Shannon Watts (courtesy lefigaro.fr)

We almost called this one, pointing out that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) was bankrolling Shannon Watts’ Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America (MDA). We certainly highlighted the fact that MDA had replaced MAIG as the most potent PR weapon in the gun control movement’s relentless campaign to disarm Americans. And now the two become one. In a statement released today Bloomberg said . . .

“Gun violence is, unfortunately, an issue that affects every community, and coming together with Moms Demand Action today will strengthen our efforts to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and save lives.”

MAIG Chairman John Feinblatt called the hook-up “a turning point for the movement” to render the American public defenseless against crime and government tyranny, asserting that MDA would “fill the intensity gap” between anti- and pro-gun advocates on the grassroots level.

No word on the new name. Moms Demand Illegal Guns for Mayors? Mayors Against Illegal Demands from Action Seeking Moms? Anyway, it looks like we’re going to have a lot more of Shannon Watts to kick around. Rhetorically speaking.

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143 COMMENTS

  3. Still waiting for an explanation on what “gun sense” means. I don’t hold much hope for an organization that can’t even formulate a name that means anything

    • To me “gun sense” means things like “don’t hunt squirrels with a .308” or “load cartridges in the magazine with the pointy ends forward.”

        • You don’t understand the awesomeness of HK because you are not a manly Teutonic operational operator. If you were, loading rounds backwards would make perfect sense.

        • Yeah it just depends on if you want to retain the deceased squirrel (eat it, taxidermy it, prank the wife by hiding it in the shower, etc) and on how sure you are of your appropriate backstop. .308 up towards a tree branch ain’t the same as your pellet gun.

    • My favorite gun scents are Hoppes 9 and the smell of black powder…..however my wife is not fond of gun scents and asks me to clean them in the garage.

    • The thing is, these people don’t realize that every time they use the phrases “gun sense”, “common sense”, or something of that nature, it’s forcing the other side on the defensive as it’s saying we’re “lacking” common sense. Why would we ever want to get in a discussion with someone who belittles our intelligence?

      • Of course they are doing it on purpose and of course they are insulting our intelligence.

        Have you not seen how the feminists have just about won the entire war using these sort of strategies? Do you think those victories are lost on the gun control people?

        These people are not interested in truth, facts, or data nor are they interested in honor. They are interested in winning people over to their side using whatever means necessary.

        If we continue to allow them to set the table and shuffle to it obediently when they call us to sit down with them, we lose.

  5. It’s a politically shrewd move on Watts’ part, and Bloombergs.The Mayors get another bullet point for their blue state Democrat constituents, and the MDA gains political and financial capital in the process.

      • meh. Watts will now take a backseat to Bloomberg. All MAIG is getting is a corporate mouthpiece, who has more experience defending against scandals. Instead of one CEO dipping his wick in the honeypot, now she has 900 illegal mayors to defend.

        I see it as a good sign. Mergers are usually a sign of weakness, not strength. Bloomberg is a legend in his own mind, he’s less popular than dog farts. Now, every time Twits opens her mouth, it will stink of Bloomberg.

        • I think you’re mistaken. I think Watts will be the public face. She’s an attractive photogenic midwestern mom, he’s a short smarmy dickhead. I think it’ll be his hand up her… well, pulling her puppet strings.

        • I wonder if Bloomberg will try to micromanage Watts and MDA the way he does the citizens of NYC.

          I see a potential conflict if he tries to run MDA via his checkbook. Have them fighting each other rather than collude to take my guns is a good thing.

        • Of course he will – it’s in his nature. He can’t help himself. I think that’s one of the reasons they merged. He could quite easily have run MAD as a proxy, but then he wouldn’t have direct operational control.

          I wonder if she gets the bus?

    • Could not agree more. Unit cohesion is critical, and they are learning to fight more effectively. This also shields pols somewhat from the charge of taking tainted Bloomberg money when Watts is now the public face of the organization.

    • Ummm yeah… MDA has been backed by Bloomberg from the beginning. This was a well known fact. They’ve just stopped the make believe.

    • No, all the little moms are going to feel star-struck and validated. They’re going to eat it up. I know people want to laugh her off, but SW is going to be a problem. If moms know anything, it’s how to play up a productive uterus to their benefit.

      • Please! You really think that already-has-two-kids-over-35yo woman has a productive uterus?

        Bloomberg is a Narcisst pig and he is using Shannon Watts to forward his agenda which she is going do in the name of feminism (she hasn’t said so yet, but wait for it.)

        The feminists have the ear and minds of the country right now. Or shall I say they have everyone, quite literally, by the balls. Wonder if they will succeed in taking the ones that belong to the gun guys too?

