New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on NBC's "Meet the Press" (Photo:NBC) |
The bodies of the little ones and adults killed in Newtown are hardly cold and already we are hearing the weasel words of the gun lobby about how kindergarten teachers should be armed and people kill people not guns.
This time however we see an enormous revulsion across the country against the insane unregulated market in guns for madmen, psychopaths, and the deranged that exists in the U.S.
Read More: Gun toll; America 9,369 dead, Great Britain 14 -- get the picture? Obama should attend all the funerals in Newtown after massacre
Fortunately we have a powerful champion of gun control in Mike Bloomberg, “It’s time for the president to stand up and lead,” he said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press.’
“This should be his No. 1 agenda. He’s President of the United States. And if he does nothing during his second term, something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns in the next year.”
“The president has to translate those views into action,” he said. “His job is not just to be well-meaning. His job is to perform and to protect the American public.”
Well said, and the American people are with Bloomberg on this.
Obama even seemed to stiffen his resolve during his massively well received Newtown speech with his biographer David Maraniss calling it his “Gettysburg Address.”
“We can’t tolerate this anymore,” he said. “These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change.”
“I’ll use whatever power this office holds to engage my fellow citizens,” he said, “in an effort aimed at preventing more tragedies like this. Because what choice do we have?”
What choice indeed, if we want to see our children safer and our country exposed to ridicule for our utterly lax gun laws?
Read More: Anne Marie Murphy died ‘serving children and serving God’ in Newtown tragedy
As Nicholas Kristoff reported in The New York Times, there are more regulations governing how ladders are used than how guns are bought.
30 people died last year from ladder related falls. 10,000 died from gunshot wounds.
Mike Bloomberg has the money, the mission, and the drive to keep Obama honest on this issue.
Let’s hope he succeeds.
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