More Bad News for Bloomberg and the Remaining Mayors

Bearing Arms has touched on the multiple scandals hounding Mayors Against Illegal Guns in the past couple of weeks, but things are getting worse.

Earlier this year, Bloomberg’s group came under fire for including the names of criminals, notably cop-killer Chris Dorner and one of the Boston bombing suspects, in a list of “victims of gun violence”.

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The anti-gun coalition also faced legality issues when it was reported that they were using New York City’s taxpayer funded resources in its lobbing efforts. Not only that, Bloomberg hosted his websites on city servers and used city paid employees for lobbying efforts. All in one giant attempt to cut a few costs.

But Mayors Against Illegal Guns hasn’t only been suffering from logistical concerns, but turnout concerns. During their highly publicized bus tour, pro-gun protestors often outnumbered the anti-gun protestors.

According to BuzzFeed:

According to an old version of its member list, saved on a blog dated back to late February, more than 50 mayors who were then listed on MAIG’s website are no longer there. Most of the mayors whose names are no longer affiliated with the group are off the list either because they resigned or lost an election, but others have specifically asked to be removed.

BuzzFeed reached out to dozens of the replacement mayors and none of them would confirm if they planned to join the group or if they were even considering it.

Mayors Against Illegal Guns Director Mark Glaze brushed the issue off. Glaze said the group stays up to date with its mayors who leave office so they can send a letter to the newly elected mayor to try and get them on board, which he said is a process that can take a little while. Glaze said they try not to push new mayors too hard to join as they settle in to office.

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We reported earlier on the Mayor of Rockford, Illinois, Larry Morrissey, and his departure from the group. With this new list that suggests multiple defections, it becomes clear that many mayors thought the group’s primary purpose was to keep guns away from criminals. Yet as the group began to lobby for bans on certain types of weapons, magazine capacity limits and further gun legislation, it has become clear that Michael Bloomberg is using the group to spread his personal, anti-gun politics to other areas of the country.

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