Bloomberg reloads in push for gun control

[marmar]

(Reuters) - Among the slick, million-dollar ads for the likes of Pepsi and Honda during the Super Bowl this Sunday, viewers in New York and Boston will see a far more modest spot. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino will be sitting on a couch touting an issue most politicians avoid like the plague: gun control.

The two mayors, whose local teams face off in the big game, are making the pitch for Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), the organization they co-founded in 2006.

Murder has been on the decline in New York and other major American cities for years, but the mayors say they still see too many dead cops and teens. On Tuesday night, Bloomberg was at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan visiting a New York police officer who had just been shot in the face in Brooklyn.

"We have someone who's dedicated his life to protecting all of us, who has had a much too close brush with death tonight because of what appears to be an illegal gun," Bloomberg told a news conference. He added that more Americans have been killed by illegal guns since 1968 than were killed in World War II. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/04/us-usa-bloomberg-guns-idUSTRE8130BJ20120204

[Loudly]

1. Go further.

Advocate shutting down the manufacture, importation and sale of new guns and ammo.

There are enough already.

So enough already.

[NutmegYankee]

2. Ammo is a consumable.

As are firearms parts such as springs. I shoot at a local club as a competition sport. You appear to be saying that I should no longer be allowed to practice my sport. I realize this is a Urban versus Rural issue, with me taking the rural position since I live in rural Connecticut, but you do realize you just piss off people who would otherwise be inclined to vote Democratic based on social and economic views right? Gun Control is a major losing issue for the Democratic party.

[Loudly]

4. Correction: Gun *confiscation* is a losing issue.

Natural attrition by shutting down supply is not the same thing.

I completely reject the "gun grabber" label.

[NutmegYankee]

5. Shutting down the supply of ammo is no different.

And it will be just as much of a losing issue.

[Lizzie Poppet]

6. So is trying to remove the supply, really.

Even if there were much chance of such a thing happening in the political realm (there isn't), and even assuming it's a good idea in the first place (it isn't), it would be about as successful as alcohol or drug prohibition. That is to say, not very.

For one thing, firearms are durable goods. The core components, with the exception of the barrel, can last for many generations. Barrels (and minor components like recoil and trigger springs, etc.) are only marginally shorter-lived. The existing civilian supply in the US (c. 200 million) is enough for literally centuries. Existing stores of ammunition almost certainlyt number in the billions of rounds.

Shutting down domestic production would simply do what corporate greed has done to most of the rest of our industries: move them offshore. Prohibiting legal importation would work about as well as it does for drugs. Creating a rather large black market for a class of previously-legal products only serves to further finance criminal organizations.

[Travis_0004]

7. I disagree with you.

If a politican was willing to vote to shut down all gun manufacturing, he would not get my vote.

SImple as that. I would vote a straight republican ticket if I had to to prevent that law from passing. So it is a loosing issue with me.

The second admendment exist, and I support it. People should have the right to defend themselves. WIth your idea, everybody now would still have that right, but prices would double overnight, so only the wealthy would have that right?

Let me ask you this, Why do you not believe that the second admendment gives all people the right to own a firearm, not just the wealthy?

[Lizzie Poppet]

3. Because by golly, the strong deserve to be able to prey on the weak!

/rolleyes

[michreject]

8. Wait until I get the one I ordered a few days ago

I need a 4" S&W 625 as the two I have are 5". IDPA has a max barrel length of 4" for revolvers.

[TheKentuckian]

9. Authoritarians always come for the weapons of the masses.

Always. Once they jump that hurdle, the real fun begins.

I contend the people are too poorly armed compared to those with power to control the military and as such any systems available for sale to other governments be available to citizens and that use of these systems and weapons be a part of basic education.