        Only time will tell.

  9. I think this also has a lot to do with the fact that MAIG (or Illegal Mayors Against Guns, as Tom Gresham calls it, due to the criminal history many of them have) has lost a lot of street cred recently, with some of their shady tactics becoming more well known.

    Smart move for both Bloomy and Watts here.

    • Personally, I think it is a monumentally stupid move. Here’s the lowdown:

      Their name alone “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” suggests that their purpose is stopping ex-convicts from acquiring firearms illegally. Lots of people are sympathetic to that idea and it tends to NOT alienate broad swaths of the public at first glance.

      However, Moms Demand Action openly and blatantly wants more gun control — magazine capacity restrictions, military style semi-automatic rifle bans, etc. This alienates broad swaths of the public.

      Now that the two groups are combining, it removes any wiggle room that Mayors Against Illegal Guns could use to suggest that they are not promoting broad, sweeping gun control laws. They are. And that will help the public — especially uninformed voters — to see them for what they are.

  10. Why can’t we start…

    Gun owners against illegal Mayors

    Or…

    Gun owners offering action to moms

    ?

  11. Why do I get the feeling Ms Watts is about to find out something she’ll wish she’d have never known about MAIG within the next few days that’ll make her rethink her decision?

    • Hey, if she could shrill for Monsanto and Blue Cross, her moral values are going to have no issue with Hizzoner. Besides, she’s drunk the disarmament kool aid. She’s going to fit right in. The ones I almost feel sorry for are the good old boys at the head of MAIG. She’s going to eat them up. A shark in a tank of tuna.

      • When did she all of a sudden get moral? Her moral values are like those of the other prostitutes – It’s not rape if the check clears.

  13. The lies are going to come hot and heavy.
    Liberals don’t care about the truth, as long as they get their way.

      • Ehh… you’re confusing social conservatives for real conservatives. It’s ok, I forgive you.

        It’s like confusing Libertarian for Liberal.

    • “If you like your anti-gun organization, you can keep it. Period….oh wait….we’re now merging with another group of crazy ignorant partisans….that’s not what I meant….uh….”

      Let them put all their men (women) in one fox hole. Makes for a better target. lol

    • Well you can at least keep the other one primed, just in case you find a new candidate that warrant akimbo one finger salutes.

  15. Urban Dictionary defines a slut as a woman with the morals of a man. So these two should get along juuuust great. Wait, maybe they don’t have any morals. We shall see…..

  16. John Feinblatt called the hook-up “a turning point for the movement”

    Like a turd through the S-trap…

  19. The first thing that popped into my head was the Imperial March, immediately followed by Darth Helmet….

    • Well, now Shannon can afford to hire actors to make it look like someone actually showed up to the next one….

  21. This smells desperate to me. And not good-lookin’ suburban mommy desperate, it smells more like midget old man desperate. eewww.
    I actually see this costing MDA public support, not adding to it. Bloomberg has very few friends outside the east coast, and people are really sick of seeing his name attached to anything.

    • All pro-gun rights groups must refer to this entity (whatever it is eventually named) as “the Bloomberg backed/funded gun control organization XYZ…”

      Don’t even mention Shannon… Keep Bloomy’s name front and center.

  22. Good riddance? Only one wolf pack to defend against. Doubt this will lend them clout. Probably that tired mom crap was getting overplayed, so it was time to beam up to the mothership (ha! I’ll keep that one) to try and get some credibility back for MAIG. Wait not back… uh…. something.

  23. I see this as kind of like the merger of Sears and K-Mart a while back. Two dying brands spending big advertising budgets as their share of the market continues to dwindle, linking up to stave off the inevitable for a few more years…

    • I never hear a word about Shannon or MDA anywhere but on this site.

      Shannon’s over the hill. She’ll have to run for office in Chicago, now.

      How a guy with 24 bodyguards on his payroll can be taken as anything but paranoid is beyond me. I only know two other billionaires, and neither has full time bodyguards. Trained dogs in the basement, yes. Guys with guns, now.

      • His bodyguards are actually perfectly reasonable, if you understand the way some people feel about the little twerp, w aren’t even the only ones that hate him. he’s got an enemy’s list miles long in his wake, I’d hire those bodyguards if I had his money and his enemy’s

  24. We’re in real trouble now! A merger of ineffective gun control organizations! Aw shucks, we’de better just hand over our phallic symbols and “man-cards”. I mean it’s all over people! Finished! Done! That 2nd Amendment’s just bound to disappear now. What were we thinking anyway? Mike Bloomberg was against us guys! Did we ever stand a chance anyway? I’m trying to hit the “sarcasm off” button but the damn thing seems to be stuck!! It’s all their fault. I’ve taken them so seriously for so long I just can seem to stop myself! Someone help me…please! Pretty pleassssseeee! I can’t seem to stop myself. I’m trembling in fear. Woe and damnation! Ashes and sackcloth!! Brimstone….&…..*

    okay, I’ll stop.

