Politics

Bloomberg Coalition silent on Santa Monica shooting as government scandals mount

Patrick Howley Political Reporter
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Gun control advocates like New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg have been quiet in the aftermath of Friday’s Santa Monica College shooting.

Santa Monica police chief Jacqueline Seabrooks said in a weekend press conference that the gunman, 23-year old John Zawahri, was carrying a weapon “similar to an AR-15” when he opened fire at Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, leaving five people dead.

But few politicos have so far used the attack as a pretext to speak out for greater gun control.

Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman of California’s 33rd congressional district was an exception, saying “enough is enough” and calling for tighter gun control measures in the attack’s aftermath.

“In the coming days and months, I will do all I can to pressure Congress to take up common-sense gun measures to fix our loophole-ridden gun laws and keep these violent weapons out of our communities” Waxman said in a statement printed as a city news service item by the “Santa Monica Patch.”

But New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg’s coalition Mayors Against Illegal Guns has yet to release a statement about the shooting.

The shooting occurred as whistle-blower revelations about the Obama administration’s government-surveillance programs dominated the airways. It was revealed that the National Security Agency (NSA) runs a top-secret program that scans records from telecommunications companies. The exploding NSA story has garnered public outrage, with even NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and “The Onion” excoriating the president for his surveillance policies.

Bloomberg and his loyal police chief Ray Kelly recently used the Boston Marathon bombings to call for more public security cameras, adding to a New York City Police Department surveillance system that is already massive in scope and magnitude.

Bloomberg, who is in the final months of his twelve-year mayoralty, has stayed relatively quiet during the Obama administration’s surveillance revelations, instead talking about his endorsement of gay marriage and announcing that he will accept a 2013 Tony Award for Excellence in the Theatre.

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