Bloomberg Praises Michigan Decision To Keep Restrictions On Concealed Weapons
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday lauded Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder for vetoing legislation that would have allowed for concealed weapons in schools, day care centers in that state.
WWJ-AM, Detroit, reported Snyder vetoed the legislation in the wake of the elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 adults and six children dead.
"With his veto, the governor has shown leadership and a commitment to a rational gun policy that protects the residents of Michigan," Bloomberg said in a statement. "I also want to applaud the Michigan members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns for working with Governor Snyder to prevent this bill from becoming law, and for their efforts last week to make sure Michigan kept its common sense requirement that a background check be conducted on all handgun sales. Now we need similar courage and leadership from our elected officials in Washington D.C."
Snyder, who is himself a gun owner, acted based on his conscience, WWJ-AM Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick told CBS Detroit.
"Now the governor is acting on his personal beliefs here. Even though he owns two shotguns and a rifle himself, he is not repeating the mantra from the National Rifle Association which contends that concealed weapons in places like public schools actually is a deterrent to crime," said Skubick. "The governor says, quote, 'There is a difference of opinion on that, and I'm not on that side.'"
Bloomberg serves as co-chair of the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and last week – two days before the Connecticut massacre – applauded another effort in favor of gun control in Michigan. On Wednesday of last week, the Michigan State Senate rejected a proposal that would have allowed people to buy handguns without undergoing criminal background checks.
But a decision against gun control came down just to the west in Illinois last week when a concealed weapons ban in nearby Illinois was tossed by the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. The decision gives that state six months to pass a law that would allow ordinary citizens to carry weapons.
Despite that, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and police Supt. Garry McCarthy have called for an assault weapons ban, as well as other regulations such as a ban on high-capacity ammunition clips, WBBM-TV, CBS 2 Chicago Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reported.
"It's time as a city we have an assault weapon ban. It's time we as a state have an assault weapon ban. It's time we as a country have an assault weapon ban. And I would hope that the leadership in Congress would now have a vote of conscience," Emanuel said in an address to the latest graduating classes of police recruits and police sergeants Monday.
Bloomberg has led the call for tougher gun restrictions in the wake of the Newtown massacre.
"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," Bloomberg said Friday. "Not even kindergarteners learning their A,B,Cs are safe."
President Barack Obama has also called for a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004, as well as a high-capacity magazine ban and a background check for every gun sold.
Bloomberg has called on Obama to make gun control a top priority in his second term.
Do you agree with Michigan Gov. Snyder's decision to veto the expansion of concealed carry rights? Leave your comments below...
