After Wave of Violence, Bloomberg Calls For Even More Gun Control in NYC

One would think after a 24-hour stretch that saw 24 people shot in his city, the man presiding over the nation's strictest gun laws wouldn't so shamelessly use the violence to promote his anti-gun agenda. But hey, we're dealing with King Bloomberg here. Rather than step up police efforts in neighborhoods where violence is highest, he looks to Washington to implement more meaningless laws that will do nothing to address the real issue facing him.

Twenty-four New Yorkers were hit by gunfire, one fatally, over 24 hours of violence this weekend, prompting Mayor Bloomberg to call the bloody stretch "unconscionable" and demand action from Washington.

The eruption of shootings from 6 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday left the mayor livid and the parents of three wounded children distraught and angry.

Police said the two dozen victims were shot in 14 separate incidents in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. As of last night, no arrests had been made in any of the shootings.

"These people come with guns and shoot at anyone. They don't care if there are children around," said Charles Walters, 53, whose 11-year-old son, Shaquan, was the youngest of eight people wounded early yesterday at a backyard party in the Bronx by a lone gunman.

Shaquan was shot in the right leg and was recovering yesterday at Jacobi Medical Center. A 14-year-old girl was shot in the back and a 13-year-old girl was wounded in the left thigh in the 3:39 a.m. barrage.

Five young men - ages 17, 18, 19, 21 and 24 - were also wounded in the shooting on E. 221st St. in Williamsbridge and taken to local hospitals, cops said. They were expected to survive.

As police hunted for the suspect, who they identified as 17-year-old Oneil Dasilva of Mount Vernon, Bloomberg went ballistic yesterday, demanding stiffer federal gun laws.

The mayor said 24 people shot in 24 hours in the city "is just unconscionable."

"We cannot tolerate it," Bloomberg said while speaking at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn. "There are just too many guns on the streets and we have to do something about it."

New York has the toughest gun laws in the country, but Bloomberg said the city alone cannot stop the onslaught of shootings. "We need the federal government to step up," he said.

Bloomberg is a co-chair of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and has lobbied Washington repeatedly to beef up gun laws.

The mayor called on all federal politicians, regardless of party, to get on the same page.

That page, of course is the one he's reading from.

By the way, I'm wondering what young teens are doing out at a party at 3:39 am?

Speaking of violence and Washington, one of Barack Obama's economic advisers promised to wage war on his fellow Americans.

"We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war, they got a war with us and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan, and America. We're going to win that war," Jimmy Hoffa Jr. said to a heavily union crowd.

"President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son of bitches out and give America back to an America where we belong," Hoffa added... Obama addressed the crowd shortly after Hoffa.

Oh well, so much for all that civility Obama promised.