OPINION:
Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group, Everytown for Gun Safety, is pouring millions upon millions upon millions of dollars into the 2020 elections — $60 million to be exact, with $8 million alone slated just for Texas.
And while leftists may cheer — while leftists are certainly cheering — the fact is freedom-minded Americans should be feeling the chill.
What was once unthinkable is now moving toward reality.
In this day and age, in this era of socialism and millennial ignorance and public school propagandizing and political deceptions, Bloomberg plus big bucks could very well equal widespread clampdowns on Second Amendment rights.
Virginia, after all, where Bloomberg’s anti-gun group funneled $2.5 million into elections, just turned from red to blue, for the first time in more than two decades.
The Second Amendment isn’t a given.
It may be a necessary given to uphold all the other rights in the Constitution — the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedoms of speech and assembly and religion and press right to petition the government; the Fourth and Fifth guarantees of due process and protection of private properties and unreasonable searches absent warrants. And so forth and so on. But it’s not a given that the right, in this political atmosphere, will stand strong and tall.
Money in politics does buy influence.
The bigger the stack of money, the bigger the buy of influence.
Bloomberg has got some pretty steep stacks.
Then there’s this: Gallup earlier this year found that between 1996 and 2019, the share of Americans who said they kept guns in their homes dropped from 51% to 37%.
At the same time, 64% said the laws covering the sale of firearms should be made more strict. Another 28% said these laws should stay the same, while 7% favored relaxing the laws to make it easier to buy firearms.
In October 2019, NPR wrote in a headline, “Poll: Number Of Americans Who Favor Stricter Gun Laws Continues To Grow.”
In September 2019, PBS News Hour wrote, “After multiple mass shootings in recent weeks, a majority of Americans think it is more important to control gun violence than to protect gun rights, according to a new PBS NewsHour, NPR and Marist poll.”
In February of 2019, Reuters wrote, “Most Americans want tougher gun laws but have little confidence their lawmakers will take action, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released … ahead of the one-year anniversary of the country’s deadliest high school shooting.”
Well now, how convenient: Enter Bloomberg, stage left.
Enter Bloomberg, running for the nation’s highest political office, where its holder exerts ostensibly the highest political pressures on the nation’s policies.
Enter Bloomberg, a politician with will and money to change the shape of the Second Amendment.
Let Virginia be a lesson for the rest of the nation.
The Second Amendment is most certainly facing perilous times.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter by clicking HERE.
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