump has appointed two pro-rights conservative justices to the U.S. Supreme Court and filled at least 150 vacancies in the lower federal courts with conservative judges.
