BELLEVUE, WA – This morning’s vicious New York City subway attack by a madman armed with cordless electric power saws is just more proof that Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s on-going campaign against guns is misguided and myopic, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA) said today.

One man was brutally slashed across the chest, and other subway riders were terrorized by the unidentified assailant, who grabbed the saws off a workbench.

“How many times must we remind Bloomberg that it’s the criminal, stupid, not the weapon he uses,” CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb wondered. “Here is yet another text book case in which there might have been a different outcome had there been a legally-armed citizen present to intervene.

“But Bloomberg’s strategy is to retain, and expand, New York City’s Draconian gun laws, not repeal them,” Gottlieb said. “He wants to declare war on gun dealers in other states, and push New York-style gun laws across the country that would prevent law-abiding citizens from legally owning and carrying defensive firearms. However, his policies can’t prevent thugs from stabbing people in his city, or keep lunatics from grabbing common tools to inflict great harm on defenseless citizens.

“Crimes like this are possible because of easy access to power tools, left lying around where children or crazy people can get their hands on them,” Gottlieb observed. “Why weren’t those dangerous tools locked up? Anyone can walk into a store and purchase a power saw, no questions asked. Once such a device falls into the wrong hands, it can become a terrible weapon. Still, we haven’t seen Bloomberg out campaigning against circular saws, electric drills or even deadly claw hammers.”

Recalling a line from the classic western Shane, Gottlieb noted, “A gun is a tool. It’s no better or worse than any other tool; a knife, a power saw, you name it. It’s only as good or as bad as the man using it. After today, Mayor Bloomberg better remember that before he ever again goes off half-cocked about firearms.”