Bloomy: It’s a win for thugs

AFTER THE demise of background-checks legislation in the U.S. Senate, Mayor Bloomberg, who chairs Mayors Against Illegal Guns, issued this statement:

Today’s vote is a damning indictment of the stranglehold that special interests have on Washington. More than 40 U.S. Senators would rather turn their backs on the 90% of Americans who support comprehensive background checks than buck the increasingly extremist wing of the gun lobby. Democrats — who are so quick to blame Republicans for our broken gun laws — could not stand united. And Republicans — who are so quick to blame Democrats for not being tough enough on crime — handed criminals a huge victory, by preserving their ability to buy guns illegally at gun shows and online and keeping the illegal trafficking market well-fed.

Sens. [Joe] Manchin and [Pat] Toomey — as well as Majority Leader [Harry] Reid and Sens. [Chuck] Schumer, [Mark] Kirk, [Susan] Collins, [John] McCain and others — deserve real credit for coming together around a compromise bill that struck a fair balance, and President Obama and Vice President Biden deserve credit for their leadership since the Sandy Hook massacre.

But even with some bipartisan support, a common-sense public safety reform died in the U.S. Senate at the hands of those who are more interested in attempting to protect their own political careers — or some false sense of ideological purity — than protecting the lives of innocent Americans. The only silver lining is that we now know who refuses to stand with the 90% of Americans — and in 2014, our ever-expanding coalition of supporters will work to make sure that voters don’t forget.