Michael Bloomberg vigorously defended the “stop-and-frisk” policy’s targeting of minorities during remarks at the Aspen Institute earlier this month, insisting, “The way you get guns out of the kids’ hands is to throw them against the wall and frisk them.”
The Daily Caller obtained audio of Bloomberg’s remarks, after the Aspen Times reported that Bloomberg representatives had asked the Aspen Institute not to release footage from his appearance.
“We basically honor the wishes of our speakers, and Mayor Bloomberg preferred that we not use the video for broadcast,” said Aspen Institute chief external affairs officer Jim Spiegelman.
Bloomberg directly addressed complaints of racial profiling, telling his audience, “So one of the unintended consequences is, people say ‘Oh, my God you are arresting kids for marijuana that are all minorities.’ Yes, that’s true. Why? Because we put all the cops in the minority neighborhoods. Yes that’s true, why do we do it? Because that’s where all the crime is. And the first thing you can do for people is to stop them getting killed.”
“It’s controversial, but first thing is all of your — 95 percent of your murders and murderers, and murder victims fit one M.O,” he said. “You can just take the description, Xerox it, and pass it out to all of the cops. They are male, minorities, 15 to 25. That’s true in New York, it’s true in virtually every city in America.”
“That’s where the real crime is,” Bloomberg continued. “You’ve got to get the guns out of the hands of the people that are getting killed. First thing you can do to help that group is to keep them alive.”
The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association slammed Bloomberg’s comments in a statement to the Washington Times: “Mayor Bloomberg’s statement that black males should not be allowed to have guns echos similar sentiments made by southern white supremacists in the 19th century.”
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