When New York City’s Michael Bloomberg launched Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a nationwide campaign seeking to stop the flow of illicit weapons in cities and towns across America, he became a favourite verbal target of the National Rifle Association.

To bring more muscle to its fight in Washington, the mayors’ coalition in May hired lobbyists at Dewey Square Group. To succeed, Dewey Square would have to go head-to-head with the NRA’s own veteran lobbyists at Ogilvy Government Relations, one of the most powerful and well-connected such operations in Washington.