The criminals won and innocent kids are going to die.
That was the blunt assessment of a furious Mayor Bloomberg yesterday, one day after the US Senate failed to pass gun-control legislation.
The mayor didn’t mince words when asked for his reaction to the crushing defeat, which came four months after the massacre of schoolkids at Sandy Hook.
“Children lost. They’re going to die. And criminals won,” he said during a press conference in Manhattan dealing with greenhouse gases. “I think that’s the only way to phrase it. This is a disgrace.”
Bloomberg made it clear that the senators who voted against more extensive background checks for gun purchasers could expect political retribution from him and his allies.
“I’ve said before I will support those who do what’s right for America,” he said. “I can’t think of very many votes that you get a chance to take in the Senate that are so clear cut as to what’s right and what’s wrong for society. It’s just an up-and-down vote: Condone murder or don’t.”
One mayoral aide pointed out that three of the four Democrats who voted against the measure are up for re-election in 2014, as are a dozen or so Republicans.
“He’s in it for the long haul,” the aide said of the mayor, whose term ends at the end of this year.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), co-author of the legislation, said it would have passed easily if the politically powerful National Rifle Association hadn’t announced it would take the vote into account when deciding which candidates to support or oppose in 2014.
“If they hadn’t scored it, we’d have had 70 votes,” he said. Instead, it drew 54, six short of the 60 needed to advance.”
Manchin also told reporters the outcome would have been different if the Senate had acted more quickly after the school massacre at Newtown, Conn., where 26 kids and educators died.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) promised the fight for tougher gun laws wasn’t over. “This is not the end of the fight,” he said. “Republicans are in an unsustainable position.”
Bloomberg urged voters to call the senators who blocked the bill, which he had fought so hard to pass.
He even offered a sample script: “You voted to have people out there who are mentally ill and criminals, who’ve proven they’re bad people, to have guns on the streets. Let me tell you, the next time you run for office, I’m going to work for the other side.”