The Issue: Mayor Bloomberg’s call for stronger gun-control laws, following the Sandy Hook shooting.
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If Mayor Bloomberg wants to continue his crusade on guns, then he should lead by example (“Mike Blasts Bam for Doing Zilch on Guns,” Dec. 17).
He should get rid of all of his armed police bodyguards. Then he should walk the streets of New York.
How dare he tell me and other citizens we can’t protect our families and loved ones.
Frank J. Mirande
Coeymans
Bloomberg, a longtime strict national gun-control advocate, has called on President Obama to make gun control the nation’s highest agenda in the wake of the Connecticut shooting.
He is a billionaire whose family enjoys the protection of an armed police security detail.
Bloomberg wants to start a war on guns, when our war on drugs has been a complete and utter failure.
If we took the resources and money from drug prohibition and utilized them for mental-health reform, we would have a much better chance in reducing violence across America.
When will we learn that prohibition only creates more crime and violence? Eric Cappelli
Ridge
We all know that the emperor knows best, but Bloomberg should stop grandstanding so soon after the slaughter of innocents. He should stop, pray and reflect.
Then, as a country, we must decide what should be done. He is emperor of New York City, not the world.Larry Millus
Succasunna, NJ
The Constitution gives our citizens the right to bear arms. Protecting ourselves is the solution. Had even one of the ladies in the front office at Sandy Hook exercised her right to protect herself and be armed, many lives could have been saved.
If you choose not to protect yourself, that is your choice. But I choose to do so.
Bloomberg may speak for New York, but he speaks for no one else in America. He is as relevant to me as the governors of California, Connecticut, New Hampshire or Illinois.
Mary Snyder-Nava
Hachita, New Mexico
Bloomberg said these mass killings are happening with increasing frequency and only in America.
He should know that this is a global problem, having as much to do with mental health as access to deadly weapons.
The same day as Sandy Hook, a man walked into an elementary school and stabbed 22 kids in the Chinese city of Chengping.
In 2011, a young man in Norway set off a bomb in Oslo, killing eight, then boarded a ferry to a small island and slaughtered 69 teenagers with an assault rife.
It would be great to get assault rifles off the street, but the emphasis needs to be on strengthening mental-health diagnosis and treatment.
The perpetrators of these mass killings had issues that were obvious to those around them.
Tom Sullivan
Union City, NJ
Bloomberg wants to ban guns, and is using this tragedy to tell Obama so.
Guns already are strictly regulated in New York City. Many out-of-staters manage to get themselves arrested in New York City for carrying a gun that they are legally permitted to do in their home states.
Will Bloomberg give up his own armed security detail when he goes out in public?
Since mental health seems to be a common denominator in recent mass shootings, and Bloomberg seems to have fallen off his rocker, perhaps it’s time he goes in for a mental-health evaluation.
Hugh E. McGee
Williamsport, Pa.
To my knowledge, it’s illegal to buy cocaine in every state, yet one can still buy as much as he wants in many parts of the mayor’s own city.
Does Bloomberg really think more anti-gun laws are going to fix the problem, or is he using the tragedy in Sandy Hook to further his own agenda?
How about spending more time on the mental-illness epidemic and less time worrying about what people are eating and drinking?
Leonard Johnson
Berkshire