Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has absolutely no problem blowing his vast wealth in a quixotic quest to essentially destroy the Second Amendment. While I’m sure he’d articulate it differently, considering where his money has gone and what he and those organizations advocate for, I think it’s a pretty fair summation of his spending habits.

Of course, we just got out of an election cycle, so clearly he’s going to take a bit of a break, right?

Not hardly.

And the gun industry is responding. From Larry Keane:

Antigun billionaire Michael Bloomberg is at it again. He’s throwing around money and demanding things, not even noticing that Americans aren’t listening to gun control mantras. Instead, they’re arming themselves at historic rates.

Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund is dropping $3 million to recruit “grass roots volunteers” to run for elected offices ranging from school boards to Congress in the 2021-2022 election cycle in a new program called Demand a Seat. That’s in addition to the gun control work of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action.

That’s a lot of demanding. It’s also a lot of money. It looks like Bloomberg’s getting an early down payment on buying himself potted plants in public offices instead of grassroots. It’s a strategy that Bloomberg likes. Everything looks green when it’s papered over with piles of cash.

Look at the last election cycle. Bloomberg’s Everytown pledged $60 million in the 2020 Congressional and Presidential races. He raised the stakes when he burned $500 million on his own flirtation with buying the presidential ticket for himself. He also sprinkled in $100 million into Florida as insurance money to make sure President Joe Biden delivers on an antigun agenda.

At the same time, he – and gun control Congressional allies – are ignoring that over 8.4 million people bought a gun for the first time in 2020. There were 21 million background checks for a gun sale last year, a record number. In 2021, there have been over 11 million background checks for gun sales, tracking closely with last year’s pace.

See, I don’t think they’re ignoring it. I think to them, it’s proof that our gun laws are too lax. I mean, if people can buy a gun when they want, what next? I mean, they might start expressing unapproved opinions or something.

My question, though, is at what point does it actually become astroturf instead of “grassroots.” I mean, generally, when a wealthy person or organization puts a lot of money into something from the right–say, the NRA–then it’s automatically called astroturf. How is it that Bloomberg and company get a pass on this?

Oh, right, because the media won’t call it what it is when it’s one of theirs doing it.

The thing is, while $3 million is a lot of money for any of us, we can counter this. We can rally together and recruit our own candidates who are willing to stand up for gun rights in this country. We can put an end to this.

In the meantime, though, Bloomberg cannot be allowed to spend from the shadows. Earlier reports simply point out how Everytown was doing this. People forget that Everytown is practically owned by Michael Bloomberg. It’s his money they spend. They need to be reminded because a lot of people are less excited to back a move made by a billionaire than one made by millions of their fellow Americans.

So the gun industry is stepping up to remind folks of just that.

But the anti-Second Amendment crowd would do well to remember that it’s just a first step. It’s far from the last.