By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded more federal terrorism money to protect the city and urged lawmakers to block suspected terrorists from buying guns during testimony Wednesday at a Senate hearing.
The mayor's and NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly's appearance at the Senate Homeland Security Committee had been scheduled prior to the Times Square bomb scare, but the plot and the arrest of admitted bomber Faisal Shahzad gave the meeting added urgency.
"The car bomb the NYPD found in Times Square on Saturday night was not the only attempted terrorist attack on our city since 9/11 – far from it. And sadly, it won’t be the last," Bloomberg told the committee. "And that’s why it’s just common sense to give the FBI the authority to keep terror suspects from buying guns and explosives."
Bloomberg pressed lawmakers to back a bill that would allow the FBI to block sales of guns to people suspected of terrorism, which the mayor called a "terror gap" in the nation's gun laws.
The plan drew fire from South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, who said the measure, which would rely on the federal terror watch list, could infringe on Second Amendment rights.
"This is a constitutional right," Graham said. "Losing the ability to own a gun, which is a constitutional right, using this list is unnerving at best."
Bloomberg shot back that the plan was reasonable, and in line with previous laws passed by Congress.
"When it comes to reasonable restrictions which the Supreme Court said are acceptable and consistent with the Second Amendment, I think this a is reasonable restriction," Bloomberg said. "If society decides that these people are too dangerous to get on an airplane with other people then it's probably appropriate to look very hard before you let them buy a gun."
Bloomberg also called on the senators to fund the Securing the Cities inititative, a partnership between federal and local law enforcement that would install radiation detection devices in the city.
Sen. Joe Lieberman asked Kelly whether he thought if a suspected terrorist's act of purchasing a gun was an indicator that a plot might be "about to go operational."
Kelly said that Shahzad had bought the gun found in his SUV at JFK Airport was bought in March.
"March was when he decided to put this plan into motion," Kelly said. "It may very well be an indicator of putting something catastrophic in motion."
