Bloomberg, gun victims call for gun control plan

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaks during a news conference at City Hall in New York, Monday, Dec. 17, 2012. Bloomberg and dozens of shooting survivors and victims' relatives are calling on Congress and President Barack Obama to tighten gun laws and enforcement. / AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Standing in front of dozens of shooting survivors and victims' relatives, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg called on President Obama and Congress to swiftly take specific actions to reduce the level of gun violence across the country.

The "slaughter of innocents" at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., where 20 children and six adults were shot on Friday, should finally spur Washington to act, Bloomberg said. If this moment passes without action, he said, "It will be a stain upon our nation's commitment to protecting the innocent, including our children."

As co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Bloomberg today urged Congress to pass three gun control proposals: the "Fix Gun Checks Act," which would require a criminal background check for all gun sales; an assault weapons ban; and legislation to make gun trafficking a felony. He also called on President Obama to take specific executive actions like recess-appointing a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.

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"It's not a panacea. It wouldn't get rid of all the guns on the streets," Bloomberg said of his proposals. "But it would go a long ways in limiting them." Gun violence, Bloomberg said, has become a "national epidemic and a national tragedy that demands more than words."

To push for action, Mayors Against Illegal Guns at the start of next year will send the new Congress 34 videos featuring testimonials from shooting victims and victims' relatives. The 34 videos represent the 34 Americans killed with guns every day.

Sunday night, at an interfaith vigil in Newtown, Mr. Obama said that in the coming weeks he will "use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens -- from law enforcement to mental health professionals to parents and educators -- in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this."

The White House today declined to specify exactly what actions Mr. Obama would take beyond "engaging" with Americans. White House spokesman Jay Carney called gun violence "a complex problem that will require a complex solution." And while he reiterated that Mr. Obama supports a federal ban on assault weapons, he said there is "no single legislation, no single bill that alone solves this problem."

Meanwhile, the president and Congress are currently embroiled in intense negotiations over averting the so-called "fiscal cliff" in a timely manner. Bloomberg today, however, said there's no reason Washington can't address both the "fiscal cliff" and gun control.

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"These things have nothing to do with each other," Bloomberg said. "If Congress and the president can't focus on two things at once, who on earth did we elect?"

The Senate today held a moment of silence for the Newtown victims, while the House plans to hold a moment of silence this evening. The House will also consider a resolution today condemning the shooting.

Bloomberg condemned lawmakers for failing to take action after other recent mass shootings, such as the 2011 incident in Tucson, Ariz.,or the theater shooting in Aurora, Colo. "Somehow or another, we've come to think getting reelected is more important than saving lives," he said.

The blame belongs to both parties, Bloomberg said, pointing out that Democrats did nothing while in control of the full Congress during Mr. Obama's first two years in office.

As for actions, Mr. Obama could take without Congress, Bloomberg stressed that appointing a director to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be considered a matter of public safety. He noted that it's been six years since the ATF has had a confirmed director.

[jdm2013]

Why doesn't he put that 12 million to use toward combating the top 5 leading causes of children: Leading causes of death for children: #1 - Traffic collision 260,000 yr, #2 - Drownings 175,000, #3 - Burns 96,000, #4 -Falls 47,000, #5 - poisoning 45,000

[AmericanMeltDown]

Texting causes accidents resulting in death each day - are we going to outlaw cell phones use in vehicles? Not a chance, but it should be illegal to text, while driving. Anyone who wants to does, I see it all the time!

How many people are killed in vehicular accidents each day? Are we going to outlaw SUV'S and 18 wheelers because the chance of death if hit byone of these is greater than if hit by a compact car? Not a chance, nor should we.
Liberal hysteria fueled by the obama administration - fits right in to his plans to unarm Americans, so we will make better little socialist for Obama and his liberal crew, which includes the lame stream media who controlls what you read and hear. Had enough yet? Here's some facts to ponder.

