Kelly Calls For National Gun Laws In Wake Of Newtown Massacre
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - New York City's police commissioner is offering thoughts on guns and the Newtown massacre.
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Ray Kelly said he believes there should be a package of national laws that will govern the sale and exchange of guns.
"Clearly, we need a national comprehensive gun control strategy. Obviously the states can, will do, what they can do, so to speak, but if you can go to another state and buy a gun easily, then you're going to do that," he said before a conference of police cadets who will soon graduate.
He said he believes the assault weapons ban should not have been allowed to expire in 2004.
He hopes that after this latest horror there will be more than just rhetoric.
"I hope this is going to be the beginning of a change," Ray Kelly said in Harlem on Tuesday morning. "I hope something meaningful happens, perhaps it's focused on assault weapons."
Kelly said that while serving as Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence from 1996 to 1998, he saw how difficult it was to get the attention of Congress on the issue of gun control.
"We'll see," he said.
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The top cop also described a comprehensive plan for New York City school safety which includes 5,000 safety agents - at least one in each school - trained to focus on students and teachers in the event of an active shooter.
"They don't have weapons and we don't expect them to take on someone who has a weapon," he said.
He said that's why 350 armed cops are in the schools and magnetometers are circulated through the system.
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