Deceptive Mayors Against Illegal Guns Campaign Prompts No Concern from Ohio Members
by Jason Hart
Ohio members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) appear unconcerned that the group's latest campaign suggests more gun control would have prevented the recent school shooting in Connecticut. Media Trackers contacted thirteen of the Ohio mayors listed as members of MAIG, offering a chance to comment on the "Demand A Plan" campaign, but only two mayors have responded in over two weeks.
The Newtown shooter stole his mother's legally-purchased guns, in a state which already has some of America's strictest gun control laws. Neither of these facts seem to matter to MAIG, a liberal organization managed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office in New York.
Media Trackers supplied the mayors of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Youngstown, Englewood, Carroll, Lima, Marietta, Springfield, Steubenville, and Whitehall with the two following MAIG ads from Facebook:
The MAIG "No More Newtowns!" ads showing a little girl crying – an explicit attempt to leverage the Newtown mass murder for more gun control – began appearing on Facebook before Christmas and continued through the new year.
A spokeswoman for Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson politely confirmed that Jackson is, indeed, a MAIG member. Mayor Jackson had no comment on the Newtown ad campaign.
In his reply to a separate Media Trackers records request submitted January 15, Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell included a response he recently sent to a constituent who implored him to leave MAIG.
"Best thing for me to do is keep hold of the guns I own and support the constitution of the United States with fairness and impartiality as I swore to do on January 4, 2010," Leitzell wrote. "I am against illegal firearms. Therefore it is fitting that I am recognized as such."
At publication, the other eleven mayors contacted by Media Trackers have responded to none of the inquiries sent since the end of December. Media Trackers has submitted additional open records requests to several cities to determine the extent of their mayors' engagement with Bloomberg's anti-Second Amendment lobbying group.
As previously reported by Media Trackers, MAIG routinely uses the crimes of violent maniacs to push for reduced gun rights for all Americans. MAIG has coordinated with far-left ProgressOhio and Media Matters for America to drive its narrative, and has even worked to block the expansion of law-abiding Ohioans' concealed carry rights.
Independently, ProgressOhio has sought to politicize the Newtown shootings in order to fight the Second Amendment.
Although MAIG advertises itself as a moderate, bipartisan coalition, MAIG has almost no Republican members in Ohio.
Following is the message sent to the thirteen mayors listed above on December 28, 2012.
I'm a reporter for conservative non-profit Media Trackers Ohio seeking comment about your membership in Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), as indicated in the group's coalition list at http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org/html/members/members.shtml#OH
Are you still a member of MAIG? If not, when and why did you end your membership with the group?
If you are a current member, would you care to comment on MAIG's use of the recent mass murder in Newtown, CT — a crime which apparently involved no illegal guns — to push for additional gun control?
According to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, Connecticut already has the 4th-strongest gun control laws in the nation: http://www.bradycampaign.org/stategunlaws/CT
However, MAIG advertising suggests lax gun laws caused the killings in Newtown (for your reference, I've attached two MAIG advertisements from Facebook).
Do you have any comment on MAIG's "Demand a Plan" campaign, which is leveraging shootings committed in a “gun free” zone with stolen weapons to call for increased restrictions on Americans’ Second Amendment rights?
Any comment on your intention to remain a part of MAIG?
As a footnote, we realized after sending these messages that the Brady Campaign lists inconsistent state gun control rankings. Connecticut has either the nation's 4th-strongest or 5th-strongest gun control laws, depending on which Brady Campaign page one refers to.
Click here to read the entire article at Media Trackers.
Is your mayor a member of MAIG? Mayors were recently informed by Buckeye Firearms Association that MAIG is not what it claims to be, and we need you to follow up on that letter to ask them if they were duped into becoming members, or if their membership indicates that they too are gun ban extremists.
The simplest case that can be made to mayors who may not realize what MAIG is about revolves around the 2011 concealed carry bills:
- Columbus Mayor, Liberal Groups Worked to Block Gun Rights Bill in Ohio Legislature
- Mayor Worked With Bloomberg, ProgressOhio to Stop Kasich From Signing Gun Rights Bill
Simply tell your mayor this: If MAIG were really just against "illegal" guns, as they claim, they would have had absolutely nothing to say about expanding locations where law-abiding Ohioans with concealed handgun licenses can carry.
MAIG's actions to attempt to stymie these pieces of legislation prove that all their rhetoric about background checks, law enforcement data sharing, etc. is window dressing for a purely anti-gun agenda.
CLICK HERE to learn if your mayor is a member of MAIG and call or email them today!
Additional Information:
Bloomberg's $15 million anti-gun super PAC
Mayor Bloomberg says Obama should bypass Congress take action on gun control by Executive Order
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