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Bloomberg Group Sends Hundreds Of Gun Reform Activists To NRA Convention
BuzzFeed ^ | April 25, 2014 | Mike Hayes

Posted on 04/25/2014 5:31:02 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

When Michael Bloomberg announced he would spend $50 million on gun control this year, he said he hoped to make the National Rifle Association “afraid.” This weekend, the Bloomberg-backed group Everytown for Gun Safety will help pay to send hundreds of anti-gun violence supporters to the NRA’s annual convention in Indianapolis.

Cleopatra and Nathaniel Pendleton, parents of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl shot and killed in Chicago in 2013, are part of a group of survivors traveling to Indianapolis this weekend for the NRA convention with Bloomberg-backed Everytown for Gun Safety.

Ten days after Michael Bloomberg announced a $50 million investment in gun control and proclaimed the National Rifle Association should be afraid of him, the Bloomberg-backed Everytown for Gun Safety group is taking the fight directly to NRA — picking up a chunk of the tab for hundreds of activists and gun violence survivors to attend the annual NRA convention in Indianapolis.

The group said that more than 100 mothers and 20 survivors of gun violence will arrive in Indianapolis on Friday. Everytown is covering the cost of the mothers’ hotels in Indianapolis, and paying the travel and lodging expenses for a group of 20 survivors to be in Indianapolis this weekend, an Everytown spokesperson told BuzzFeed.

Everytown would not disclose how much it was spending on the weekend, but said funds are from a combination of group’s money and fundraising efforts leading up to the convention.

A fundraising email from Shannon Watts, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America founder and Indianapolis resident, read: “The NRA is coming to my hometown of Indianapolis for their annual convention this weekend. And, frankly, I’m furious.”

Close to 80,000 people are expected in Indianapolis to attend the annual NRA convention, which is being billed as “nine acres of guns under one roof.”

“Everyone thinks our strength comes from money. It doesn’t,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told USA Today Thursday. Our strength is truly in our membership. We have a savvy and loyal voting bloc, and they show up election after election after election.”

“What we don’t have is billions of dollars,” he said.

According to the latest public figures, the NRA amassed more than $250 million in revenue in 2012.

NRA President James Porter cut the ribbon inside the NRA exhibit hall at the Indiana Convention Hall to open the 2014 convention.

The Bloomberg-backed group’s presence in Indianapolis this weekend serves as a de facto kickoff to its activist efforts.

In an interview with the New York Times, Bloomberg announced his Mayors Against Illegal Guns group will join forces with activist organization Moms Demand Action to form Everytown, an organization of 1,000 mayors and 1.5 million Americans nationwide. In outlining the group’s strategy, Bloomberg said the group will focus heavily on targeting midterm election campaigns and spending against candidates who did not support a bill last year that would have expanded background checks for gun buyers.

Family and friends of victims of the shootings in Newtown, Conn., and Aurora, Colo., and at Virginia Tech are among those expected to travel to the convention.

Lucia McBath, Everytown national spokesperson and the mother of Jordan Davis, the teenager who was shot and killed in 2012 in a Jacksonville, Fla., parking lot after an argument over loud music, will also be in Indianapolis.

“[I’m here to] let people see the face of the victims,” McBath told BuzzFeed.

Everytown held a press conference outside the convention Friday and released a report citing egregious positions and tactics by the NRA that Everytown feels subvert public safety.

The report, titled, “Not Your Grandparents’ NRA,” argues that the organization, which was once a community of sportsmen and gun enthusiasts, has lost its way.

The release of the report Friday coincided with the premiere of a new ad produced by Everytown featuring gun violence survivors reading quotes from NRA president Wayne LaPierre and other NRA leaders.

Nathaniel Pendleton, father of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl who was shot and killed in a Chicago park in 2013, is featured in the ad along with his wife, Cleopatra. The Pendletons are also in Indianapolis this weekend. He said being at the convention and being featured in the ad feels “therapeutic.”

Everytown for Gun Safety released a new television ad on the first day of the NRA convention featuring gun violence survivors reading quotes from NRA leaders.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)

“NRA leadership is completely out of step with its own membership,” Watts said. “By fiercely opposing even modest steps to keep guns out of dangerous hands, the NRA’s leadership has shown that its allegiance lies with the gun industry — not with its members.”