  25. Honestly though, I thought everyone was jumping ship on MAIG, I cant imagine merging will produce any results

    • Some mergers are well-funded takeovers. Bloomy brings MDA into the fold and begins to cut out the old staffers at MAIG, who really haven’t done much lately. MDA is a fresh, new face in the game. And it’s moms. Hard to hate moms (not really, but you get my point). Six months from now, MAIG is mostly a shell, they just let the old members lapse as they leave office, and MDA is the front-line org. Only now SW has a real org and lobbyists behind her instead of thinking of all of it herself because, well, the other moms in MDA actually have things to do, like feed and care for kiddos, soccer practice, etc.

      Bloomy brings SW in, undermines his old people – also taking Boston mayor MAIG-cofounder-whats-his-name out of the picture, and builds a new org with SW as front person. Six months. I’d bet a really nice dinner on this.

  26. This is a good thing because Bloombergs MAIG actually ended up backfiring big time, this now carries over the stink to “Moms”

  27. Were they ever truly separate?

    Alternatively: awesome. Two parasitic organizations. Hopefully they’ll suck either dry

    • Very true, Moms demand stupidity was just a MAIG astroturf group that is now unveiling their connection publicly.

  28. So the sugar daddy decided to put a ring on that. I always figures it was a MAIG$$$ for :)MDA political deal

    I wonder if this means Mrs. Watts has a full time job now, salary and all that. I wonder what she’s getting out of this.

    Lets see who can make up the best new name for the group?
    MaDAMe – Moms Demand Action Mayors
    MAID-ASK Mayors Against Illegal Demands from Action Seeking Moms
    SDT DAM – Sugar Daddies Take Demand Action Moms

  29. Mom’s Demand to be Victims and Illegal Mayors Against Guns.;How’s That?
    This sinces the deal for me,No Common Ground with these idiots.Let’s see them talking to gangbangers to sprue their stupidity,maybe they will listen,NOT!
    Their “180% of Americans and common sense” BS is getting very old as well as deceitful .they are Treasoners thru and thru and should be banished from our shores .
    They are 100% against the Bill of Rights and The 2nd Amenment and the just sit there and LIE to you face that they are not against it and in fact respect it.It makes me Sick!
    We as gun owners and CCW carriers need to recruit a new wave of firearms owners and oppose the life blood of these organizations as they do absolutely NOTHING to eliminate crime and infact Enhance it with restrictive gun laws!
    So since they are out campaigning against us under the Geise of eliminating crime and doing gun buybacks,we need to promote gun ownership,CCW,protect gunshows,Firearms training and put the heat on these aholes that would rob us of our RIGHTS cause they don’t like,understand,want guns but are restricted legally by the Firearms owner Protection Act and the 2nd Amendment!
    Pro-Gun Rights people need to ban together and with overwhelming numbers that we have,recall liberal politicians,donate to the NRA,GOA,2nd Amendment Foundation,and SHUT these anti-American’s Down,once and for all!
    Gun owners should not support any business’s that cave in too these groups,Starbucks should not get one dime of our dollars,don’t go for their a bulls..t “we won’t kick you out but don’t ware your gun,Sorry buttheads,I don’t go to liberal “gun free zones”.

    • MDA always had Bloomy/Joyce money dropping through the mail slot. This just shows that Bloomy’s ego is bigger than Shannon’s.

  32. Wonder what’s gonna happen to all of these gun grabber folks,when the 2nd Revolution starts if the government tries to confiscate guns? Bet they will try to call the police,like that would help.They will just be another casualty ,because the folks in government are so arrogant that they think we will just give up , this old boy ain’t though,just let them come on I got alotta for them!as do my kin,and my neighbors,it is coming just a matter of when! Be prepared and ready.Keep your powder dry.

  33. Sounds like Shannon got a hell of a raise. Anyone want to bet what she makes now? 950k like LaPierre and the head of the Bradys?

  34. Here are a couple of suggestions for the new name (keeping existing words):

    Demand Illegal Mayors Against Guns Moms Action – DI’MAGMA
    Demand Action Moms Mayors Against Guns Illegal – DAM MAGI

  37. I still don’t care about them. They are merely symptoms of the real problems sitting in congress. These groups mean nothing, only being important when they get media attention.

