NYC mayor on deadly shootout: `Too many guns'

Never mind that there's already a gun ban in New York City. You could ban guns in the entire country and criminals would still have them. They're criminals. Not to restate the obvious again, but if you ban guns the only two groups of people that will have them are criminals and the State, leaving the law abiding citizen completely defenseless against both. Remember: when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

Associated Press -

The mayor railed against gun violence on Friday, one day after a street peddler armed with a machine pistol died in a shootout with police outside a hotel in bustling Times Square.

Raymond Martinez, 25, was killed by a plainclothes sergeant Thursday after trading gunfire in an area crowded with tourists and holiday shoppers.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg was asked about the shooting while appearing at a Manhattan charity event, and he used the question to discuss one of his signature issues — illegal firearms and gun violence in New York and other big cities.

"We've got to stop this," Bloomberg said. "This is one of the great public health threats. And our police officers are clearly in danger."