The gun control lobby has a new messenger to spout its talking points this election cycle: Police Leaders for Community Safety. According to Roll Call, the organization plans to push for more gun control laws at the federal level, including "closing loopholes, requiring background checks for gun buyers, and cracking down on 'ghost guns.'” But the group also plans on endorsing candidates this election cycle, and you'd better believe the vast majority of the candidates who get the group's support will be on the left. 

Police Leaders for Community Safety isn't likely to change the debate in Congress, but their endorsements will give soft-on-crime/tough-on-Second-Amendment Democrats something to tout on the campaign trail this summer and fall. 

The new group, led by former police professionals, many of whom also consult or teach, said it plans to begin accepting donations from the public and will endorse candidates in federal races whose policy positions match theirs. 

Dave Mahoney, the group’s treasurer, said during a press conference that a committee is working on a process for assessing candidates and considering endorsements that they hope to roll out shortly. He didn’t detail what sort of support the group’s endorsed candidates would receive. 

Dan Oates, who was the police chief in Aurora, Colo,. in July 2012 when a gunman killed 12 people in a movie theater, said Congress “has failed to act on common sense regulations to control these weapons.” He pushed back on those who say new restrictions would violate the Second Amendment.

“Our organization strongly supports the Constitution and all its amendments,” Oates said. “We also know that there are precedents and lawful means to ensure reasonable regulations and restrictions on military assault rifles.”

One name not mentioned in the Roll Call report is Gail Hoffman, who serves as the president and CEO of Police Leader for Community Safety. She's the top dog of the group, and as it turns out, she's not a cop. No, she's a public relations professional with extensive ties to Democrats and a long history in the gun control movement. 

Prior to founding The Hoffman Group in 1995, Hoffman served in the Clinton Administration, first in the White House and then in the U.S. Department of Justice. In January 1993, she worked in the Office of the White House Deputy Chief of Staff and in the White House Counsel’s office where she served on Attorney General-Designate Janet Reno’s confirmation team. Hoffman served in the Office of the Attorney General as Special Assistant to the Attorney General for Legislative Affairs. After spearheading Senate confirmations for senior DOJ officials she became Director of DOJ’s Office of Public Liaison and Intergovernmental Affairs. Hoffman co-chaired the 1992 Clinton Campaign Crime and Drug Policy Task Force, and served on the Presidential Transition Team where she drafted the initial plan to put 100,000 community police officers on the street.

From 1987 to 1992, as Legislative Director for Handgun Control, Inc., she led the historic legislative campaigns to pass the Brady Bill and assault weapons ban, winning unprecedented victories against the powerful gun lobby.

Hoffman has counted gun control groups like Brady and Mayors Against Illegal Guns among her clients. She was also the creator of what was essentially the precursor to Police Leaders for Community Safety; the National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence, which existed from 2010 to 2021. 

In a few years (maybe in just a few months) Police Leaders for Community Safety will likely disappear as well. But from now until November, the gun control org will be plenty busy praising pro-gun control Democrats and using the power of the badge to place them in positions where they can enact more infringements on the right to keep and bear arms.