Erica Lafferty, daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, the slain principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School, is attending her second NRA convention this weekend. Last year at the convention in Houston, Lafferty says she had constructive conversations with NRA members who she says were tricked by the leaders of the organization into believing that expanded background checks meant gun owners would have to register everyone of their firearms on a federal list. “Once they learned that was not true, [the members] were like: why wouldn’t we support background checks?”

Lafferty, who works at Everytown full time as the group’s outreach coordinator, emphasizes that her presence and the presence of others is to send a message to the NRA leadership.

“[NRA leaders] have to look at me and know that my mom was murdered,” Lafferty says. “They can’t pretend that this is a non-issue when they look me in the eye.”

Correction: An earlier version of this article said that Everytown was covering the travel expenses of the mothers’ traveling to Indianapolis.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: astroturf; banglist; bloomberg; nra
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m waiting for the anti pool lobby to kick off. A few kids drown here in Las Vegas every summer.
And the anti Halloween lobby, a few kids also get run over.


21 posted on 04/25/2014 8:44:14 PM PDT by DaxtonBrown (http://www.futurnamics.com/reid.php)
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To: GregoTX

At the Brown Center in Houston last year I saw a few protestors and a much larger pack of newstards surrounding them.

The Houston buttwipe gave them print coverage of course.


22 posted on 04/25/2014 9:02:19 PM PDT by Rockpile
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Hmm...this reminds me, time to make another donation to the NRA.


23 posted on 04/25/2014 9:09:11 PM PDT by Newtoidaho
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Cleopatra and Nathaniel Pendleton, parents of Hadiya Pendleton, a 15-year-old girl shot and killed in Chicago in 2013, are part of a group of survivors traveling to Indianapolis this weekend for the NRA convention with Bloomberg-backed Everytown for Gun Safety.

Dont protest Rahm Emanuel and shitcago politics who wont deal with crime and gangs.


24 posted on 04/26/2014 2:41:11 AM PDT by ronnie raygun
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To: ChildOfThe60s

Indy has lots of great food downtown, in just about every price range. When the Superbowl was in town a couple of years ago, one of the most common comments was how accessible and walkable downtown is. Lucas Oil Stadium, the Convention Center, a Circle Center Mall, a really cool canal at White River Park (2 very cool museums)and many shops and restaurants are right there. Parking isn’t too bad.

And if you get in your car and drive 10-15 minutes you can see the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The museum there is amazing.


25 posted on 04/26/2014 5:26:22 AM PDT by brewer1516
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

- - http://kegisland.com/subsonic-hornet.html :

• It often comes as a surprise to those who don’t understand shooters that JFK was a member of the National Rifle Association — and then this newly-encountered fact is generally viewed as some great irony. But JFK’s NRA membership comes as no surprise to shooters, because we do not confuse ourselves with criminals. -


26 posted on 04/27/2014 8:21:28 AM PDT by devolve (-Tell VLADIMER after my ERECTION I have more 90% more FLEXIBILITY - pre-1899 Colt SAA frames needed)
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To: devolve

27 posted on 04/27/2014 8:23:25 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (I will raise $2M for Cruz and/or Palin's next run, what will you do?)
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To: brewer1516

Place was MOBBED on Saturday. After hours of the crowd and the HUGE venue, all the guns started to look alike /grin

I did get a LaserMax sight for my wife’s Kahr.


28 posted on 04/27/2014 1:07:39 PM PDT by ChildOfThe60s ((If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

We went to the show at the Convention Center on Friday and it was packed. The plan was to go to the show again on Saturday before the Stand and Fight Rally, but Lucas Oil Stadium didn’t allow pass outs for re-entry!

We just hung out at Lucas until the rally. Had great seats. I love Sarah Palin, but Ollie North was exceptionally good last night. The music was OK, but I’m not a Country fan.


29 posted on 04/27/2014 2:15:55 PM PDT by brewer1516
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
Notice how they use “talking point” after “talking point”...

Yep, and that began with the headline phrase "gun reform". "Gun control" is radioactive by now.

30 posted on 04/27/2014 2:19:46 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: Billthedrill; All

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31 posted on 04/27/2014 2:27:10 PM PDT by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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For whom that will attempt to infringe:

- "A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."

-- George Washington




- "Fill your hand you son of a bitch!"

-- Rooster Cogburn



32 posted on 04/27/2014 10:42:16 PM PDT by devolve (-Tell VLADIMER after my ERECTION I have more 90% more FLEXIBILITY - pre-1899 Colt SAA frames needed)
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