Despite Bloomberg’s Calls for Stricter Gun Laws NYPD Sells Used Bullets to Georgia Gun Shop

Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York city, is a well known proponent of stricter gun control laws in the US, especially in the wake of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado in which 12 people were killed and 51 injured.

He criticized both President Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney for failing to address the issue in the wake of the tragedy, saying: “Soothing words are nice, but maybe it’s time that the two people who want to be President of the United States stand up and tell us what they are going to do about it.”

Since making those statements the mayor’s position on gun control appeared a little shaky as it was revealed that his police department, the NYPD, sold 28,000lbs of spent bullet casings to a store which reloads them and sells them cheaply to customers.

The casings were recovered from the NYPD’s firearms range and sold to Georgia Arms in June. The store paid the NYPD $69,696 for a barrel of bullet casings weighing 28,800lbs, the New York Times reported.

Georgia’s gun laws are more lax than New York city’s and  no identification or registration is required to buy the bullets.

Previously the force has sold the casings to scrap metal dealers but this is thought to be the first know occasion it has sold to a gun store.

The store reloads the casings, turning them back into live ammunition which it then sells in packs of 50 bullets, for about $15 each.

The transaction would be illegal in New York City, where ammunition can be bought only by those who have a gun license. Obtaining a gun license in New York is harder than in most other states in the US.

A spokesman for the Mayor denied that the revelation undermined Mr Bloomberg’s position on gun control.

John Feinblatt, the mayor’s chief policy adviser, said: “He believes that our purpose is to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, not keep guns or ammunition away from law-abiding citizens.

“There’s a big distinction between legal dealers and illegal dealers and criminals and law-abiding citizens. We’re about crime control. We’re not about gun control.”

Rep. Barney Frank Says Marriage Equality is up to The States

According to openly gay Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA), the legalization of same sex marriage is an issue left up to each individual state to deal with.

“There was a fundamental confusion here,’ he said on MSNBC. “There has never been a practical law saying that what marriage is. Marriage has been left to the states.”

The Democratic Party platform drafting committee has unanimously approved language endorsing marriage equality as part of the party’s 2012 platform. Democrats will finalize their platform at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina in September. Frank is a member of the platform drafting committee.

Frank’s comments suggest the party will not seek a federal law to allow same sex couples to marry.

“The point is there is no federal law to be passed,” he explained. “Look at the situation with race. When there were states that would not allow interracial marriage, even after the Civil Rights Act has passed in ’64 and ’65, there was no federal law saying interracial marriage had to be allowed. It was done by the Supreme Court. The constitutional framework has always been states decide who gets married.”

“It has always been up to the states,” Frank added. “The only federal rule on the subject was the Defense of Marriage Act, which the Democrats are trying to overthrow.”