Anti-gun Billionaire Bloomberg Reportedly Prepping for Presidential Run

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Billionaire former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has been helping bankroll pro-gun-control candidates and citizen initiatives across the country, is reportedly preparing to enter the Democratic presidential race, according to published reports.

Friday is the deadline for filing for the Democratic primary ballot in Alabama and according to CNN, he was preparing to file the necessary paperwork to have his name on that March 3, 2020 Alabama primary ballot.

If Bloomberg enters the race, he will provide a formidable challenge to President Donald Trump. Bloomberg critics have accused him of “weaponizing” his wealth in order to erode the Second Amendment rights of tens of millions of gun owners.

According to the New York Times late Thursday, “Bloomberg and his advisers called a number of prominent Democrats on Thursday to tell them he was seriously considering the race, including former Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the retired majority leader who remains a dominant power broker in the early caucus state. Aides to Mr. Bloomberg also reached out to Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association.”

Earlier this year, Bloomberg told reporters he was not interested in running. His turnabout is raising eyebrows across the political landscape, and it will definitely raise alarms within the Second Amendment community.

Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund just spent $2.5 million to swing the Virginia legislature to Democrats. Gov. Ralph Northam is already promising to make gun control his first priority in January.

Out west, Everytown and Bloomberg personally have put more than $2 million into gun control initiative campaigns in Washington State, which has become a hotbed of anti-gun political activity.

Published reports say Bloomberg’s motives for changing his mind include former Vice President Joe Biden’s faltering campaign, and the increasing popularity of Sen. Elizabeth Warren. She has already promised to essentially declare war on Wall Street, where Bloomberg made his fortune.

But behind those issues, gun control is lurking in the tall grass. President Trump has been filling federal judicial vacancies with conservative, pro-Constitution conservative judges. He has put Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, and both are viewed as pro-gun associate justices.

CNN reported that Bloomberg started rethinking his decision to stay out of the race “in part, because he does not believe any of the current candidates are positioned to defeat Trump.”

Bloomberg’s potential entry into the presidential race was the lead story on ABC’s World News Tonight, underscoring how seriously the establishment media is taking this development. That the media dislikes Trump is no secret, and Bloomberg has been an outspoken critic of the president.

ABC described Bloomberg as “a centrist” who is interested in “gun reform.” But rights activists call that “camo speak” because no matter how it is packaged, it is still gun control, and many believe Bloomberg’s gun control philosophy is extreme.

In a 2017 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg seemed to suggest that all handguns are illegal.

“This year there will be 31,000 people killed with illegal handguns,” the former Big Apple mayor stated at the time, “12,000 murdered, 19,000 [will] commit suicide. And there have been more people killed with illegal handguns than soldiers that have died since the Revolutionary War through today in defense of our country.”

And last year, The Hill took Bloomberg and his Everytown gun prohibition lobbying group, to task for habitually straying from the truth. That story noted:

“Bloomberg’s various gun control groups release one report after another that are at least as untruthful as their numbers on school shootings.

“His perennial favorite gun control measure is background checks on private gun transfers. Everytown purports to have evidence showing that these background checks reduce domestic violence against women by 47 percent, suicides by 47 percent, and shootings of police by 53 percent. But Everytown has never actually examined how crime rates change before and after the measure is adopted. Instead, Bloomberg’s group compares states, with no attempt to account for anything other than their differing background check laws.

“When states have adopted these background checks, they have experienced a 15 percent increase in per capita rates of mass public shooting fatalities. They have also seen a 38 percent increase in the rate of injury from these attacks. There is no evidence that the expanded background checks reduce rates of any type of violent crime as well as mass public shootings, suicide, murder of police officers, and domestic violence against women. Other academic research by economists and criminologists consistently confirms this.”

The New York Times said Thursday a Bloomberg candidacy “could represent a seismic disruption in the Democratic race.”

Bloomberg has what might be considered a healthy advantage over those Democrats remaining in the race. He has not participated in the debate process so far, so the public doesn’t know where he stands on major issues. The field of candidates has been thinned almost by half with the departures of back-benchers including Beto O’Rourke, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and California Congressman Eric Swalwell.

Therefore, Bloomberg can come into the race with no bruises and a clean suit.

Bloomberg could easily put together a formidable campaign, with top advisors and plenty of staffers. His personal fortune would allow him to escape the travails of fund-raising, so he could focus totally on the campaign.

For gun owners and Second Amendment activists, a Bloomberg candidacy would represent a frontal assault and require all of their efforts. That means not one gun owner could sit out the 2020 election, should Bloomberg enter the race and win the nomination next summer.

About Dave Workman

Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.

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