NEW YORK CITY — Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned senators who voted to defeat gun control proposals that they would face the consequences of their actions in the next elections.
“How are they, next November, going to answer, ‘Why didn’t you do something to stop this, senator?’ You had it in your power to do it and you voted to keep the killing going?’” Bloomberg asked Thursday.
“That can’t be good politics. It just can’t be.”
Bloomberg called the inability to pass national gun-control legislation Wednesday “a disgrace” that will have dire consequences for Americans.
“Children lost. They’re going to die,” he said.
“The criminals won. I think that’s the only way to phrase it.”
The proposed gun-control measures included expanding background checks on buyers, a ban on assault weapons and a ban on high-capacity magazines. The legislation failed to receive the 60 votes needed to pass.
Bloomberg was speaking at Rockefeller University on York Avenue, where he announced the expansion of a plan to reduce Carbon emissions. He said the vote went against the wishes of the vast majority of the public.
“The Founding Fathers didn’t mean to leave guns in the hands of criminals and people with psychiatric problems," he said.
"Ninety percent of the public doesn’t believe that. And if a handful of senators do believe that, maybe they should go back and re-read the Constitution.”
