Everytown plans ad blitz on anniversary of House background check bill

The gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety plans to spend $300,000 on advertisements to mark the one-year anniversary of the House passing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act that will target members of Congress who have not supported background checks on gun sales, the group first told The Hill.

The legislation, H.R. 8, which is aimed at strengthening background checks for gun purchases, passed the House on Feb. 27, 2019.

The group will run digital and print ads in Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas and target mostly Republican senators and representatives. They will also host grassroots events in Kentucky, Colorado, North Carolina and Texas with survivors of gun violence, as well as host voter registration drives.

“This life-saving legislation has been sitting on [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell’s [R-Ky.] desk, untouched, for a year,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, a part of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a press release.

“In that time, it’s estimated that more than 38,000 Americans have been killed by gun violence, and twice as many have been wounded. Yet McConnell has refused to act. So this week, we’re sending a message to McConnell and his gun lobby allies: If you don’t act, we’ll work to elect a gun sense Senate that will.”

The group in January announced it planned to spend at least $60 million during the 2020 election cycle nationally and said on Wednesday it would spend at least $8 million in Texas alone.

Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, is a co-founder of Everytown and is the organization’s largest donor.

Bloomberg has put gun control at the forefront of his campaign, but Everytown has said it will treat him like any other candidate in terms of endorsements.