2/3/2013
By Ivan Pereira
Mayor Michael Bloomberg used the big game to send a big message to gun control opponents.
Bloomberg’s coalition, “Mayors against Illegal Guns,” paid for a 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl that urges the viewers of the most watched sporting event to support background checks for gun purchases.
The ad features images and voices of children who ask for such a measure and footage of NRA President Wayne LaPierre, who has recently rejected such an idea, supporting background checks during a 1999 Congressional panel.
“Once again, the NRA’s Washington leadership showed just how out of step they are with the American public — and their own membership,” Bloomberg said in a statement.
Although CBS charged companies as much as $4 million for 30-second commercials, a spokesman for the mayor said the cost for the public service ad was in the six-figure range.
