New York’s billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg has the wherewithal to bankroll a national TV advertising campaign on ways to curb gun violence. It’s being done in the name of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and aims to influence senators in states that appear to be divided on gun control. The focus: background checks. Not mentioned: the assault weapons ban once sought by the White House. The reason: An assault weapons ban is no longer considered politically doable.
Left unsaid: Not even Bloomberg’s bucks can buy a viable appeal to ban weapons that no one outside a SWAT team or military should own. Nobody. Sobering. And outrageous.
Instead, the focus is on the presumably achievable goal of universal background checks. Of course, that’s better than nothing, since there are no background checks online or at gun shows. But it’s illustrative to look at the Newtown massacre for context. Mrs. Nancy Lanza, whose private arsenal enabled her son, Adam, to slaughter 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary, would have passed any background check.