New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a strong proponent of gun control, suggested Thursday that he believed it unlikely that new restrictions would pass Congress this year.
Asked on CBS if it was true that Congress would probably not approve many of President Obama's gun-violence proposals, issued on Wednesday, Bloomberg said: “I think that’s right this time.
"But that doesn’t mean you’re not going to come back again.”
Bloomberg said he was “hopeful” the current Congress would act, but said if it didn’t, the “issue was not going away.”
“Keep in mind we’re likely to have more tragedies like you saw in Connecticut; each one of these builds on things."
The mayor also said he would continue to use his vast fortune to back candidates who support gun control, as he did in the 2012 election.
“Also, the public has a chance every two years to express themselves in congressional elections. I supported five candidates that the NRA [National Rifle Association] went against this time, and four of them won.
“I think through our Mayors Coalition Against Illegal Guns what we can do is we can go to the Congress people and senators in every state and say, ‘In our cities and our suburbs and our rural areas, this is what’s happening.’ … You can convince them; they're interested in doing a good job for America. If they hear from their constituents, that’s what their constituents want, I think they’ll change."
