Michael “Mike” Bloomberg spent $10 million to air an ad during the Super Bowl yesterday showing what a warm, relatable hoplophobe he is. The ad highlighted the shooting death of a suspected 20-year-old gang member and lied about distorted the statistics on the number of children who die in firearms-related incidents every year.
As Reason points out . . .
According to to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FactCheck.org notes, the average number of firearm-related deaths involving Americans 17 or younger from 2013 through 2017 (the period used by Everytown for Gun Safety) was about 1,500, roughly half the number cited by Bloomberg. Furthermore, nearly two-fifths of those deaths were suicides, meaning the number of minors killed each year by “gun violence,” as that term is usually understood, is about 73 percent smaller than the figure cited in Bloomberg’s ad.
That’s what happens when you include adults in the numbers when talking about children’s deaths. Because gun control advocates have a persistent, tenuous relationship with accurate data.
When you look at the same data but remove the adults you get 1,499 gun deaths per year among children between 2013 and 2017. That’s about 51% of the number shown in Bloomberg’s Super Bowl ad. https://t.co/P6xyHp1QVt
— Stephen Gutowski (@StephenGutowski) February 1, 2020
In response, the National Rifle Association dropped this video highlighting average Americans who actually own and use firearms, people with who Bloomberg fears and distrusts.
NRA members don’t like hypocritical NYC billionaires. You want to know how real Americans feel, Bloomberg? Watch this!
Your $10M #SuperBowl ad won’t beat the American spirit. You want to take our guns, go ahead and try. We will fight for our freedom. #SuperBowlLIV #GAOS2020 pic.twitter.com/Bq8bNUqpCn
— NRA (@NRA) February 3, 2020
Maybe “Mike” should stick to kissing babies and petting dogs.
