When it was reported that Everytown for Gun Safety, the group founded by anti-gun billionaire Michael Bloomberg, is planning to spend millions of dollars to flip the Texas Legislature this year, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms warned, “The Lone Star State is not for sale, Mike.”
CCRKBA is one of the larger grassroots gun rights groups in the nation, boasting some 650,000 members and supporters nationwide. Last week, CCRKBA, along with the Second Amendment Foundation, announced the hiring of grassroots organizer Glen Caroline to “spearhead grassroots and training programs for both organizations.” Caroline recently left the National Rifle Association after 29 years working on grassroots activities. He served as managing director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action Grassroots Programs and Campaign Field Operations division.
Bloomberg, according to Wikipedia, remains the primary financial support for the gun prohibition lobbying group. He briefly entered the Democratic campaign for the 2020 presidential nomination, spending more than $300 million, according to some estimates. He participated in two debates, not doing well in either one, according to some critics. He dropped out of the campaign almost as quickly as he jumped in, leaving the campaign trail following a dismal showing on “Super Tuesday” when he only won American Samoa.
“He couldn’t buy his way into the White House,” said CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb, “so Michael Bloomberg’s surrogates at Everytown are trying to buy the Texas Legislature in Austin. Apparently Bloomberg has forgotten how Texans love their liberty and independence, and how they will fight to protect it.”
Published reports say Everytown’s political arm will spend at least $8 million to turn the Lone Star State blue in November. Gottlieb calls that a warning signal for grassroots Second Amendment activists across the country.
“Last month,” he recalled, “CNN reported that a ‘Bloomberg-aligned’ group was targeting 13 states to register more than 100,000 young voters in an effort to win congressional and legislative seats for anti-gunners. Texas was one of those states, so this big money effort must be taken seriously.”
Other states mentioned in the voter registration scheme were Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Among them are key states that 2016 candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton took for granted and Donald Trump took away from Democrats after ramping up his campaign.
“The Citizens Committee is calling on all grassroots activists, not just in Texas but in every other state, to organize and fight back,” Gottlieb said. “Everytown has the backing of a billionaire, but dollars don’t vote, people do.
“Last year,” he recalled, “Michael Bloomberg spent tens of millions of dollars in a failed run for the presidency, and he never got out of last place. His gun control message didn’t resonate, so instead of trying to win support, his lobbying group is now trying to buy it, one state at a time.
“It’s time to remind Bloomberg’s Everytown group that freedom and the Constitution are not for sale,” Gottlieb said.