A 1997 high school shooting in Pearl, Miss., was halted by the school's vice principal after he retrieved the Colt .45 he kept in his truck.
• A 1998 middle school shooting ended when a man living next door heard gunfire and apprehended the shooter with his shotgun.
• A 2002 terrorist attack at an Israeli school was quickly stopped by an armed teacher and a school guard.
• A 2002 law school shooting in Grundy, Va., came to an abrupt conclusion when students carrying firearms confronted the shooter.
• A 2007 mall shooting in Ogden, Utah, ended when an armed off-duty police officer intervened.
• A 2009 workplace shooting in Houston, Texas, was halted by two coworkers who carried concealed handguns.
• A 2012 church shooting in Aurora, Colo., was stopped by a member of the congregation carrying a gun.
• At the recent mall shooting in Portland, Ore., the gunman took his own life minutes after being confronted by a shopper carrying a concealed weapon.
2500 times last year alone legal gun owners stopped violent crime when confronted with it long before any police assistance ...
Of course, you probably didn't know any of this because mainstream media doesn't find it worth reporting. It's not sensational enough and doesn't fit with their agenda. What's insane is people who think removing rights from responsible people will somehow keep them safe.

[jnostromo]

Gun control is not the total answer..it is just a part of what needs to be done...The issue involves today's society..A society in which violent images and entertainment target the teenage and young adult population, a society where we are willing to excuse bad behavior instead of punishing it. A society where sports figures can break the laws and still be cheered on and idolized..A society where far too many parents are too busy when raising their kids...No If you want to stop it, society must change until the American public says enough, these perverse acts of murder will continue..How many more innocent victims will die before we change the culture?

[generalno]

Requiring background checks for ALL sales will stop sales by individuals. Their arsenals will grow and those interested in used firearms will buy new ones instead. Great bonanza for dealers and manufacturers. Some plan huh? And another "assault weapons" ban? Been there and done that but the crime rate rose. Besides, his definition of "assault weapon" is ugly gun. I wonder if the soda-pop stopper would consider Fast and Furious a form of trafficking. Regardless, we'll hear more from king wannabe in the coming months. I guess he doesn't have enough to do.

[ronk1957]

Can you say "hypocrite" ? A billionaire that won't go anywhere without 20 bodyguards armed to the teeth wants gun control for everyone else !

[TonyP44]

We have been betrayed by our leaders. Even with constant shootings, gun control is never discussed in the presidential debates. The candidates must be counting the campaign money from the special groups with blood dripping from their filthy hands. All the mourning will do us no good, but enforce gun control especially those with automatic magazine and help the mentally retarded.

In addition, the parents should do their part: Limit your children time playing violent video games and violent movies and get help on any mentally retarded children.

We're the only developed country that allows its citizens to bear arms. Should we fix our house first before we accuse other countries on human rights?

Read more from my new book, A Nation of No Losers.

http://ebtonypow.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-nation-of-no-losers_5.html

[EnufIs2Much]

While encouraging parents to show kids other forms of play besides violence is a good thing, the rest of your position is much too politically partisan to be helpful.

The solution to violence is found in the post-Columbine studies. Especially those of the US Secret Service and Dept of Education. Add to that the lessons from CureViolence.Org and other groups.

Tons of good ideas that have been tried and found to work. Many school attacks stopped int he planning stages!

http://cureviolence.org/
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/bystander_study.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsuccessful_attacks_related_to_schools

[grups]

Billionaire Michael Bloomberg does not speak for me. He is totally insulated from the real world I live in. He has (virtually) nothing to say or offer to me that makes my life better. I reject his opinions and his views as being unrepresentative of my values and concerns and problems.

I would guess what I say (above) applies to 99.99999% of people in the US. Billionaire Michael wants to ban all hand guns (except, as in his New York City, for people who are rich and well-connected enough, or sports figures). I object to that and I believe most Americans do, too.

Stricter gun controls are fine. But let the citizens of each state decide what that means. I don't need Michael Bloomberg or Barack Obama (the federal government) to tell me what is right or wrong.

