Bloomberg Rails Against Concealed Weapons Bill

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg led a conference call Tuesday afternoon in which he railed against an amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. John Thune that would allow people issued concealed weapons permits to carry those concealed weapons in any state in the union.

If the amendment passes, Bloomberg said, "states will have no ability to set their own gun laws – whatever they think is appropriate in regards to carrying concealed weapons."

He said that because states like New York would be forced to recognize concealed weapons permits from states with less stringent requirements to obtain permits, "the lowest common denominator would become the de facto common denominator."

He went on to call the amendment "anti-police" and "pro-gun trafficker" and said the practical effect would be to "put your life and your families lives are at stake."

The New York City mayor complained about efforts to attach the amendment to the defense appropriations bill in what he called a "time honored trick" to get it through the Senate. He said backers of the bill are "using our young men and women who are serving oversees" as pawns "to take away our safety from local criminals."

Bloomberg is among them more than 450 mayors who signed a full-page ad in USA today opposing the amendment, which Sen. Charles Schumer and families of the Virginia Tech shooting victims spoke out against Monday.

Bloomberg was joined on the call by Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter, Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. They complained that the Senate was rushing the amendment to a vote without debate and argued that it would never survive as a stand-alone bill.

According to Politico's Glenn Thrush, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin is working to win over six to eight moderate Democrats in order to kill the amendment. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is likely to back it.

"Three pro-gun measures have passed the Senate this year with the support of conservative and moderate Democrats," Thrush reports. "But Durbin said the Thune amendment is so radical, he may be able to peel off Dems who previously voted with the NRA."

Bloomberg said the amendment flies in the face of the National Rifle Association's longstanding argument that states should make their own gun laws. The NRA supports the amendment.

The New York City mayor said the effect of its passage would be to "put an awful lot more guns on the street" and "make it much more difficult for police departments across the country."

On the conference call, the mayors pointed to relatively lax requirements in other states to secure permits. They said that in Mississippi members of the Ku Klux Klan can get a permit, while in Texas and Alaska people who have been convicted of serious misdemeanors can secure them.

Nutter said the legislation would be "an incredible boon to illegal gun traffickers" because it would make it easier to transfer illegal weapons across state lines without being caught. Barrett said it represented "an attempt to essentially ignore the decisions made by state legislatures throughout this country."

"If this issue is so important, let's have the hearings on it," he said, complaining of the move to attach the amendment "as a rider to a must-pass bill."

Thune maintains that the amendment would "help in reducing crime by providing reciprocity for the carrying of concealed firearms."

"My legislation enables citizens to protect themselves while respecting individual state firearms laws," he said.

[mattcat25]

This Bill presented by Republican Senator John Thune was a complete and total waste of time. The GOP is attempting to stall and delay facing the real issues that are facing America.

[bigspurr]

Why is it so hard for people to under stand that people with concealed weapons permits have gone through back ground checks, training and are law abiding citizens. Also consider that its against the law to rob a bank, stores are a person with a gun are knife but that has never stopped a criminal, making your theory of make guns illegal useless.
If I can?t have a cop with me at all times then I want my 45.

[cm5605]

Every law abiding citizen of the United States who has passed a criminal background check and goes through firearms training and can show proficiency with the weapon that they will be carrying should be issued a Concealed Handgun License and be allowed to carry that weapon anywhere in the United States. 911 proved to us that we have Taliban, Alqueda, 16 to 20 million illegal immigrants, more criminal gangs than can be counted, and lying, cheating, conniving low life politicians (local, state, and federal) attempting to take away our freedoms that we need to protect ourselves from. I have a CHL and I always carry. I'm an ex police officer and a retired military police officer. I always protect myself, my family, and my friends, and my property no matter what. I am always prepared to protect myself from my Government.

[gunownerdan]

"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes . . . Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man."
-- Thomas Jefferson, quoting criminologist Cesare Beccaria

A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com

[mattcat25]

The Republican Party is attempting to appeal to the last bastion of Far Right Wing Conservative Support. Republicans have set this nation on a course of destruction, discrimination, and desecration. The GOP isn?t lending any assistance in alleviating the issues (that they fostered) facing the United States today. Instead, they are proposing unnecessary gun legislation (just like their flag burning amendment) to show that they stand for the values of Americans that desire to conceal their firearm to be better situated in the act or incident of killing someone.

[gunownerdan]

By no means must you be a republican in order to understand the importance of our basic right to self defense!

[mattcat25]

This is specifically a concealed weapons issue. People that want, or need to conceal their weapon is more than likley planning on shooting someone inflicting carnage to vital organs and possible death.

The concealees are the one's that we need protection from...