Bloomberg to Aspen Institute: Don’t Distribute The Footage Where I Said Let’s Take Guns Away From Minorities

Matt Vespa | February 15, 2015 2:25 PM

Three-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is asking the Aspen Institute not to distribute footage from his appearance last week, which included remarks about minorities and gun control. Both Aspen and Grassroots TV, who recorded the event, are going to honor the former Mayor of New York’s wishes (via Summit Daily):

Michael Bloomberg representatives have asked the Aspen Institute not to distribute footage of his recent appearance in Aspen, where the three-term New York City mayor made pointed comments concerning minorities and gun control.

Both the Institute and GrassRoots TV, the organization that filmed the event, confirmed Thursday that they will not broadcast the footage online or on television as planned.

“We basically honor the wishes of our speakers and Mayor Bloomberg preferred that we not use the video for broadcast,” the Institute’s chief external affairs officer Jim Spiegelman wrote in an email Friday. “He did not give a reason nor did we have any reason to ask for one. We often feature speakers who prefer that their presentations not be videotaped.”

In that appearance, Bloomberg discussed education and blasted Colorado’s initiative to legalize marijuana. He also said that in order to save lives, firearms must be taken away from minorities (via Aspen Times) [emphasis mine]:

Three-term New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg harped on the importance of vocational education and blasted Colorado’s decision to legalize marijuana as stupid Friday evening before a sold-out crowd at the Aspen Institute.

…

Moderator Jennifer Bradley, director of the Center for Urban Innovation at the Institute, then asked what the U.S. can do to get people out of poverty. Bloomberg responded that conventional wisdom points to education, but education isn’t going to help uneducated adults. Bradley later asked how government can offer basic fairness to the children “who have been failed.”

Bloomberg claimed that 95 percent of murders fall into a specific category: male, minority and between the ages of 15 and 25. Cities need to get guns out of this group’s hands and keep them alive, he said.

“These kids think they’re going to get killed anyway because all their friends are getting killed,” Bloomberg said. “They just don’t have any long-term focus or anything. It’s a joke to have a gun. It’s a joke to pull a trigger.”