Mike Bloomberg Offers to 'Match Every Donation' to Fight Gun Violence
On Wednesday afternoon, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg took to Twitter to announce that he will match donations given to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization that advocates for gun control that he founded in 2014.
"US has a gun violence problem," the billionaire wrote. "I'll match every donation. Give now."
Bloomberg is a long-time advocate for tighter firearm regulations. When the NRA introduced a bill earlier this year to legalize concealed-carry reciprocity, which would allow gun owners to carry weapons freely between states, and which is now making its way through the House of Representatives, the billionaire said he would spend $25 million to fight it, Politico reports.
As Everytown notes on its site, "Every day, 93 Americans are killed by gun violence." "Americans are 25 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than people in other developed countries," it says. It also highlights the effects of lenient gun laws on issues like domestic violence and suicide. Donations go toward increasing regulations in an effort to fight these crimes.
Mass shootings like Monday's at a country music concert in Las Vegas, which left 59 dead and over 500 injured, are typically followed by a surge in donations on both sides of the gun control debate...