If you watched last night’s Democratic Presidential debate in Charleston, S.C ., with an ear toward gun policy, you may have heard some comments that didn’t sit right with you. So that they don’t go unnoticed, here were the big ones from Bloomberg, Biden, and Buttigieg:
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg mentions at 1:45 in the video that he has, “a six million-person organization, Moms Demand Action and Every Town,” then talks about the policies they have implemented in the states in which they work. He points out that they have put background checks in 20 states. What he isn’t telling you is that there is already a federal law that has required instant background checks since 1998.
Through Bloomberg’s organizations, he plans to spend over $60 million on the 2020 election. He also forgot to mention that some of his six million volunteers are not supporting him for President.
Not to be missed: Bloomberg’s Freudian slip at 1:34 in the video, where he almost says that he “bought” 40 Congressional seats. Oops.
At 1:42 in the video, during a discussion of gun control policies, former Vice President Joe Biden claimed that there have been “more than 150 million people killed since 2007” due to gun violence. According to the US Census Bureau, the US population is over 329 million. We might have noticed if nearly half of them had died. And according to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of homicides using firearms in 2017 was 14,542. Far too high for homicide by any method, but even extrapolating that out since 2007, it’s not half the US population.
South Bend, In., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is married to a teacher, launches in to his support of teacher pay at 1:54 in the video. He then says, “And now some politicians, because they aren’t willing to face the need for common sense gun laws, are expecting teachers to somehow transform themselves in to highly trained armed guards when there’s a threat to a classroom,” implying that school staff would be forced to carry guns. The fact is, there has never been a policy anywhere in the country that has even hinted at requiring a school staff member to carry a firearm on campus. We do know that there are thousands who have volunteered to do so, given the number of states and school districts that have authorized those policies. A good follow up question for Mayor Pete might have been, “What is your plan to protect schools if an armed perpetrator shows up and starts killing children?”
With Bloomberg’s entrance in to the Presidential primary and the debate stage, expect more discussion about gun control. We will stay on top of the truth.