Why it matters what Michael Bloomberg thinks about guns
Bloomberg talks to Bob Schieffer. via
7:42 pm Jul. 20, 20124
As most of the American political firmament expressed respectfully nonideological condolences for victims of the Aurora, Colorado shooting massacre, Mayor Michael Bloomberg distinguished himself by talking, unapologetically, about gun control.
In particular, he called on President Barack Obama and would-be president Mitt Romney to issue more than just "soothing words" and enunciate an actual position on guns.
After Texas congressman Louie Gohmert wondered out loud why, given all the people in the movie theater, there was no one with a gun who could shoot back, Bloomberg told CBS News' Bob Schieffer that, "To arm everybody and have the wild west all the time is one of the more nonsensical things you can say."
(His full interview with Schieffer will run on Sunday's "Face the Nation.")
Just who does the mayor think he is, to be sounding off on gun policy at such a time?
One answer is: He's a lame-duck billionaire who can afford, quite literally, to be as impolitic as he pleases.
But another, more important answer, is that he's continuing to establish himself as the most prominent gun-control advocate in America, with the promise of lots more to come when he leaves office.
Bloomberg has indicated that he intends to spend the rest of his life showering his money, Bill Gates-style, on causes he believes in, one of the most prominent of which is gun control. The fact that the national Democratic Party surrendered on the issue more than a decade ago has only seemed to make the issue more appealing to Bloomberg, whose ardor didn't flag even after the fizzling of his fanciful flirtations with a presidential run.
Certainly, Bloomberg has put at least some of his money where his mouth is: John Feinblatt, Bloomberg's chief policy aide, personally oversees Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a national organization the mayor co-founded and funds.
The organization's budget right now is only $4 million, compared to the N.R.A.'s $220 million. But Feinblatt predicts it's just a beginning, and harbors the ambitious goal of transforming the group into something that can some day rival the N.R.A. in political heft.
"Gunfight" author Adam Winkler recently told me that Bloomberg has become "enemy number one" for the gun lobby, and "the face of the gun-control movement."
"[T]hey had not met their match before us," Feinblatt told me earlier this spring, referring to the N.R.A. "And I'm not saying we don't have a ways to go. We do."
But, he said, "the mayor feels very strongly about this issue," and he argued it will probably become an area of even greater focus once the billionaire mayor leaves office.
"I have every expectation this is an issue that he will continue to work on and probably even with more jet propulsion, you could argue ... We always have to weigh lots of competing interests," said Feinblatt. "He represents 8.4 million people and there are lots of issues that need to be attended to."
Late this afternoon, members of MoveOn.org got an email urging them to sign a petition circulated by Mayors Against Illegal Guns "to demand action on ending gun violence."
"It's in the power of Congress to greatly reduce these senseless shootings and make tragedies like today's far less possible," reads the email. "They can start by enacting commonsense measures, like fixing giant loopholes in gun checks, that are supported by the vast majority of Americans—including gun owners."
Nothing much happened in Washington as result of the Gabrielle Giffords shooting, after all the lamentations, and there's nothing to say anything will happen now, whatever Bloomberg says, and however many Americans sign his group's petition.
But Bloomberg is very apparently playing a long game, post-shooting decorum, and the N.R.A., be damned.
Ahhhhh, but Bloomberg TV has no problem singing the praises of Smith & Wesson and Sturm Ruger stock performance! Why don't you use your own massive soapbox to air your crusade, Mr. Mayor?
Any right that is not defended loudly and vigorously will soon be lost, as it happened in NYC in 1996 where detectives went door to door collecting guns for the crime of not receiving a renewal form in the mail. The gun control advocates offer "common sense" restrictions but nearly every 2nd Amendment opponent wishes to see European-style prohibitions. This betrays the movement's true intentions: A slippery slope towards total confiscation. GUN CONTROL ADVOCATES CANNOT BE TRUSTED. Do not give in a single inch.
Which non-compliant citizen's front door shall fall to the police battering ram first? To which detention center shall millions of gun owners be hauled off to? I do thank Bloobmberg for his effort. Each generation of 2nd Amendment defenders needs a formidable nemesis, a constant reminder of how precarious our freedoms are.
Richard M. Guidry
I was at work this morning and watching the News go on and on about the fact that the guns that creep shot all those people at that theater with were all legal guns. It dawned on me with the UN resolution about banning hand guns is being voted on by our President in two weeks, that this one incident could be used to say we need stiffer gun control. The UN resolution with make owning a hand gun a treaty violation, if convicted you will go away for a very long time. No one is at the wheel of our US Constitution. The UN resolution will make us register all of our guns with foreign entity’s.
I SAY THIS, IF JUST ONE PERSON IN THAT THEATER HAD A CONCILED WEAPONS PERMIT AND WAS CARRING AT THE TIME, AFTER THE FIRST SHOT THAT PERSON COULD HAVE STOOD UP AND PUN ONE RIGHT IT THE EYE PIECE OF THAT MASK.
One, two or maybe three people may have been killed or injured but not 12 dead – 40 injured. Then the News could have reported on this person as a hero that saved countless lives, but instead we are hearing about this dirt bag and how much fun he is having spitting on guards. A bullet costing less than a dollar could have ended this massive heartache of the ones who lost loved ones, the kids who did not get to grow up and be more than some maniacs victim and us who now have to think about public places as potential death traps.
That is the dumbest logic I've ever heard. You seriously think that if everyone in the theater had a gun, then the number would've been lower? First off, in going with statistical averages regarding the training and expertise of most gun owners, there is no way that Joe Schmo in a dark theater is going to fire that perfect shot right through the eye of the gunman. Seriously, take a break from the video games.
Next, if you want to discuss preventative scenarios, how about this much more likely one: How about the fact that had there been a ban on untrained civilians having assault rifles, can't you agree that the number dead would've been a lower number? I understand that if someone is crazy, they'll figure out a way to do it, but you can't tell me that a man with a handgun will exact the same amount of firepower as a man with an automatic weapon. Even the video games get that one right.
Quit buying into this NRA-sponsored rhetoric and use your head.
Bloomberg is hopelessly out of touch with Real America - that place outside of the metro NYC area that the overwhelming majority of Americans live in, and which elects (or votes out) the overwhelming majority of congressmen.
It doesn't matter if the issue is guns - or soda, fatty food, salty food, whatever; he's out of touch with Real America. If most Americans wanted to live like they were in NYC, they'd call a moving-van company - or vote for politicians like him. They don't.