Mayor Bloomberg ramped up his gun-control rhetoric to a whole new level last night, saying he’s surprised cops don’t walk off their jobs until the public forces lawmakers to get guns off the streets.
“I don’t understand why police officers across this country don’t stand up collectively and say we’re going to go on strike, we’re not going to protect you unless you, the public, through your legislature, do what’s required to keep us safe,’’ he told CNN’s Piers Morgan.
“Police officers want to go home to their families. And we’re doing everything we can to make their job more difficult, but more importantly, more dangerous, by leaving guns in the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and letting people who have those guns buy things like armor piercing bullets.’’
Earlier in the day, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie snidely suggested that Hizzoner has been using the victims of the Colorado movie massacre as “political pawns.”
“Can we at least get through the initial grief and tragedy for these families before we start making them political pawns?” said Christie, whose name has been floated as a possible veep candidate for one of Bloomberg’s targets, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
“I am a little bit disturbed by the politicians who in the immediate aftermath of this type of tragedy try to grandstand on it, and I’m not going to be one of those people,” Christie said.
The governor didn’t mention the mayor by name. But it was clear whom he meant — Bloomberg has been the most visible public figure in his criticism of both President Obama and Romney for their steadfast refusals to talk about gun control in the wake of the bloodbath.
“During the next presidential term, there will be 48,000 Americans killed with illegal guns. It seems to me, not unreasonable, whoever wants to be president should tell us what they’re going to do about it before we go to the ballot box,” Bloomberg told MSNBC, echoing statements he’s made since Friday’s shooting, which killed 12.
Both Obama and Romney had advocated for assault-gun bans earlier in their careers but have since remained mum on the hot-button issue.
When running for president in 2008, Obama supported reinstituting an assault-gun ban and endorsed requiring background checks for buyers at gun shows.
But yesterday, White House spokesman Jay Carney indicated that the president has no plans to push for increased controls.
Accused Colorado gunman James Holmes flew under the radar as he legally bought a cache of weapons, bombmaking materials and military gear over the Internet in the four months leading up to the massacre.
His haul included a Blackhawk Urban Assault Vest, a pistol pouch and a “Be-Wharned’’ silver knife from the Missouri-based Web site TacticalGear.com, plus up to 6,000 rounds of ammo.