Mayor Bloomberg’s bullish advocacy for stricter gun-control laws has won him considerable support — in Virginia.
Hizzoner’s national push helped convince 43 percent of those polled in Old Dominion — where the most guns recovered at crime scenes in New York City originate — that their lawmakers need to address the issue.
That was viewed as a respectable showing for a mayor from New York City in a state 400 miles away where guns are commonplace.
A majority of those questioned, 52 percent, suggested the mayor butt out.
But Bloomberg won over most of the Democrats, women and black voters polled by Quinnipiac University.
“The sizable splits on this question across political, racial and gender lines largely reflect the division of opinion in Virginia and the country on gun-control matters,” said Peter Brown, of the university’s polling institute.
Virginia produced 322 of the guns recovered from crime scenes in the city in 2011, more than any other state, according to the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“The mayor’s top priority is to keep our streets safe, and we need common-sense measures to stop the flow of illegal firearms into the five boroughs,” said City Hall spokesman Kamran Mumtaz.