Billionaire gun prohibitionist Michael Bloomberg, who founded and funded Everytown for Gun Safety, has threatened to spend “more than $25 million in 2018 races,” according to Politico.
High on his list of priorities is to oppose passage of the National Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (HR 38). That’s the legislation introduced on the first day of Congress back in January by Congressman Richard Hudson (R-NC).
Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and an ardent anti-gunner, apparently is horrified at the prospect of visitors to the Big Apple, if not the entire Empire State, discreetly carrying defensive firearms for self-defense against thugs.
President Donald Trump indicated support for concealed carry reciprocity. Monday’s swearing in of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court may eventually lead to a case being heard by the high court that affirms the right to bear arms extends beyond the home. While it would seem that common sense would dictate that a civil right exists outside the bounds of one’s domicile, the high court has declined to hear challenges to concealed carry statutes in New York, New Jersey and Maryland.
According to Politico, opposition to national reciprocity is not confined just to Bloomberg’s well-financed “grassroots” organization. Americans for Responsible Solutions, another group that hides its gun control agenda behind a reasonable-sounding title, is also in the game. ARS was founded by former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and husband Mark Kelly after she was seriously wounded and disabled by a gunman in Tucson who had passed a background check.
Politico reported:
“It’s also pushing back on efforts to deregulate silencers and expand guns in schools, and coordinating in part with Everytown on those efforts.”
And then the publication let slip what might be defined as one of those “dirty little secrets” of Capitol Hill politics.
“Part of what they’re facing, said ARS executive director Peter Ambler, is several Senate Democrats and Republicans who supported concealed carry reciprocity in previous Congresses when it was sure not to be signed by Obama. Now, Ambler said, those lawmakers don’t actually want it to become law now that there’s a president who would sign it.”
Gun rights activists would dearly love to expose these lawmakers; call them out on their level of support for the Second Amendment rights of their constituents.
What all of this translates to is a reality that too many in the gun rights community habitually ignore. The fight to restore the Second Amendment did not end with Trump’s election or Gorsuch’s appointment to the Supreme Court. Gun prohibitionists are continuing their efforts to erode the right to keep and bear arms.
Related:
As Gorsuch Takes Seat, 2nd Amendment Issues Face SCOTUS
Are Neil Gorsuch’s Opponents Making Him Look Better?
Doctors’ Group ‘White Paper’ Backs Hearing Protection Act