In fact, I object to Michael and to the federal government suggestions that they should decide rather than the citizens they are supposedly serving.

[Mrblankman]

If you want Mr. Bloomberg to speak for himself then please learn to do the same as well. Your guess is incorrect. Recent studies (as in TODAY) show that over 76% of this nation, Dems and Reps, believe in what Mr. Bloomberg is trying to pass. This isn't a new problem and it's one that has been dealt with in other countries, successfully, by banning and limiting access to guns. There is little we can do about the guns already on the street, other than buy-back programs which ALSO work, but if we can save just ONE child tomorrow it's worth it.

[EnufIs2Much]

@MRBLANKMAN -
The UK has seen an increase in guns used in violent crime since their last ban, not a decline. Other countries have seen mixed results. Weak laws with drops in crime, strong laws with drops and crime and the opposite in both cases have been seen. There is no correlation to seize upon for any side in the debate unless we pick and choose which statistics, and which countries, we will accept.

Comparing countries to countries has never worked well. Too many cultural differences, differences in the sense of National Community especially. The USA has always been weak in this factor, and it shows.

There are countries with vastly tougher gun laws and even military enforcement that have horrific problems with guns used in crime. Mexico is a glaring example. Not all drug violence either, there have been slaughters in public places that our media pays little attention to.

Here in the US the violent crime rate has fallen by half since 1991. Fallen every year, steadily. Even as gun ownership has more than tripled.

The common denominator cannot be the weapons used, it must be the people.

Which is what was revealed in the post-Columbine studies. Especially those of the US Secret Service and Dept of Education. Add to that the lessons from CureViolence.Org and other groups.

Tons of good ideas that have been tried and found to work. Many school attacks stopped in the planning stages!

Think about that for a moment. We hear about successful attacks but not those that are stopped. We would do well to pay detailed attention to the prevented attacks, of which there are many. We can learn a lot from how they were prevented.

Here are places to start learning how violence is prevented everyday in America's schools and inner cities:

http://cureviolence.org/
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/bystander_study.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsuccessful_attacks_related_to_schools

[eyeque2003]

To use the same line of thought I keep seeing applied to another problem... Since people drive drunk lets ban cars altogether. We would remove any chance of serious injuries since everyone would be walking. A secondary benefit, we could buy large sodas in NYC again since everyone would be thin.

[grateful777]

What about the medication this person was on?
The mass murder, out of control violence and suicide that is sweeping the United States and the World is unprecedented. The following message addresses Demon Possession and those that are under the power of Satanic Influences. In these end times, we as the Body of Christ must clearly understand what is going on in the Supernatural World of Satan, Demons, Sin and Deliverance and how effects each one of us..

Please click on this link or copy and paste in the browser :http://youtu.be/xMJ0f60Rscg

[EnufIs2Much]

Well, that's nuts.

The rate of violent crime in the USA has been falling steadily for 20 years. It has fallen by half since 1991. These rampage killings account for all of 0.001% of all murders.

Crazy talk is not helpful. Serious talk is. Some very serious, thoughtful talk with tested and successful approaches can be found here:


http://cureviolence.org/
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/bystander_study.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsuccessful_attacks_related_to_schools

[EnufIs2Much]

None of those proposals would have changed what happened. This to me is the great outrage in the aftermath in all these horrors. Politicians and partisan activists trot out their favorite talking points while completely ignoring what happened, why and how.

And yeah that includes those who claim that more armed citizens are the answer, both sides are wrong.

We already have a path forward in stopping school violence and other spree / rampage violence. We have been shown methods that work, methods that address the why and the how of it all.

If only we will listen to non-partisan approaches. ? ? ?

Abandon all partisanship and READ!

http://cureviolence.org/
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/ssi_final_report.pdf
http://www.secretservice.gov/ntac/bystander_study.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unsuccessful_attacks_related_to_schools

All these people are telling us that it is early detection of mental health threats that work. Many such attacks have already been prevented. The Secret Service, the Dept of Education and Cure Violence are correct!

Why not listen to those who have been successful already?