Mayor Bloomberg: NYC, 'Safest Big City In The Country,' Not Safe From Gun Violence

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In a press conference following the shooting near the Empire State Building Friday morning, Mayor Bloomberg again made mention of his concern over gun violence and firearm safety in the U.S.

After calling New York City "the safest big city in the country," the mayor then called attention to an issue he's been quite vocal about recently: gun control.

"We are not immune to the national problem of gun violence," he said. "There's an awful lot of guns out there."

Photos: Shooting Near The Empire State Building

The comments came as no surprise, as Bloomberg has been actively pushing for federal laws to:

* Require background checks for every gun sold — 40 percent of all guns are sold without background checks

* Stronger enforcement of straw sales, where someone buys a gun for someone not eligible to own one

* A requirement that states enter criminal and mental health records into the federal background check system

Bloomberg initially stepped up his calls for gun control after the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo.

Immediately following the July 20 massacre, Bloomberg said if Obama and Romney "want to make the world a better place" then "tell us how."

"No matter where you stand on the Second Amendment, no matter where you stand on guns, we have a right to hear from both of them concretely, not just in generalities – specifically what are they going to do about guns," Bloomberg said.

During the Olympics, he took his fight to the airwaves.

In a TV spot which aired during the games, three survivors from the 2011 Tucson, Arizona shootings demand action against gun violence.

The ad, paid for by the Mayors Against Illegal Guns, features pictures of President Barack Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney with Tucson survivors Col. Bill Badger, Pat Maisch and Pam Simon saying "our leaders gave us a moment of silence then, but haven't given us a plan."