New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued a strong statement responding to Friday's elementary school shooting in Connecticut, calling on Congress to take action on gun control.
"For every day we wait, 34 more people are murdered with guns," Bloomberg said. "Today, many of them were five-year-olds."
Bloomberg, a co-chair of Mayors Against Guns, also slammed President Barack Obama's earlier statement on the shooting, saying that it did not go far enough to address the issue of gun violence.
"President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families," he continued. "But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress"
"Calling for ‘meaningful action’ is not enough. We need immediate action."
Shortly after the statement went out, the NYC Mayors Office tweeted out a new Mayors Against Guns "Demand A Plan" petition calling for Obama and Congress to address gun violence.
Here's the heading of the petition page:
And here's Bloomberg's full statement:
"With all the carnage from gun violence in our country, it's still almost impossible to believe that a mass shooting in a kindergarten class could happen. It has come to that. Not even kindergarteners learning their A,B,Cs are safe. We heard after Columbine that it was too soon to talk about gun laws. We heard it after Virginia Tech. After Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek. And now we are hearing it again. For every day we wait, 34 more people are murdered with guns. Today, many of them were five-year olds. President Obama rightly sent his heartfelt condolences to the families in Newtown. But the country needs him to send a bill to Congress to fix this problem. Calling for 'meaningful action' is not enough. We need immediate action. We have heard all the rhetoric before. What we have not seen is leadership - not from the White House and not from Congress. That must end today. This is a national tragedy and it demands a national response. My deepest sympathies are with the families of all those affected, and my determination to stop this madness is stronger than ever."
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