Monster.com Billionaire Andrew McKelvey Launches Americans for Gun Safety' Group - NEW YORK, Oct. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Monster.com billionaire Andrew McKelvey launches his latest project this week: "Americans for Gun Safety," a group that is likely the best-funded gun-control organization in the country, reports National Correspondent Matt Bai in the current issue of Newsweek. McKelvey has already spent or committed more than $12 million, and friends say he'll part with considerably more. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000930/HSSA005 ) The new group debuts ads this week in Colorado and Oregon, where voters face referendums on background checks at gun shows. The spots are expected to feature a senior Republican official backing the initiatives. McKelvey, a registered Republican, tells Bai in the October 9 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, October 2) that he envisioned a group that would reach out to mainstream Americans, including gun owners, who don't want to choose between avid anti-gunners and the NRA. Having previously donated to several gun-control groups, McKelvey decided he needed to create a nonpartisan organization that would rally round "common sense" solutions like greater enforcement of existing gun laws and safer gun designs to prevent kids from using them. And he's lobbying hard to get statewide gun-violence groups on board by offering them $60,000 a year for staff and equipped offices if they become a chapter. So far 28 groups have signed on. Even so, McKelvey's group is already offending some veterans of the gun-control movement, Bai reports, by acknowledging a right to own guns -- unheard of in the gun-control camp. But, Jonathan Cowan, named president of Americans for Gun Safety by McKelvey, says "with the right to own guns comes responsibilities." For its part, an NRA spokesman commenting on McKelvey's new group said: "I'll put 4 million NRA members up against all the millions of dollars you have any day of the week." Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
