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New York mayor calls for new gun-control measures in wake of Tucson shooting

12 January 2011 03:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg outlined steps on Tuesday for tougher gun control to help prevent another shooting tragedy like the one in Tucson, the U.S. state of Arizona over the weekend, APA reports quoting Xinhua News Agency.

Bloomberg was joined by U.S. Congressman Peter King and fellow members of Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition for the announcement at the City Hall, in the wake of the recent shooting in Arizona which injured U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others.

Bloomberg cited the Virginia Tech shooting along with the tragedy in Tucson for exposing flaws in a "broken" background check system and called on the Congress to act to fix it.

"Just as we saw after Virginia Tech, the Arizona tragedy has once again exposed fatal cracks in our background check system," said Bloomberg.

"The law says that drug abusers can’t buy guns, but even though Jared Loughner was rejected by the military for drug use and arrested on drug charges, he was able to pass a background check and buy a gun. It should be clear to everyone that the system is broken and it is time for our leaders in Washington to step up and fix it," he said.

Bloomberg laid out several gun-control measures including the appointment of a permanent head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, lengthening the amount of time that ex-drug users are prohibited from buying guns from one year to five years, and more communication among the various law enforcement agencies.

The coalition of mayors also endorsed a new bill, to be introduced by Congressman Peter King, that would prevent anyone from carrying a gun within 1,000 feet of a federal official.