Bloomberg has opened the money floodgates, and has almost nothing to show for it.

If it wasn’t for Michael Bloomberg’s billions, there wouldn’t be much of a gun-control movement…

… he gives $50 million a year to Everytown for Gun Safety to push for regulations – 21/2 times the amount spent by the National Rifle Association on political activities. Gun-control advocates also receive a lot of free, favorable news coverage…

Funding also goes to candidates. From 2013 to 2016, Bloomberg donated a total of $48 million to candidates running for federal office. The NRA contributed a measly $2.1 million…

It is hard to keep track of donations for state and local races across the country, but Bloomberg has clearly devoted resources that the NRA can’t even dream of. In 2015, Bloomberg spent $2.2 million on just two Virginia state Senate races. That is vastly more than the NRA was able to spend on any race for the U.S. Congress. In 2014, Bloomberg spent $150,000 in an unsuccessful attempt to unseat Milwaukee Sheriff David Clarke, an outspoken opponent of gun control. This is more than Clarke and his opponent spent on their own campaigns.

In Minnesota this year, Bloomberg spent what the local media describes as “loads of money” to give Democrats control of the state House so that they could push for background checks on private transfers. Instead, Republicans actually picked up a seat.

Research funding is even more lopsided. Here Bloomberg is joined by fellow billionaire George Soros, a couple dozen large health-care foundations, and even the Obama-led federal government. Together, they have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into funding gun-control research that supports their positions. Newly released Bloomberg studies garner massive, uncritical news coverage. NRA-funded research would be scoffed at, which is why the NRA doesn’t even try to fund opposing studies.

Bloomberg is trying to influence the debate in still other ways. He has worked with the Columbia University Journalism School to instruct reporters on how to properly cover the gun-control issue. Of course, Columbia would never work with the NRA to create a similar program…

If it’s correct, as gun-control proponents often claim, that political leaders don’t have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby because of its massive resources, then it seems fair to ask how lawmakers and voters are apparently able to withstand the dramatically greater resources of Michael Bloomberg and his fellow advocates. How can Bloomberg spend so much and have so little to show for it?