El Paso, Dayton Mass Shootings Prompt Renewed Calls For Gun Reform From Some Local Politicians
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - There is increased pressure on President Donald Trump and Congress to ban assault weapons and enact gun reforms after the deadly weekend mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is just one of many leading the charge to force both parties to act, CBS2's political reporter Marcia Kramer says.
But some question if it's political posturing or if the tragedies are a tipping point?
Cuomo says Trump can find the will to end the carnage with the stroke of a pen.
"Mr. President, issue an executive order, declare an emergency and say, 'I'm using my executive order powers to ban assault weapons and ban large capacity magazines and putting in universal background checks," he said.
Cuomo also challenged the Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to draw up their own bill, getting every single presidential wannabe to sign on.
The governor says it would tell voters, "If the Democrats win, we will pass this."
Cuomo is just one of a legion of politicians expressing outrage at the shootings, but security expert Manny Gomez says it's just political bravado.
Gomez points to the tragedy at Sandy Hook seven years ago when 28 children and teachers were murdered.
"The president of the United States, then Barack Obama, tearfully begging Congress and the Senate to do something about it," he said. "If nothing was done about it then … nothing is going to be done now."
Gomez, a former FBI agent and former NYPD cop, says that if the federal government really wanted to ban assault weapons, it would happen.
"Case in point, New Zealand. They had one mass murder, one mass shooting, and they banned assault weapons immediately," he said.
Meanwhile, NYPD chief of intelligence and counterterrorism John Miller says the FBI is so concerned, it's contemplating doing a threat assessment of people who become radicalized on social media and act out.
"A fresh look to look at is this phenomenon, a contagion, and that's because, it's not because you had two horrific incidents within 24 hours or less, it's because if you go over last week … there were four active shooter situations in the United States. This is now a pace we haven't seen before," Miller said.
For the record, after Sandy Hook, New York state passed one of the toughest gun laws in the nation. It bans assault weapons and high capacity magazines and requires stringent background checks.
The question is, after more than 250 mass shootings so far this year, is there a national appetite for it?
