This is Michael Bloomberg talking about guns again yesterday, because he gets mad when another one of his cops gets shot, because no major American politician of his time and certainly no American mayor has ever done that better or louder or more eloquently:

“Is there some magic number of cops or congresswomen who have to get shot in the head before something happens in Washington? How many criminals have to pull the trigger before Washington lifts a finger? The sad truth is that the inaction of elected officials makes them complicit in these crimes.

“New York is the safest big city in the country. But even here, in just the last two weeks, two officers have been shot. Thank God they survived. But two months ago, we weren’t so lucky. NYPD Officer Pete Figoski is gone. He was one of the 66 U.S. police officers killed in 2011. At least 35 of those killers were felons, fugitives, seriously mentally ill. They should never have had a gun in the first place. That’s the law. But in Washington, there is no real interest in enforcing it.

“This week, the President and the Senate announced their solution to police shootings: more money for body armor. That’s important; we need it. But it would be embarrassing to tell our police officers that that’s a solution to their problem. Do you want to tell it to Officer Figoski’s four daughters? Do you want to tell it to Officer Brennan or Officer Herlihy? They had bulletproof vests. And still needed miracles to survive. Since when do we base public safety policies on prayer?

“This is not rocket science. Forty percent of gun sales in this country take place outside of a gun dealership, and usually there’s no background check. These private sales — gun shows, online, out of the backseat of a car — are where criminals get their guns. And as we learned at Tucson and Virginia Tech, the background check system doesn’t have all the necessary records. Dangerous people slip through every day, everywhere.

“More than 80% of gun owners support universal background checks. Six hundred mayors, of all political stripes, are calling for it. And 400,000 Americans signed a petition telling Congress to do it. So how many more people have to die before Washington takes action?”

There are other big politicians in this country who stand up, too, at least try to act like they aren’t afraid of the NRA and its lobbyists and money and influence. Michael Bloomberg is less afraid.

(Source: NY Daily News)