NYC's Mayor Bloomberg Wants Stricter Federal Gun Laws

Mayor Bloomberg wants the federal government to enforce more stringent gun control laws to address firearm-related violence in New York City. The legislation Bloomberg is calling for is the result of extreme gun-violence this past Labor Day Weekend, which resulted in at least 10 people dead and more than 50 injured since Friday morning.

Some of weekend's the victims included an innocent woman sitting on her stoop and two men with guns who were killed in a Monday evening shootout, a police officer who was shot in the arm, another who was wounded by bullet fragments, an 11-year old boy and two girls, aged 13 and 14.

Gunfire also erupted within the vicinity of the mayor during the West Indian Day parade in Brooklyn.

“We cannot tolerate it; there are just too many guns on the streets and we have to do something about it,” he said. Bloomberg was very specific about what needs to be done to tackle the problem: “We need the federal government to step up. Both ends of Pennsylvania Ave., both sides of the aisle.”

Bloomberg made the call even as New York already ranks among cities with the strictest gun control laws in the country. Possession of an unlicensed handgun requires mandatory jail time (3.5 years).