Bloomberg: New gun laws unlikely to get through Congress

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said today on CBS This Morning that most of the gun control proposals President Obama unveiled yesterday are unlikely to pass Congress -- at least not "this time."

"I am hopeful" that they will pass, Bloomberg said, but if they don't, "the issue isn't going away."

In the meantime, however, "We're likely to have more tragedies like you saw in Connecticut."

The good news, Bloomberg said, is that "The public has a chance every two years in Congressional elections" to make their voice heard, and elected leaders have every incentive to respond accordingly. "They're interested in doing a good job for America. If they hear from their constituents and that's what their constituents want, I think they'll change."

"You have to convince Congress that this is the right thing to do," he said. "You can't force them to do it."

Bloomberg insisted that voters across the U.S. want change, adding that, unfortunately, "It took a tragedy" in a "nice community in the suburbs" to impel action.

He singled out assault weapons as a particularly important issue, explaining, "We just don't need assault weapons out there; there's nothing sporting about it," he said. "If you can't shoot the deer with two shots, you shouldn't be out there shooting."

Bloomberg took issue with the argument that stricter gun control will not prevent all gun violence, refuting that all-or-nothing reasoning: "We have speed limits -- they save lives, that doesn't mean that somebody doesn't speed occasionally."

Bloomberg also had some choice words for a recent NRA ad that blasted the president as an "elitist hypocrite" for resisting calls for armed guards in schools while employing armed guards to protect his own daughters.

"It's hard to understand the management of the NRA, what they're thinking," he said. "To bring the president's kids in is just dumb PR. I mean, you really have to be stupid to do that."

The NYC Mayor defended his focus on gun control laws in lieu of mental health care or media violence. "There are a lot of problems in the world," Bloomberg said, but at the end of the day, "If you don't have guns in the hands of the wrong people, then you don't have this carnage."