14 DAY TRIAL // Bill Gates, Microsoft’s co-founder who’s also the second richest man in the United States and one of the world’s leading philantropists, and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer are the top names behind a new campaign in the state of Washington that calls for mandatory criminal background checks for those who purchase firearms.
BusinessWeek is reporting that Ballmer, Gates, and other supporters who are backing the campaign donated no less than $3.4 million (2.5 milllion euro) in order to make sure that no one could purchase firearms online or from gun shows without being verified by authorities.
Bill and Melinda Gates donated a total of $50,000 (37,400 euro), while Steve Ballmer and wife Connie offered $580,000 (434,000 euro) in donations for the campaign.
“Maybe technology-oriented people are a little more comfortable with being disruptive,” Rich Barton, a former Microsoft employee who also donated $42,500 (31,750 euro) to the campaign, was quoted as saying. “We can’t get our legislatures to reflect the will of the people, and so if we need to take our case directly to the people via a ballot initiative, so be it.”
Other well-known figures who are backing the campaign include Brian McAndrews, CEO of Pandora Media Inc., Hadi Partovi, a former Microsoft employee and CEO of Code.org, and Lloyd Frink, co-founder of Zillow Inc.