New York City’s rabidly anti-Second Amendment mayor, Michael Bloomberg, is once again pushing for ill-conceived gun laws in the wake of an abnormally violent Labor Day weekend.
According to The New York Post, 46 people were shot over the course of two days in several incidents. Bloomberg, who has long held anti-gun views and in 2006 co-founded the lobby group “Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” immediately and predictably cried out for more gun control. This tired refrain of pushing for more restrictions on private ownership of firearms every time there is a spike in violent crime in the Big Apple rings hollow coming from the chief execute of the city with some of the most restrictive gun laws in the free world.
Despite the overwhelming evidence that laws limiting the ability of average citizens to purchase or possess firearms do little, if anything, to prevent violence, Bloomberg said, “There are just too many guns on the streets and we have to do something about it.” Bloomberg invariably couples these vague but loud demands with calls for the federal government to “step up” action. Within the past three years, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down gun bans previously in effect in Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Illinois. Notwithstanding these legal victories, sufficient wiggle room remains for anti-gunners like Bloomberg to continue to circumvent and thwart the right of the people to possess firearms for self-defense.
Congress, thankfully, continues to look for ways to stop such constitutionally challenged actions as Bloomberg’s. Legislation currently is pending in the House of Representatives that would permit a resident of a state that allows concealed carry to possess a firearm in a city considered hostile to the right to keep and bear arms. This bipartisan legislation simply recognizes that the Second Amendment reflects a right enjoyed by the citizens of all the states and the cities therein, not just those fortunate enough to be a constituent of elected officials who respect and understand the Constitution.
Although the “National Right-to-Carry Reciprocal Act” already has nearly 250 co-sponsors, even were it to pass the Congress, the current occupant of the White House almost certainly would veto it. Congress, however, should move forward with such action nonetheless; it’s the right thing to do, it would enjoy great popular support and passage would perhaps move it closer to the front of the line for action in early 2013, when hopefully the resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue will not be a close friend and supporter of Mr. Bloomberg.
Bob Barr represented Georgia’s Seventh District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. He provides regular commentary to Daily Caller readers.
