Billionaire Michael Bloomberg calls his new anti-gun news organization The Trace, but observers are calling it something else.
Gun-banning billionaire Michael Bloomberg has launched a “gun news” site called The Trace. Introducing themselves, The Trace staffers admitted, “We do bring a point of view to the issue of gun violence: We believe there is too much of it.” Who could argue with that? But an agenda emerges when they immediately follow up by sideswiping the ban on CDC’s attempts to position gun violence as a “public health issue,” complain that anti-gun politicians and journalists are unable to misuse gun trace data, misrepresent the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act and express outrage at “gag laws” that prevent doctors from questioning patients about guns as if they were contagions.
A sampling of headlines on The Trace reveals a penchant for disguising their agenda as news: “New Study Is Latest To Find That Higher Rates of Gun Ownership Lead to Higher Crime” is part of an entire section devoted to the questionable work of two anti-gun “researchers,” and “The Link Between Charleston and Trayvon Martin” goes to extraordinary lengths to connect an accused mass murderer to Stand Your Ground laws, of all things.
The Trace appears to be more of what we expect from Bloomberg, who borrows the trust we place in other institutions in order to further his gun-ban goals. His Everytown for Gun Safety claims to be a safety organization, but its inflated totals of school shootings earned the lowest truth ratings possible from the Washington Post. Shannon Watts, of his Moms Demand Action group, poses as a stay-at-home mom and claims to represent millions of mothers united against guns, but she is actually a career PR professional with no visible support but Bloomberg’s billions. Mayors Against Illegal Guns attracted mayors by promising to fight illegal guns, but Bloomberg’s efforts to eradicate gun rights in all forms led mayors to exit in large number. And his Center for Gun Policy and Research, part of the Bloomberg School of Public Health, borrows on the credibility of Johns Hopkins to disseminate anti-gun propaganda disguised as scientific study.
Now, The Trace wraps its true agenda in the trappings of a news organization, complete with high talk about “accuracy” and “fairness.” In reality, The Trace is merely continuing a long, sullied history of disseminating propaganda under the guise of news.
