Surprise, surprise — Michael Bloomberg is continuing his anti-Second Amendment crusade. The New York billionaire has announced that he will give $25 million in a targeted campaign to oppose the national reciprocity bill currently working its way through Congress. One of the anti-gun groups expected to receive most of the money is Everytown for Gun Safety — an ironic name given the fact that the group seeks to remove guns from law-abiding citizens, making them less able to defend themselves from violent criminals and therefore less safe.

Everytown’s president John Feinblatt said, “This is a line in the sand on this issue, there’s no question about it.” He continued, “The NRA wants to normalize carrying guns in public. It’s not where the American public is. We’re putting people on notice today that we’re watching … and that we expect to hold people accountable.”

Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC), who introduced the bill, responded, “Common sense national concealed carry reciprocity is gaining traction across the country. Big city liberals like Bloomberg can spend all the money they want to create fear with emotion, but the truth and facts are on our side. Just like states recognizing other states’ driver’s licenses, national concealed carry reciprocity makes good sense.”

Bloomberg spends millions trying to convince people to believe fiction over fact. The truth is firearms don’t cause or promote violent crime — in fact just the opposite, which has been proven time and again. The reality is that gangs and drugs are the leading factors for violent crime. Avoid those primary contributing associations and the chance of finding oneself a victim of a violent crime decrease significantly. If Bloomberg was so concerned about preventing violent crime, his money would be better spent on programs designed to combat the persistent problems of gangs and drugs, not a campaign to demonize gun ownership.