Posted on 03/29/2006 3:14:01 PM PST by neverdem
CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
Gun bill 'coddles' crooks, roars furious Bloomy
WASHINGTON - Mayor Bloomberg went nuclear on Congress yesterday - unleashing an unexpected tirade against a proposed gun bill that he lambasted as a "God-awful piece of legislation."
It was the finishing touch of an extraordinarily passionate speech by Bloomberg, who went so far as to warn that more cops and innocents would die until gun control laws are toughened up.
"I have been to too many police officers' funerals to believe that this bill actually has a prayer's chance in hell," the mayor testified before the House subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security.
"But if if does pass, the next time an officer is attacked by an illegal gun - and I say 'next time' because until Congress gets serious about illegal guns, more police officers and many more citizens will be murdered - there can be no denying that those who vote for this bill will bear some of the responsibility," he said.
The bill's only beneficiary, he said, is the "bad guys."
Bloomberg testified that the bill, the Firearms Corrections and Improvements Act, "coddles criminals and endangers police officers and citizens."
Critics of the bill say it would weaken federal gun laws because it blocks the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives from offering public crime gun trace data, eliminates the current requirement that gun dealers report multiple handgun sales to law enforcement officials, limits the ability of the ATF to search dealer sales records in criminal probes and creates a loophole in the federal ban on the importation of nonsporting firearms.
Bloomberg, a life-long Democrat who became a Republican to run for mayor, found himself pitted against members of his own party - even as he drew high praise from Democrats.
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) said he has a "big, philosophical difference of opinion" with Bloomberg.
Feeney said he would be willing to change the bill to clarify that law enforcement officers can share information with one another. But he said he's concerned that cities, such as New York, want to misuse the federal gun data in an effort to "affect national policy" through civil litigation.
On the other side of the aisle, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) lauded Bloomberg for denouncing a bill advanced by members of his own party. "I like people of courage," she said.
This is his last term as mayor due to term limits.
Thanks for the pics. sorry about what happened to you in Boston.
FOX/BLOOMBERG '08'
Bloomberg should be, and acts like, a democrat.
Bloomberg is more left than Hillary.
"Mike hates guns because they smoke"
LOL! Mikey also hates guns because those who legally own them tend to vote against him and his kind.
The R after his name on the ballot means nothing,it is what he fights for that is important. Better to have run a true Republican and lost than accept an unreformed double agent.
"""the next time an officer is attacked by an illegal gun"""
Yep. Those Illegal guns just have a mind of their own!
Sarc off.
...But if if does pass, the next time an officer is attacked by an illegal gun...
I guess an officer is never attacked by a legal gun. It's just those darn illegal ones causing all the trouble.
What a dumbunny.
Oh, what are murdered victims who were rendered defenseless by restrictive gun laws, chopped liver?
I'd like to apologie on behalf of our mayor to all the freepers who believe in the RKBA...Mayor Moneybags is sadly, another liberal elitist lib who the State and local party forced down our throats because of the almighty dollar!
First off, a hell of a lot of officers are killed with their own weapons, which means that they weren't taught weapon retention, which is a failure of the @#$%$@# politicians who weren't willing to pay for proper training for these brave men. Second "a prayer's chance in hell" is a terrible, clumsy mixing of metaphors.
Of course they weren't willing to pay for training, to people ignorant about shooting a gun is a sort of magic wand that you wave in the bad guy's direction and then he falls down. Just like TV.
Dear Mayor,
As prescribed in the second amendment and clarified in numerous federalist papers, the right to keep and bear arms has a purpose, and it ain't huntin'. It's to allow "we the people" to keep you government thugs in check. Call it the "balance of terror" if you wish, but as long as your people have guns, my people will also have them.
yours truly,
Citizen Meyer
"...an unreformed double agent [as a Republican]"
Boy, don't we know it!
Are the powerful in both parties now saying, "Liberty sucks"?
I wonder how many armed police officers were guarding Bloomers when he gave this speech.
"And not enough politicians'."
It is time to go on the offense against these gun grabbing bastards by asking them how they could copy laws that have proven to be disaster in England, Australia, and still counting. Any place that banned guns has predictably seen the crime rate go through the roof. The same thing is being seen at the state level too.
can someone explain exactly what say a mayor has in congress? and why is he in washington trying to affect national law when he should be taking care of his own city, which is completely out of hand?
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