NRA launches ad campaign critical of Michael Bloomberg

quote:

---

WASHINGTON — The National Rifle Association is taking aim at former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, one of the nation's biggest gun control advocates, in a new national ad campaign that seeks to paint the billionaire as an out-of-touch elitist.

NRA officials say the campaign, which kicks off Wednesday, is the first part of a multimillion-dollar push extending beyond November's elections to drive up negative perceptions of the magnate among voters. They've dubbed the effort, "Meet the Real Michael Bloomberg."

Bloomberg, who left office in January, announced plans this year to spend $50 million to build a grass-roots network of activists who feel strongly about reducing gun violence with a goal of beating the powerful gun rights group in political fights.

"Michael Bloomberg has declared war on the NRA and our 5 million members," Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, said in an e-mail. "We will not sit back and let him use his billions of dollars to impose his radical anti-freedom agenda on the American people."

He called Bloomberg "an arrogant hypocrite who thinks he knows best how people should live their lives."

The ads, titled "Insult," seek to tie Bloomberg's gun control initiatives to controversial steps he took as mayor, including his effort to ban the sale of jumbo-sized sugary sodas as part of an effort to curb obesity.

"Bloomberg tries to ban your snack food, your sodas and most of all, your guns," a female narrator explains as a woman drives a large, red Chevy pickup through rural and suburban landscapes.

The commercial closes with this message: "Hey, Bloomberg: Keep your politics in New York. And keep your hands off our guns and our freedom."

---