    Simply put they are a distraction. A poor one at that.

  38. Good question to ask: is this because MDA didn’t want to file their 990 form for the year showing how much cash they got from Bloomy so they would be discredited as a shill for him? They were formed in late 2012 so they had no “money” to cause them to file (ie, non profits w under $25,000 in revenue are exempt from the publicly available paperwork). However, in 2013, Shannon Watts went “big time” thanks to Bloomy. Come April 2014, MDA was gonna have to file their 990 w the IRS and the world would get to see how much cash he was using to stroke her. Now that MAIG subsumed MDA, I believe that moots how much they received for disclosure purposes since MAIG would make the disclosures now for an affiliated entity. Hmmmm.

    • Oh, if my theory is correct, this also means we don’t find out how much $$$ Shannon made from working with MDA. Bloomy has paid shills who probably make more than her. That means you need to “negotiate” harder Shannon.

    • I’m not entirely familiar with the corporate tax structure, but wouldn’t the original MDA still have to file their non-profit return for the balance of 2012 and 2013 up to now? Meaning we should still have public access to it in two years?

      • They were formed in late Dec 2012. Nothing to report other than whatever “seed” money Shannon put it. For 2013, tax year is still open (assuming they are on a calendar year, but hey, for someone who listed her home address in forming her “non profit”, let’s assume Shannon kept it simple) – they are now part of MAIG. I think the question is, are there taxes part of MAIG and thus potentially hidden (ie, any donations from Bloomy might have a line item indicating receipt of $$ from MAIG, but MAIG also just basically bought MDA out . . . . who knows how kosher the accounting will be? Do you really think Shannon and Bloomy will be forthright on this? I might need to do some legal research this morning.

  41. This could be a good thing. They were basically the same entity anyway. Rhetorically, now they are just one group to cover, and much of the public is already sick of Maig. I think from a public relations standpoint they’re actually weaker as a combined entity than as two groups pretending to be independent.

  42. “Moms & Mayors Illegally Against Guns” except…..that would be truthful advertising….they wouldn’t get any support….

  44. If the finances of other anti groups are anything to go by I’m assuming Bloomberg is tired of being a billionaire and just wants to burn cash and have nothing to show for it.

  46. “MDA would ‘fill the intensity gap’ between anti- and pro-gun advocates on the grassroots level.”

    Yeah, that’s makes perfect sense, MDA is well known for their strong ties with the pro-gun community, good call, Bloomy.

  48. Mayors Against Citizens’ Guns has Bloomberg’s bottomless bank account, and can buy any election or legislation they want (until the citizens wake up like in Colorado where they managed to overcome their 6x financial disadvantage).

    Moms Want Some Action gets the sympathetic photo-ops but their numbers are so tiny they’re irrelevant, and they need financing.

    Together, they’re the well-funded statists with a photogenic astroturf front. What could go wrong?

  49. If it walks like astroturf, feels like astroturf, and smells like astroturf . . .

    Watts just made it official, folks.

  50. This merger must make Yoda Kelly and his puppet Gabby Giffords wonder why they weren’t selected for the magic carpet merger. Oh well, Bloomy still pays their way but it must bash their high opinion of themselves, at some level.

  52. This is great news! Now all the rotten eggs are in one basket! Bloomberg’s motives are well known and so is his association with the many degenerate Mayors who joined his little club. This is a catastrophic mistake for Ms. Watts. Outside of NYC, Bloomberg is seen as nothing more than a Napoleonic millionaire carpetbagger, who likes to poke his nose into other people’s lives like a yenta. All that has happened is that a female face is now associated with that shrill, shrieking little voice of his. You go, Shannon! Strong work!

  54. Following the tried and true disarmament marketing pattern of “Rebrand, Decline, Exposure, Fail, rinse and repeat,” I give you…

    EVOLVE
    [cue trumpets]

  55. When I bought my last gun with cash, from a Craigslist ad, a Super Deep Black Colored Tactical SWAT Version Assault Rifle AK-15, I got 5 cents back. Is that Gun Sense?

  57. They couldn’t get enough support for MAIG or MDA on their own so they had to combine the two. Now that’s pretty sad.

  59. What a waste of time and money.Do they really think no guns equals no crime? Dealing with criminals will do far more good than focusing on guns.

  60. We took care of our Mayor against citizens’ rights. He’s been demoted to the ordinary citizen class. Sam Jones, mayor no more, I’m glad I did my part to let everyone I knew you are/were a part of this elitist group. Send these clowns the way of the dodo.

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