Bloomberg demands gun action from Obama and Romney
(CNN) – New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an outspoken advocate of stricter gun-control laws, said in a radio interview Friday the two candidates for president needed to take a firmer line in addressing gun violence.
Bloomberg's comments came as police and the FBI were investigating a deadly shooting in Colorado that left at least 12 people dead.
"Soothing words are nice, but maybe it's time that the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country," Bloomberg said on WOR Radio's "The John Gambling Show."
Bloomberg continued, saying Friday's tragedy should spark greater focus on how guns reach killers.
"I mean, there are so many murders with guns every day, it's just got to stop," Bloomberg said. "And instead of the two people – President Obama and Governor Romney – talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place, okay, tell us how."
"In the end, it is really the leadership at a national level, which is whoever is going to be president of the United States starting next January 1st – what are they going to do about guns?" Bloomberg asked.
Presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney met with Bloomberg in May, but an aide to the mayor said Bloomberg remained undecided about making an endorsement in the presidential race. Bloomberg won his last election as a political independent, but was previously a Democrat, then a Republican.
In his interview Friday, Bloomberg said guns getting into hands of criminals wasn't solely a problem in cities like New York.
"This is killing people every day, and it's growing and it's not just an inner-city, east coast, west coast, big city phenomenon. Aurora is not a big city," Bloomberg said, referring to the suburb of Denver where Friday's shooting took place.
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Iif someone in that theater or 10 people, had concealed carry permits, that murder spree would have been over before it started.. The disarmament crew has their heads in the cloud, unrealistically thinking that the lawless will pay any attention to llaws.. it's just a feel good projection, much like commenting here, that makes people think they've done something when it will have no impact whatsoever..
Another sick white republican gunman guns down a bunch of innocent people including children. Its Romney's fault!
@Ancient Texan
I understand Chicago has the toughest gun control laws in the nation and is the murder capitol of the nation. Where "concealed carry" is the law, crime rates have dropped sharply..
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You are once again incorrect. Chicago isn't even in the top ten for murder or violent crime – see FBI rates. Forbes.com and all credible sites. They had a two week period where eight people were killed and that made the news – expanded of course by Fox News because the President is from that city. I can find no evidence linking concealed-carry (I have my permit) and a decrease in violent crime. Conversely, I can find no evidence linking higher crime rates with the concealed carry laws. it seems to be a non-event.
If many people in the theater had been carrying weapons I wonder how this untrained, uncoordinated group of people would have identified the actual criminal once the shooting started. i would assume people would begin to fire on anybody with a firearm. A chain reaction would have produced many more deaths. Maybe the Theater should provide security – but that's difficult to envision in modern theaters with a dozen screening rooms. Still, you need to check your facts before commenting. Fox News is not the place to get the truth.
Despite what all the gun freaks posting in here, we DO need some type of gun control in this country! Should they be selling assault rifes and military type weapons? The answer is a resounding NO! You people just don't get it!
Guns demand action on Bloomberg!
Seriously, the people of NYC were dumb enough to elect this guy, but why should the rest of us have to listen to his blather?
Once again a nut is on theloose.why blame a gun.Because it is easy.Bloomberg should be taught some sense.He should of been in the theater
Aurora isn't a big city? This guy is an idiot. No, it's not close to the size of New York, Chicago, etc but has 400,000 people. That doesn't take into consideration that it's part of the Denver metro area, which is millions of people.
I think we can put the "Bloomberg for VP" rumor to rest now.
Disarming the 'Law Abiding' and those who could have taken this guy out, if they had a 'Concealed Care Permit' would have saved lives.
Making it so that only criminals have guns is not a viable answer. There is no law that can keep guns out of the hands of criminals; that's why they're called criminals, they don't respect the laws.
Gun regulation law. What a nice utopian idea that it could stop crimials from obtaining and using guns or that it could stop the epidemic of violence in every form in our country.
um, no, the gun didn't wake up, carry itself to theatre and started blasting innocent people, if it wasn't a gun, it could have easily been fire, do we ban fire? so dumb and nieve.
Twelve dead and many injured and the Talliban didn't even have to cross the Atlantic/Pacific or pull a trigger. What a screwed up country! Greatest democracy in the world? Right!
I just wonder how the gun nuts think that illegal guns would be made if guns were made illegal or difficult to obtain? It's not like people can just make AK-47's in their basement and it's not like any other country sells guns like we do, so where would these 'illegal' guns come from?
With knowledge of simple chemistry you can make your own tear gas (very easy). Knowledge of firearms and simply mechanics allows for modifying hunting rifles to fully automatic (not as easy as tear gas but still easy) or even build your own high powered rifle (more complex but still way within reason). There is no law you can put to stop one dedicated lone individual willing to do violence. Heck, I could do the tear gas one with common household items.
