NYC Mayor Pledges National Anti-Gun Push
by Gun Week Staff
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants “illegal” handguns. Or, more correctly, he doesn’t want them, but gun rights activists are wary about how Bloomberg might want states to crack down on guns.
According to The New York Daily News, the anti-gun Republican mayor has promised to “fight the fight over illegal handguns in every forum that matters.” A strong advocate of tough gun control measures, Bloomberg launched his campaign in December in response to the murder of a New York City police officer by someone using a handgun that had reportedly been stolen in Florida.
But it is not clear whether Bloomberg wants to limit the scope of his campaign to just illegal guns, or go after all guns. He was quoted by The New York Times stating, “Now we have a duty as well, one that rises above partisan politics, and one we will pursue relentlessly, and that is to rid our streets of guns and punish all of those who possess and traffic in these instruments of death.”
Bloomberg called guns “a national threat,” The Times reported.
The Big Apple mayor has made no secret over the last four years that he dislikes firearms and the National Rifle Association. His disdain, and that of the city council, for the NRA bubbled to the surface just before the 2004 Republican national convention in New York, when politicians suggested that the NRA was not welcome in the city.
Bloomberg, who appears to be grooming himself for some possible run at national office, vowed to take his anti-gun battle to state capitols around the nation. That effort might have him showing up in Florida and Georgia, two states from whence many of the illegal guns found in New York allegedly come.
Once content to rule the city, Mayor Bloomberg vowed for the first time to go national—with an all-out effort to crack down on illegal gun sales.
With the shooting deaths of two NYPD cops still weighing on the city—and with his confidence as a political player clearly rising—Bloomberg promised in his second term to fight the fight over illegal handguns in every forum that matters.
“We will take our message to Albany, to Washington and to every capital of every state that permits guns to flow freely across its borders,” said Bloomberg.
Although Bloomberg has talked before about the need for stricter gun controls, his second inaugural was the first time he pledged to do battle in individual statehouses throughout the US.
It also reflected a mayor who, after four years of mostly learning the political ropes in New York, is confident enough to take his game to the national level, experts said, according to The Daily News, a newspaper which campaigned for the special session of the state legislature that was called by Gov. George Pataki on Dec. 21.
Gun control advocates said that as the Republican mayor of the country’s largest city—and one of the GOP’s most generous donors—Bloomberg could be uniquely positioned to influence the national gun control debate.
“If he can make an alliance of governors and mayors—particularly Republican governors and mayors—it could greatly help us,” said Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “We haven’t had a major Republican voice speaking out for gun control in a long time.”
Bloomberg, who along with the city is suing the firearms industry, could help end gun crime by working with the firearms industry rather than against it, said Lawrence G. Keane, senior vice president and general counsel of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). “The firearms industry has a long-standing commitment of cooperating with law enforcement to combat the criminal acquisition and misuse of firearms. With respect to stopping the criminal misuse of firearms, we are confident that we would have common ground with the mayor. If he was serious about combating crime, he would drop his lawsuit and cooperate with the industry,” Keane said.
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