Outgoing New York mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG) wants families to use their time around the Thanksgiving table to discuss gun control with their children.
To that end they are providing a placemat to help get the conversation started.
The placemat, titled “Talking Turkey About Guns,” the information on the placemat starts by telling children that Colorado passed a requirement for a background check on every gun sale. It then asks the children if they agree with the law.
From there the placemat claims that a larger percentage of Americans in the NRA support universal background checks than follow football, that Ronald Reagan was for background checks, and that candidates backed by the “gun lobby” did not do well in 2012. And of course, MAIG’s placemat says that “90 percent of Americans support background checks for all gun sales.”
MAIG does not bother telling children that the universal background checks in Colorado quickly turned into a logistical trainwreck because background checks are a federal matter, and are not up to state law. Nor did MAIG provide any proof that “90 percent” of Americans or a great “percentage of NRA members” support expanded background checks. And lastly, MAIG did not quote Reagan in context.
In March Breitbart News reported that gun control proponents were twisting Reagan’s words to make it look like he supported universal background checks. However, the truth is that he supported the very background checks we have in place right now–and he only voiced support for those on handguns: not on rifles or shotguns.
And even then, Reagan made it clear that federal background checks should not trump a background check system put in place by a state.
Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter @AWRHawkins