Bloomberg Demands Specifics from Obama, Romney on Gun Violence - East Idaho News
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Bloomberg Demands Specifics from Obama, Romney on Gun Violence

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107001806?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1342800973634Michael Loccisano/FilmMagic(NEW YORK) — Hours after the Aurora, Colo., mass shootings early Friday morning, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded that President Obama and Mitt Romney do more than try to console the victims and survivors by explaining to the country how they will prevent this type of gun violence.

“There are so many murders with guns every day, it’s just got to stop,” Bloomberg said on WOR Radio. “And this is a real problem. No matter where you stand on the Second Amendment, no matter where you stand on guns, we have a right to hear from both of them concretely, not just in generalities — specifically what are they going to do about guns?”

“We can talk about it on the talk shows, we can wring our hands and say it’s terrible. You know, ‘I need more guns to protect myself,'” Bloomberg continued. “That strategy doesn’t work.”

Bloomberg, who has been the mayor of the country’s largest city for a decade, has overseen a significant drop in the city’s crime rate. He said Friday that the problem of gun violence is “growing and it’s not just an inner-city, east coast, west coast, big city phenomenon. Aurora is not a big city.”

Under Colorado’s gun laws it was legal for James Holmes, the 24-year-old Aurora, Colo., man who law enforcement has named as the suspect in today’s shootings, to carry the assault-style rifle and shotgun that he allegedly used to kill at least 12 and injure at least 50 more movie-goers in his car.

“If it was one of your kids yesterday in Aurora, maybe you’d stand up and say I’m not going to take this anymore,” Bloomberg said. “And instead of the two people — President Obama and Governor Romney — talking in broad things about they want to make the world a better place, OK, tell us how.”

Both candidates support the Second Amendment right to own guns, but the issue, which has played a large role in previous elections, has not been prevalent on the campaign trail in 2012.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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