[Update: Double your pleasure, double your fun. And you can now double your take if you can identify this guy. Steve Ormand who runs yourgunman.com has decided to match our $500 bid so if you’re able to positively ID the star of MAIG’s commercial, you’ll take home a cool grand. Start digging.]

As we noted earlier, the NRA’s finally out with their response to the Mayors Against Gun Ownership Illegal Guns’ comprehensive background check spot they unveiled in March. Now the credulous New York Daily News has pronounced the gun rights org’s efforts to call the, um, gun owner’s authenticity into question a “misfire.” And their proof? Well, Bloomberg’s boys’ say-so . . .

The NRA released a video suggesting the shotgun-toting star of the Bloomberg ad is an actor. But a spokesman for the mayor’s group said the man is a real-life gun owner. “He’s not an actor. He’s a West Virginia hunter,” the spokesman said.

Well then, why didn’t they say so earlier? In these parts, Mayor Mike’s word is gold, isn’t it?

But as Columbo used to say just before he’d walk out the door…there’s just one more thing that’s bothering us. Whether it’s because MAIG didn’t volunteer the info or the Daily News reporter, James Warren, failed to ask, the article doesn’t identify the stereotypically folksy guy with the shotgun? Other than claiming he’s a just a simple Mountain Stater, that is.

Of course, he may, in fact, be just that. It’s possible he’s just a concerned gun-owner who wants to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and wackos and genuinely believes MAIG’s universal background checks will accomplish that. Still, we hope they’ll forgive us if we adopt the Reagan doctrine of trust but verify.

To wit: TTAG is offering a $500 reward to anyone who can positively ID this guy before he’s identified anywhere else. Got that? Tell us who he is with some corroborating information before it appears anywhere else on the Intertubes and collect five Benjamins. Just hit the ‘Email Us’ link or call the number at the top of the page. Starting…now!