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This Week's Attitude
Yes, VIRGINIA , you are - for the most part - the problem when it comes to illegal guns ending up on the mean streets of the city that never sleeps. Virginia: the site of the first European settlement in North America four hundred years ago and the state where the worst college massacre in our history took place not long ago. Two distinctly isolated events bound by history and place. One of Bloomberg's major accomplishments as mayor has been a determined effort to reduce Big Apple crime by reducing the flow of guns into the city. Statistics presented to Bloomberg after he took office revealed that nearly 80 percent of guns used in crimes citywide were purchased in Virginia. Law enforcement agencies have known for years that the stream of guns from a handful of southern states, including Georgia and South Carolina, is uncontrolled, largely due to laws that are more lenient than in high-crime urban areas to the north. Consequently, more than a year ago, Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino organized the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition of mayors whose primary goal is to reduce the number of illegal guns in America. (FYI, the number of mayors has grown from the original 13 - like the number of original states - to almost 200.) I emphasize "illegal" because you would think that any reasonable person or respectable group would not have a problem with that objective. But, alas, the NRA, that citadel of unlimited gun ownership that keeps tens of millions of Americans armed and dangerous, regularly exercises it's political muscle by contributing to campaigns of scores of national and local lawmakers who knuckle under to pressure from them. In April, the coalition announced a campaign to eliminate a rider attached to appropriations legislation that would limit city governments from accessing government information on illegal guns. Naturally, the NRA opposed the mayors' protest calling it an invasion of gun owners' privacy. The matter was shelved when the legislation was revised. In announcing the campaign, Bloomberg noted, "Keeping illegal guns off our streets has absolutely nothing to do with the Second Amendment or the rights of lawful gun owners. It's about enforcing the law and cracking down on criminals." The cover of the gun lobby's April magazine - America's First Freedom - depicted a caricature of Bloomberg as a mad octopus with swirling tentacles. An article inside called him "a national gun-control vigilante." The mayor probably welcomed that assessment as much as being featured in Fortune or Money magazines for his business acumen. Despite the opposition to Bloomberg and the mayors' coalition attempts, they are NOT trying to take legal guns out of anyone's hands. Their goal is merely to spotlight the traffic in illegal guns that typically end up being used in urban crimes and has nothing whatsoever to do with the Second Amendment. But NRA knuckleheads perceive any attack on gun ownership as a constitutional violation. The NRA must stop hiding behind the Second Amendment, which any clearheaded individual can read and understand never meant to allow every citizen to be armed. As the shock of last month's Virginia Tech shootings subsided, no one expected anything to be done about amending gun laws, especially since it happened in perhaps the easiest place in the U.S. to acquire a handgun and, coincidentally, the state where the NRA is based. It's also been a state primarily targeted by Bloomberg. Accordingly, earlier this month, Virginia's attorney general warned the mayor that new legislation - set to take effect July 1 - was enacted to end Bloomberg's campaign to stem the gun flow north. Working undercover, private investigators set up stings and exposed scores of illegal gun sales. When dozens of dealers were exposed, Virginia decided to put an end to what it considered harassment of legitimate merchants, by making it a felony for non-law enforcement personnel to make undercover gun purchases, but Bloomberg has vowed to continue to "take aggressive steps to keep New Yorkers safe." Remember those appealing TV spots showing the glorious sights and romantic settings that ended with the slogan, "Virginia is for lovers?" An updated version would conclude with a revised slogan, "Virginia IS for Lovers - GUN lovers." At the end, dozens of actors would be holding assorted handguns and shouting, "Come on down to Virginny, ya'll, we'll give ya lotsa bangs for yaw Yankee bucks!" As the scene fades, all you hear are hootin' and hollerin' followed by a volley of gunshots as images of the 32 Virginia Tech students who died in the recent slaughter are flashed on the screen. If Americans were as shocked as they seemed after the Virginia Tech massacre, they should insist improved gun control is a major issue in next year's presidential race, even though such regulations vary from state to state. I've written about this issue many times in the last ten years because It is one I refuse to overlook until sensible gun laws are legislated and will continue pursuing the issue until the NRA removes my keyboard from my cold dead hands.
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