New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has led a well-financed effort to pressure lawmakers to back new gun control laws, but a fellow Empire State politician thinks he’s taking the wrong approach.
In an interview published Thursday, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) told TIME that he doesn’t think the ads run by the Bloomberg-led outfit Mayors Against Illegal Guns will resonate.
“I am trying to persuade–in whatever way I’m allowed to–the gun groups to put out different ads. Frankly, I don’t think Bloomberg’s ads are effective,” Schumer said. “The mayor of New York City putting ads against people in red states is not going to be effective.”
Schumer helped lead the effort in the Senate to pass gun control legislation that ultimately went up in flames in April, but Bloomberg has continued the fight. Mayors Against Illegal Guns has since gone after the four red state Democrats — Sens. Mark Pryor (D-AR), Mark Begich (D-AK), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Max Baucus (D-MT) — who aided the Republican-led effort to derail the legislation. The group ran a tough ad last month targeting Pryor, who in turn called the spot “disgusting.” On Wednesday, Bloomberg circulated a letter to hundreds of New York donors urging them to freeze out those four Democrats.
