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News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Mayor Nanny back at it

Well, good luck with that, pal:

Michael R. Bloomberg, making his first major political investment since leaving office, plans to spend $50 million this year building a nationwide grass-roots network to motivate voters who feel strongly about curbing gun violence, an organization he hopes can eventually outmuscle the National Rifle Association.

The NRA doesn't have just spending power. It has the right side of public opinion. Hasn't Mr. Bloomberg noticed the spike in gun sales because of fear of what the Obama administration might try to do to the Second Amendment? Doesn't he understand how his own actions just add to that fear and gun ownership?

Nah. Self-relfection is not his strong suit.

But if he senses that he may not have as much time left as he would like, he has little doubt about what would await him at a Judgment Day. Pointing to his work on gun safety, obesity and smoking cessation, he said with a grin: “I am telling you if there is a God, when I get to heaven I’m not stopping to be interviewed. I am heading straight in. I have earned my place in heaven. It’s not even close.”

Wow. I think most of us have at least a tiny doubt or two about how we've lived our lives. Not him. He gets straight into heaven without the interview. I think Huck Finn said something like he didn't even want to go to heaven if Tom Sawyer wasn't going to be there. I think I might like to stay away if Bloomberg is there.

Since we're on guns and apropos of nothing else, my brother emailed me about an article he read concerning the shortage of .22 ammunition:

There are about 80-100 million American gun owners.   Millions of them are new, thanks to the Obama administration.  A majority of them own a .22.  Rimfire ammunition is not practically reloadable (yes, there were a few kits sold in the 1980's).     Most people did not buy 5,000 rounds as a strategic reserve.  Most probably had less than a box on hand.    Suddenly, tens of Millions of people became aware and thought that a thousand rounds of .22 would be nice to have.  Maybe a couple of thousand.  Demand for .22 has historically run under 4 billion rounds a year in the United States, which is by far the largest market in the world.  My friend Alan Korwin reports that the U.S. manufacturing capacity is 4.2 billion rounds a year.  

Suppose 50 million Americans decided that they would like to have 1,000 rounds of .22 on hand for a rainy day, rather like I did in the 1970s.  That is 50 billion cartridges, or about 12 times the annual manufacturing capacity for .22 ammunition in the United States.  My observations show me that virtually every .22 manufacturing plant around the world is running flat out making .22 ammunition for the American market, and it all gets snapped up as soon as it becomes available, at prices about three times the rate of even a year and a half ago.

Comments

RAG
Wed, 04/16/2014 - 1:45pm

The anti-gunners are the creators of the strength of the present day National Rifle Association.  The Mayor just helps in the process.

In 1981, four years after the membership rebellion at the 1977 NRA convention in Cincinnati, Hawkeye Publishing, Inc produced a book written by Joseph P. Tartaro.  In "Revolt at Cincinnati" he gives a short history of the differences inside the NRA membership.  Competition vs 2nd Amendment members.

But...."Since most people believed that the NRA was indeed the 'powerful gun lobby' as the press castigated it, gun owners flocked to the NRA banner not because they needed someone to organize their competitions or hunting but simply because they wanted someone to protect their gun rights through political action."

How much does the NRA spend on the political process?  According to Opensecrets.org from information released by the FEC on 12/16/13 titled, "Heavy Hitters: Top All-Time Donors 1989-2014":

NRA spent 19.9 million for 52nd place; 50th Comcast 20.6m; 47th American Dental Association 21.8m; 32nd National Association of Letter Carriers 26.1m; 27th Blue Cross/Blue Shield 28.5m; 23rd AFL-CIO 30.9m; 17th United Parcel Service 32.2m; 14th Teamsters Union 36.1m; 4th NEA National Education Association 53.6m.

The NRA can't 'buy' votes like the others in Congress.  It doesn't need to buy voters.

I'm glad that the Mayor knows he's going to heaven.

 

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