Spot Highlights Urgent Need to Prevent Gun Violence in America
NEW YORK, NY — Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s campaign today released “George,” the ad that will air during Super Bowl LIV on Sunday, February 2. The ad features Calandrian Simpson Kemp, a mother from Texas whose son was shot and killed, and is an active member of Moms Demand Action, the grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence. In the ad, Kemp shares the story of her son George’s love of football and speaks forcefully about Mike Bloomberg’s track record of taking on the gun lobby and fighting for common-sense gun safety measures. The sixty-second ad was produced by Siegel Strategies and can be viewed here.
This week the Bloomberg campaign will share additional videos featuring survivors of gun violence from twelve states to highlight the impact gun violence has had on communities across the country. On Monday, the campaign will also launch a multi-state bus tour starting in Florida and traveling up the East Coast. The bus will make stops throughout the week in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. The first week of February is National Gun Violence Survivors Week.
“I chose to devote the entire sixty-second ad to gun safety because it matters to communities across the country and it will be a top priority for me as president,” Mike said. “Calandrian’s story is a powerful reminder of the urgency of this issue and the failure of Washington to address it. People will be rooting for different teams in the Super Bowl, but virtually all Americans — including people in both parties and a majority of gun owners — support universal background checks and other common sense gun laws.”
Further background is below:
Calandrian Simpson Kemp
- Calandrian Simpson Kemp lives outside Houston, Texas with her husband George Kemp Sr. They have been married since 1996. She is a mother, step-mother, and a grandmother of eight.
- Her son, George Kemp Jr., was shot and killed in 2013. Calandrian has been an active volunteer of Moms Demand Action since 2014. Moms Demand Action is part of Everytown for Gun Safety, the largest gun violence prevention organization in the country with nearly 6 million supporters and more than 350,000 donors.
- Calandrian first met Mike Bloomberg in January 2019 at an event in Austin, Texas.
George Kemp Jr.
- George Kemp Jr., was shot and killed on September 26, 2013 in Richmond, Texas, after an altercation with men who were armed. He was 20 years old.
- At the time, George was attending Universal Technical Institute after completing a year at Navarro College and graduating Foster High School. He played free safety on both his college and high school football teams.
- Brandon Coleman, Corey Coleman and Brandon Lacour were arrested for George’s murder. In 2017 Corey Coleman was convicted and sentenced to 34 years in prison. Brandon Coleman was acquitted and Brandon Lacour was convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced to ten years probation.
Gun violence in the United States
- Every day, 100 Americans are killed with guns. That’s approximately 700 Americans every week.(All stats available here.)
- Every day, another 200 Americans are shot and injured — approximately 1,400 Americans every week.The number of people wounded in a single year (average 73,330) is more than triple the number of US service members killed in the war in Afghanistan (20,609).
- People in households in the bottom fourth of the income scale are seven times more likely to be shot and injured than those in the top quarter.
- One in six gun injuries involves a child or teenager.
- More than 36,000 people are killed with guns in an average year—including nearly 22,000 suicides, nearly 13,000 homicides, nearly 500 unintentional deaths, and nearly 500 shootings by law enforcement.
- In a week, that’s over 400 suicides (437), nearly 250 homicides (247), 9 unintentional shooting deaths, and 10 fatal shootings by law enforcement. There are six fatal shootings with undetermined causes.
- America’s gun homicide rate is 25 times higher than the rate in other high-income countries.
- Half of all gun homicides occur in just 127 cities, home to roughly a quarter of the US population. The homicides in those cities are concentrated in racially segregated neighborhoods.
- Black Americans are 10 times more likely to be killed with a firearm than white Americans, and comprise the majority of gun homicide victims, though they are only 13% of the population.
- Firearms are the leading cause of death for Black children and teens.
Mike Bloomberg’s record of fighting to prevent gun violence
- In 2006, Mike founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. It grew to a coalition of over 1,000 mayors across the country.
- In 2013, Mike merged Mayors Against Illegal Guns with the grassroots group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and helped launch Everytown for Gun Safety. Everytown has helped to defeat dozens of gun lobby-backed bills each year in states.In 2018 alone, this included “permitless carry” bills in 17 states that would allow concealed carry with no permit whatsoever, bills that would allow guns in K-12 schools in 18 states, and bills that would require colleges and universities to allow guns on campus in 16 states. For more detail on Everytown and Moms’ victories, see a full timeline
- 12 states have passed or expanded background checks since 2013, with MAIG/Everytown playing a critical role in victories in CO, WA, OR, NV, NM, NJ, CA, and VT.
- 29 states and DC have passed a total of 51 domestic violence lawssince 2013, including states like AL, IN, LA, KS, ND, SC, and UT.
- 15 states and DC have enacted red flag laws since Newtown, and Everytown was instrumental to passing each one.
- In 2018, Everytown spent $30 million on targeted contributions, independent expenditures, and voter mobilization. In 110 Everytown-supported races that year, the vast majority of candidates won. Everytown was the largest outside spender in the 2019 Virginia legislative elections, spending $2.5 million to help flip both houses of the General Assembly and deliver a gun sense majority to the NRA’s home state.
- Mike spent $110 million to elect candidates strong on gun safety in the 2018 midterm elections, including helping to elect 21 of 24 candidates backed in Congressional swing districts, which was crucial to Democrats retaking the House.
- As Mayor of New York City, Mike took on gun dealers and gun show vendors across the country that were feeding the criminal market. During Mike’s time as mayor, firearm deaths decreased by 46% and the firearm death rate was less than a third the rate in the rest of the country.
- As mayor, Mike tackled gun violence by taking on the gun industry and cracking down on illegal gun sales. He filed federal lawsuits against 27 gun dealers in five states when guns they sold showed up on New York City streets—and the city’s undercover operations revealed they were not complying with federal law. The dealers settled with the city or had settlement terms imposed on them and agreed to clean up their operations.
- The number of crime guns recovered in NYC from the five states where the City sued gun dealers dropped by 18% in the years after the suits were settled. The share of targeted dealers’ crime guns recovered in New York City declined by 75%.
- The city’s undercover stings recovered 6,043 guns between 2004 and 2013 and also exposed that sellers at gun shows in multiple states were breaking federal laws.
Under Mike’s administration, NYC was an early adopter of creative interventions, such as Cure Violence, which engaged the members of the community directly impacted by a violent event. These interventions reduced retaliatory gun violence in communities traumatized by violent episodes by as much as 63%.