Eric Adams, the Democratic nominee in New York City’s Mayoral race, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Democrats’ efforts focussing on assault weapons bans “were misplaced.”
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “One of the issues you talked about that a lot of National Democratic politicians don’t is the fact that most gun crimes are not committed with so-called assault weapons. They’re committed with handguns, and most homicides are not these horrific mass shootings. They’re one-offs. Lots of them every day. Beyond what you just mentioned, in terms of laws, in terms of state or city or national gun laws to try to stop gun violence, what do you think would work, and do you think the priorities of national Democrats may have been misplaced?”
Adams said, “Yes, I do. I believe those priorities, they really were misplaced. And it’s almost insulting what we have witnessed over the last few years. Many of our presidents, they saw these numbers. They knew that the inner cities, particularly where black, brown and poor people lived, they knew they were dealing with this real crisis. And it took this president to state that it is time for us to stop ignoring what is happening in the south sides of Chicago. In the Brownsvilles, in the Atlantas of our country. And so it is extremely important that just as we became energetic after we saw mass shootings with assault rifles in suburban parts of our country, which we should have, we should have also focused on the handgun. The numbers of those who are killed by handguns are astronomical. And if we don’t start having real federal legislation, matched with states and cities, we’re never going to get this crisis under control.”
Tapper said, “The United States isn’t going to ban handguns. So what are you proposing be done about it?”
Adams said, “They should not have to, to ban handguns. But let’s look at those particular gun dealers where there’s a real correlation, a connection with the guns that are used in our streets. Those states with lax gun laws where you can walk into a gun shop with a license and walk out with the gun. Let’s look at all of the feeders of how guns are making their way into our cities. Something simple as here in the port authority, we should have spot bag checks. People are able to get on the Greyhound Bus and come into our cities with bags full of guns with a level of comfort. So we need to zero in on that handgun, and you will see the decrease in many of these shootings.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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