By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg’s sudden departure from the race for the Democrat nomination to challenge President Donald Trump has more than one angle, as gun rights activists and some political observers are now examining.
Bloomberg endorsed Vice President Joe Biden, whose campaign had nearly tanked prior to his big win in the South Carolina primary. His campaign was virtually broke, but that victory brought in some much-needed money. When rivals Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg both suspended their campaigns and endorsed Biden on the eve of the Super Tuesday primaries, it bolstered Biden even more.
Then, when anti-gun former Congressman Beto O’Rourke also endorsed Biden, with the former vice president declaring O’Rourke to be his point man on guns, “Shotgun Joe” was back on the rails under a full head of steam.
And that is where, according to various observers, establishment Democrats want Biden, because Sen. Bernie Sanders worries them. The Sanders campaign has plenty of momentum, but his Socialist ideals could make it impossible for him to win in November, or so say some observers.
There is one lesson for gun owners in all of this. Bloomberg’s billions of dollars can be overcome by turning out to vote. Southern Democrats were hardly enamored with Sanders, and it shows in Biden’s victories in southern state primaries. Biden voters—many of whom apparently didn’t make up their minds until just before they cast ballots—lined up and waited to vote. Bloomberg had invested a whopping $550 million of his own money in the Super Tuesday race and he lost big time.
Bernie Sanders
One contributing factor may have been his dismal performance in his first debate last month, but another jarring moment came when he appeared as the guest at a Fox News Town Hall in Manassas, Virginia where Second Amendment activists staged a mini-protest and challenged his hypocrisy on guns.
Trying to explain how he is deserving of armed security because of his wealth and prominence rang hollow with gun-owning residents of a state where the Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund—a lobbying organization launched by Bloomberg with $50 million in seed money—had spent $2.5 million to flip the General Assembly to control by anti-gun Democrats. The moment became so heated that hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum had to cut to a commercial break while tempers cooled.
It was an awkward moment for Bloomberg, whose record on gun control is widely known. Even his campaign advertising had touted his gun control activities.
Confronted by an audience member about his armed security detail while being a gun control advocate, Bloomberg blew it when he described the Second Amendment as “giving” people the right to keep and bear arms.
The man had asked, “How do you justify pushing for more gun control when you have an armed security detail that’s likely equipped with the same firearms and magazines that you seek to ban the common citizen from owning? Does your life matter more than mine or my family’s or these peoples’?”
“The Second Amendment gives you the right to bear arms,” Bloomberg responded.
When Bloomberg said his personally-financed security team of retired police officers are “well trained with firearms” and that he gets “40 or 50 threats every week, and some of them are real,” it didn’t resonate with members of the audience.
He insisted “nobody is gonna take your right to bear arms,” but further irritated some members of the audience by stating, “The Supreme Court said you can have reasonable restrictions. The only restrictions which I’m in favor of is to prevent us from selling guns to people with psychiatric problems, criminals or people that are minors.”
Bloomberg will reportedly continue supporting Democratic causes—i.e. gun control and anti-gun candidates—but he has personally left the campaign trail, setting up a potentially bruising battle between Biden and Sanders.
Some pundits are suggesting the former New York mayor’s decision to back Biden could be the catalyst for an internal war within the Democrat party, where Sanders’ supporters vehemently dislike the Wall Street wealth Bloomberg represents.
Sanders supporters, whom the New Hampshire senator describes as a “movement,” could feel once again betrayed by the Democratic National Committee and party establishment, as they did in 2016 after allegations of favoritism toward Hillary Rodham Clinton surfaced. If Sanders and Biden both arrive at the convention with insufficient delegates to win on the first ballot, there could be conflict.
Joe Biden
With all of this happening over the next few months, grassroots Second Amendment activists are reminding one another of what happened in Virginia after Democrats became the majority party in the General Assembly. They have pushed through several, gun control measures, stopping short of instituting a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” but resurrecting the one-handgun-per-month regulation that was repealed several years ago.
Earlier this winter, some 22,000 armed citizens descended on the capitol in Richmond to protest, and a majority of counties, and some municipalities, have declared themselves “Second Amendment Sanctuaries.”
Voter apathy last November in Virginia is largely blamed for the Democrat takeover, and it is now serving as a harsh lesson to activists across the nation. Grassroots activists are already working to register gun owners to vote, and preparing to get out the vote in November.
According to a report by ABC News, gun owner backlash over Virginia could become a major factor this fall
ABC quoted Mitchell Tyler, co-owner of a gun store in Roanoke, who observed, “Gun owners are a threat to politicians at the ballot box. That is where we’re most dangerous. Because of this groundswell in sanctuary cities and counties, I think you’ll see Virginia go red this year in the presidential election.”
If that happens, and if Trump can hold Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, many suspect he will win re-election, but it will not be easy.
