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Sunday, Mar 24, 2013 4:57 PM UTC

Sunday Show round-up: Bloomberg vs. LaPierre

Bloomberg says "insane" things about guns, argued Wayne LaPierre; and more from the Sunday shows

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Topics: DoMA, Sunday shows, Michael Bloomberg, Rand Paul, Gun Control, Wayne LaPierre,

Sunday Show round-up: Bloomberg vs. LaPierre (Credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

This week’s Sunday shows put New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the National Rife Association, on opposite sides of the gun control debate. Here are the highlights:

On gun control:

Michael Bloomberg, who launched a $12 million ad blitz to push for gun control, promised that Congress would have a vote on an assault weapons ban. “We’ve been fighting since 2007 to get a vote. We are going to have a vote for sure on assault weapons and we’re going to have a vote on background checks,” he said on “Meet the Press.” Bloomberg added: “If we were to get background checks only, it wouldn’t be as good as if we got both, but look, we demanded a plan and then we demanded a vote. We’ve got the plan, we’re going to get the vote.”

Wayne LaPierre later slammed Bloomberg’s effort. “He can’t spend enough of of his $27 billion to try to impose his will on the American public,” LaPierre said on “Meet the Press.” He added that Bloomberg is “so reckless in terms of his comments on this whole gun issue.”

“We have people all over, millions of people, sending us 5, 10, 15, 20 dollar checks saying stand up to this guy that says that we can only have three bullets, which is what he said,” LaPierre said. “Stand up to this guy that says ridiculous things like, ‘The NRA wants firearms with nukes on them.’ I mean it’s insane the stuff he says.”

Colorado’s Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, who recently signed into law a strict crackdown on guns in the state, admitted on “State of the Union” that an assault weapons ban is a “tough sell.”

“I think the feeling right now around assault weapons, at least in Colorado, is that they are so hard to define what an assault weapon is… there’s a lot of questions whether the 10 year federal ban was in existence, made a difference,” he said.

On gay marriage:

Though Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., wouldn’t say whether he thinks the Supreme Court should strike down DOMA, he did say that he believes federal laws should be more “neutral” on gay marriage, and leave it up to the states. ”I think there’s a chance the court could strike down the federalization of part of it,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “If they do, I think the way to fix it is maybe to try to make all of our laws more neutral towards the issue — and I don’t want the government promoting something I don’t believe in but I also don’t mind if the government tries to be neutral on the issue.”

David Boies, one of the lawyers arguing against Proposition 8, predicted that opponents of the ban would win the case before the Supreme Court. ”I think we’re gonna win,” he said on “Meet the Press.” “I don’t think we’re gonna win five-four.”

“I don’t think that this is the kind of issue that’s going to divide the court the way some other issues divide the court,” he added.

On Syria:

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said that the “red line has been crossed” by Syrian President Bashir al-Assad. “When you look at the whole body of information over the last two years, there is mounting evidence that the Assad regime has used at least a small quantity of chemical weapons throughout the course of this conflict,” he said.

Jillian Rayfield

Jillian Rayfield is an Assistant News Editor for Salon, focusing on politics. Follow her on Twitter at @jillrayfield or email her at jrayfield@salon.com. More Jillian Rayfield.

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