If it were up to him, members of Congress would be attending the funeral of police Officer Peter Figoski to see for themselves the havoc wreaked when an illegal gun falls into the hands of a career criminal.
Bloomberg got to discussing illegal weapons in a response to a Tweet on his radio show this morning from a listener asking why the city was wasting so much time pushing for stricter federal gun controls.
“When I read that I thought to myself, maybe the guy wants to join me out in Babylon on Monday sitting in the church where the funeral is for Officer Figoski,” the mayor said.
Figoski, 47, who will be buried on Monday, was shot and killed earlier this week by an illegally purchased firearm.
On Wednesday, city officials took the wraps off a $290,000 undercover sting operation, where 62 percent of the private online weapons sellers that were contacted agreed to a transaction that violated federal regulations.
Ultimately, the mayor added, it’s up to a reluctant Congress to strengthen the laws and a visit to the Figoski funeral might make it clear why the issue is so pressing.
“If you could get Congress to come with me and sit with me in this church on Monday?” the mayor reflected. “Wouldn’t that be wonderful if they finally got some understanding, and in memory of this officer, said we can’t bring him back but we’re going to make sure his kids and his parents are protected by getting guns off the streets out of illegal hands.”
Bloomberg said when he broke the news in the hospital to Figoski’s parents that their son wouldn’t make it, his mother was “handling herself pretty well” at first.
“Then all of it sudden it gets to you,” he recalled. “I always think, what would I do if it was my family, my kids?”
Lamont Pride, 27, allegedly shot Figoski during a robbery attempt in Cypress Hills, Brooklyn.
The gun that Pride is accused of using to shoot Figoski was initially purchased in 1999 at a Colonial Heights, Va., pawnshop.