Mayor Wants President to Get Tough on Guns; Son of Gun-Toting Civil Rights Leader Blames Violent Entertainment

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants President Obama to re-emphasis new gun control proposals in the State of the Union address; as per my column last week on Loughner's so-far wan effects on ginning up political energy for new gun control, Bloomberg's call is likely to be futile.

In a press conference, Bloomberg, one of the linchpins of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, called for better and more efficient background checks that he thinks should better capture anyone's interactions with the mental health system anywhere. Joining Bloomberg at the press conference was Martin Luther King III, son of the slain civil rights leader (even though, as Damon Root noted here last week, King himself wisely was known to be armed for self-defense), who emphasized not just gun laws but a popular culture filled with violence; but called not for censorship but for "self-censorship" to solve that problem.