Bloomberg is rebooting his MAIG and MDA astro-turf gun control organizations, combining and rebranding them as "Everytown for Gun Safety" (EGS). He's seeding them with $50 million, and adjusting the focus of the organization to adopt similar visible tactics of the NRA, such as a report card.
You can read about this at thewire.com, and the Philadelphia is reporting that former PA governor Tom Ridge will be joining an advisory board for EGS, along with Warren Buffet.
It's tempting to laugh about this - nothing's really changed other than a reorganization of existing groups and a statement about new strategy. I'll contend though that we need to pay attention when we see our enemies adjusting their strategy and perhaps "learning" from their mistakes.
At the same time, it is hard to see what impact this change will have in the gun control movement. Branding is important, and that's largely what I see going on here. Adopting the strategy of a report card may actually help the NRA more than Bloomberg thinks - the purpose of the report card is to distinguish between those supporting gun control and those supporting gun rights. An EGS report card would seemingly help triangulate the character of politicians.
At the end of the day, I just don't see gun control supporters being as passionate as gun rights advocates, which is why they don't have grass-roots clout.
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