Average Citizens Should Not Carry Firearms, According to Bloomberg

Photo by Gage Skidmore courtesy Flickr under Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0.

“It’s the job of law enforcement to have guns and to decide when to shoot. You just do not want the average citizen carrying a gun in a crowded place,” said Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg last week at a campaign stop in Montgomery, Ala.

Bloomberg’s comments came in response to an incident days earlier where a lawfully armed citizen took down a murderer seconds after he opened fire in a Texas church.

The armed citizen “exposed himself to danger to deliver a single shot from his lawfully carried handgun that instantly ended what undoubtedly would have been even more terrible carnage,” reported the NRA Institute for Legislative Action.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, another hopeful for the Democratic presidential nomination, previously criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to sign into law the very bill that allowed the armed citizen to carry his firearm in church, calling it “irrational.”

Bloomberg has long been a proponent of extreme gun-control measures and has made no secret of his anti-Second Amendment agenda on the campaign trail. His gun-control plan includes “universal” background checks, a new ban on popular semi-automatic rifles and so-called “high-capacity magazines,” and much more.

The Democratic presidential candidate has also openly displayed his support for anti-Second Amendment politicians in Virginia in particular. On Tuesday, he tweeted, “Over the years, I've supported many candidates in Virginia. Tomorrow, for the first time in decades, Democrats will take control of the general assembly. I’m proud to have played a part in that progress, and I’m hopeful for what it means for the future of VA and our country.”

Following Virginia’s recent election results, the NRA said, “Candidates who proudly accepted Bloomberg’s cash—and every voter they misled—will soon realize the cost of being beholden to a Manhattan billionaire who despises Virginians’ right to self-defense.”