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Apr 19, 2007 8:22 am US/Eastern
Bloomberg To Fund Anti-Gun Ad Campaign
TV Blitz Begins Sunday In N.Y., D.C., Among Others
by Marcia Kramer
JERSEY CITY, N.J. (CBS) ―
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Days after a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, Michael Bloomberg's coalition of mayors against guns stressed Wednesday that about the same number of Americans die each day from shootings.
CBS
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a coalition of 214 mayors are using the Virginia Tech massacre to pressure Congress to give local cops the information they need to trace illegal guns used in crimes.
CBS 2 has also learned that they're also launching a TV ad campaign starting Sunday.
"We're fighting criminals and illegal guns. Why is Congress fighting us?" Bloomberg said Wednesday.
The ads will start running in four days in New York, Washington and the congressional districts of key gun advocates.
"I don't want my officers to have their hands tied when it comes to having to deal with the issue of illegal guns for criminals," Bloomberg said.
The ads are funded by Bloomberg, who said he will personally spend whatever it takes to stop a bill that would allow the feds to withhold crucial information on illegal guns needed by local cops.
"In terms of how much money to spend I don't know," Bloomberg said. "The last time I was on a campaign I spent $85 million."
Bloomberg said the Virginia Tech massacre that resulted in 33 deaths should get everyone behind his illegal gun crusade.
"Every day 30 Americans are murdered," he said. "If one day is cause for you to think, what about 365 days?"
Carole Stiller is with the Million Mom March, a group with members who have lost loved ones to gun violence. She said she doesn't think the Virginia Tech shooter should have had the right to get a gun.
"Because he wanted it and it was his right to have it," Stiller said. "Well, it's our right and it was the 32 other people's rights to not have someone come on campus and shoot them."
The Virginia Tech shooting also reverberated in the presidential race. Trying to woo conservatives, the formerly anti-gun Rudy Giuliani said he supports the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
But Democrats Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama steered clear of the issue, saying only that the massacre was a tragedy.
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