Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Townhall.com on the huge amount of money that Michael Bloomberg is spending to flip control of Congress to the Democrats. The piece begins this way:
Gun control advocates are again spending massive amounts of money on political campaigns this fall. Michael Bloomberg has promised $80 million to flip control of Congress to the Democrats. Gabby Giffords’ gun control organization is pouring a million dollars or more into each of a dozen congressional races. Everytown for Gun Safety is spending $5 million on 15 House races.
With a net worth of $56 billion, Bloomberg is unlikely to miss a mere $80 million. But many Republicans are finding themselves completely financially outmatched.
Gun control advocates’ No. 1 target right now is first-term incumbent Jason Lewis (R) of Minnesota’s Second Congressional district. His $1.36 million in the bank is matched just by Giffords’ gun control organization, which is putting $1.3 million into the race against him. And Lewis’ Democrat opponent, Angie Craig, has $1.7 million in the bank.
The gun control groups are the ones with the big dollars. According to OpenSecrets.org, the NRA has donated $695,968 to candidates running for the House and Senate in the 2017-18 congressional cycle. Outside spending to help federal candidates amounted to another $2.7 million. The NRA total comes to $3.4 million, and it is the only significant fundraising from a pro-gun group. It is once again dwarfed by spending from gun control advocates.
Ironically, while gun control organizations and Angie Craig are attacking Lewis for taking a total of $8,450 from the NRA in 2016 and 2018, the $1.3 million being spent by Giffords for Craig is more than 150 times greater.
Lewis hasn’t sponsored a single pro-gun bill in the less than two years that he has been in Congress. Instead he has largely focused on bi-partisan issues. He co-sponsored reforming the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act with Virginia Democrat Bobby Scott. It passed the House unanimously. His bills on studying Opioid addiction, standardizing drone regulations, and infrastructure spending have also drawn Democratic co-sponsors.
But the dishonest ads just keep coming. Last week, a Giffords PAC ad claimed that Lewis “voted to allow guns in our communities” and “opposes background checks for guns.” Lewis did vote for the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, but the act also included a bill to expand background checks on guns. The bill passed the House with bi-partisan support.
Concealed carry reciprocity would require concealed handgun licenses to be honored in all 50 states — just like driver’s licenses. Permit holders would still have to obey the laws of the states that they travel in. . . .
The rest of the piece is available here.
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