Today, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an ardent gun control advocate, moved to politicize the monstrous school shooting in Connecticut, issuing the following statement:
With all the carnage from gun violence in
our country, it’s still almost impossible to believe that a mass
shooting in a kindergarten class could happen. It has come to that. Not
even kindergarteners learning their A,B,Cs are safe. We heard after
Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after
Virginia Tech. After Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are
hearing it again. For every day we wait, 34 more people are murdered
with guns. Today, many of them were five-year olds. President Obama
rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown. But
the country needs him to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem.
Calling for ‘meaningful action’ is not enough. We need immediate action.
We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is
leadership – not from the White House and not from Congress. That must
end today. This is a national tragedy and it demands a national
response. My deepest sympathies are with the families of all those
affected, and my determination to stop this madness is stronger than
ever.
If Bloomberg’s deepest sympathies were with the family, he wouldn’t
use this as an opportunity to get on his soapbox about gun control. We
don’t know all the facts of the case yet, Connecticut has some of the
most restrictive gun control laws in the country, and it seems that the
shooter obtained his guns legally.
