The NRA is deploying every weapon in its arsenal in its fight against an upcoming ballot initiative in Nevada involving background checks on gun transfers. As it turns out, it is also taking its campaign to Snapchat, with its first-ever filter debuting during the GOP debate on Tuesday.
The NRA announced its Snapchat channel last month and its first foray onto the ephemeral messaging app has former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg squarely in its sights.
Snapchat users in Nevada may notice the NRA filter (basically a set of text that can be placed over a Snapchat image) which reads: “Hey Bloomberg, don’t NYC my Nevada gun rights. Stand and fight with NRA.” The filter, which was available between 2 pm and 8 pm ET on the day of the debate, referenced Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety Organization.
Hey #Nevada – Your #NRA will be on @Snapchat tonight for the #GOPDebate… #2A pic.twitter.com/gmf29KZPne
— NRA (@NRA) December 15, 2015
The filter’s limited availability was aimed to coincide with the Republican debate, which took place at 8.30 pm ET in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NRA is hoping that the app’s mostly millennial user base will help spread its message as the political conversation heats up online.
“[We] won’t sit back and let the Bloomberg-funded gun control groups spread ‘common sense’ misinformation,” NRA spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “We are actively educating voters on how the Bloomberg initiative will criminalize the activities of law-abiding citizens who exercise their Second Amendment rights.”
Nevada is set to vote on a gun control initiative next November. As the most prominent gun lobbying group in the U.S., the NRA spends millions of dollars in its attempt to influence federal and state policy. In 2014, the organization spent almost $3.4 million to lobby gun-control bills taken up by Congress, reports the International Business Times.
On the other hand, Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety organization recently released a star-studded promotional video in its attempt to tighten gun control regulations in order to combat gun violence in the U.S.