If it hadn't been a gun this guy apparently knew enough to build an explosive device and a "very sophisticated" booby trap. To me that means, trip wire at the door with at least two backup triggers to stop any tampering. Anyone who can build a very sophisticated bomb could have caused a ton more damage. Not only that but he was smart enough to not build a large enough device to take out the whole theater because that could have sent off red flags (which is probably why he used a gun and not a bomb).
Let the people and their families mourn for a day. Hell the bodies aren't even cold and politicians are using them to score political points. Way to keep it classy.
The soda man is an old idiot in the twilight of his life and now wants to be a do gooder. Let's keep his bad opinions in NY where the damage is minimalized and hopefully the good people of NY will get rid of him after this term. How long did they chase the Unabomber? There are crazy and bad people in the world and laws will not make them sane, behave, or not do bad things.
This is a horrible thing that was caused by some deranged man. My heart goes out to them and their families.
Take every gun from every known criminal, from every country in the world, then come see me. Until then, I will only relinquish my gun, when some enforcer prys my cold dead finger from the trigger, after I have emptied the gun firing at whoever comes to take it away. I am 76 years old, spent 4 years in the U.S. Army Infantry, so don't take this lightly.
Mike Bloomberg need to call it like it is and stop trying to straddle the fence. He knows if the republican party wasnt so in bed with the NRA that regulations would have been stricter and more lives would have been saved including the Boarder Agent. Stop trying to take advantage of a situation and make yourself look good.
There had police officers and military personal who illegally used guns and committed murder. do u suggest we disarm the police force and the military?
I am a progressive liberal Democrat and an Obama supporter. I am also a supporter of the Second Amendment and the indivudual's right to own a gun. The Supreme Court made it final: U.S.citizens may own guns. The federal government may not "outlaw" them. The question becomes how can our society responsibly and adequately "regulate" gun ownership in such a way as to make incidents like Colorado less likely without infringing on second amendment rights?. One can argue it already has, but the media doesn't report when the system works, when tragedies are averted because law enforcement routinely does its job day after day thwarting uncountable further tragedies, we only hear of the spectacular episodes when some nutjob makes it through the cracks. I like Bloomberg. I think he means well. He sees the consequences of downing 500-calorie sodas and 30-round banana clips. And he is fine asking our leaders for their plans to make things better. I question his presumptions. Banning 32oz. sodas and high-capacity firearms won't make us thinner or safer, but maybe that's not the point. Maybe the point is to makes us stop and think.
There has been police officers and military personnels who illegally used guns and committed murder. do u suggest we disarm the police force and the military too?**
Perhaps Zimmerman's republican supporters could set up an internet fund and start donating money to this lunatic!
Steve:
You are out of touch. I own a gun and believe there are too many guns out there. There has to be a balance. We a federal law keeping ALL states abiding by the same rules. NYC has the toughest gun law in the country but you just need to drive to a few states south of NY and buy anything you want and without any clear checks and balances. It is always too much or too little. We need the "middle way"
Mayor Bloomberg, like every other NYC mayor, wants to see every gun in the universe confiscated and destroyed. What we need are better controls over who is allowed to purchase a gun, not eliminating them. Unfortunately, the NRA has all 535 members of Congress so cowed that they will never bring up any changes to gun laws that would put greater emphasis on background checks, especially for self-referral psychiatric counseling. As a result, all someone has to do is lie on their background check that they never had any psychiatric treatment and unless there is court-ordered treatment someplace on his record, no one will be the wiser.
The sad thing is over four dozen people were directly effected by these actions. Those on the Right will clamor that they all should have been armed for everybody's protection (which would probably have resulted in more deaths from the ensuing indiscriminate shootout), while those on the Left will clamor for more gun control and confiscation (which means that this guy would have illegally obtained the same weapons if that was what he intended).
What we need to ban is every gun that is not designed for hunting or sport. No one other than the police or the military need automatic weapons, assault rifles, and double-clip holding guns. The NRA is full of lunatics who think guns are toys pretending guns are the not the main source of murders and violence in our nation. If the People did not have the guns they do not need, there would an incredible drop in our crime rate. There are NO "law abiding citizens" when they are angry and have access to a gun. Look at George Zimmerman.
george_w_tush
In one year, GUNS murdered 35 in Australia, 39 in England and Wales, 194 in Germany, 200 in Canada, and 9,484 in the United States.July 20, 2012 10:10 am at 10:10 am |
You listed counties that have a BAN on handguns, and yet criminals will ALWAYS have guns. Might want to check out how many have been killed in those countries with KNIFES, more then you can count.