During his regular Friday morning radio appearance today, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said New York City’s relatively low suicide rate can be attributed in part to the city’s relatively strict gun-control laws.
Dana Rubenstein writing on the Capital New York blog noted that Bloomberg “skillfully redirect[ed] talk away from a disturbing series of local shootings in which children were killed.”
Maybe Mayor Bloomberg should admit what Second Amendment supporters have always acknowledged, “guns don’t kill, people do” and that criminals don’t care about our gun laws. NY’s problem is the access criminals have to illegally obtained guns. Bloomberg and his coalition of mayors rightly assail the lax gun laws in states beyond NY.
As a nation, we can’t get employers to stop hiring undocumented workers despite federal laws prohibiting the practice. And we can’t get gun store owners and private sellers to obey federal laws prohibiting straw purchases, requiring background checks (for criminals and the mentally ill) and waiting periods. We can’t control our borders, we can’t control illegal gun-trafficking, and we can’t get our citizens to obey reasonable laws.
But it’s comforting to know that an eight year old is more likely to be shot than commit suicide with a gun in New York City.
Thanks, Mr. Mayor, but we’re not comforted.
Hi Michaelbenjamin2012,
On a similar note,, His ‘9/11 campaign’ appears to be to have ensured Rudy Giuliani’s position at the prime of belief polls for the most likely Republican candidate for Presidentship in the 2008 elections. September eleven apart, Giuliani has other factors really going for him. His phrase as mayor of New York is notable for ridding the town of crime. His hardliner procedure, involving strict crackdowns on offenses key and small, noticed crime costs dropping. (No matter whether this owed entirely to his mayorship, is debated.) At the same time he drew criticism for really being politically incorrect and aiming at ethnic groups, his supporters say he did what was appropriate to handle the rampant crime charges that existed in New York.
Cheerio