Mike Royko Quotes

I would like to save lives. Now you know, the gun lobby will say, "You can't stop everybody." And I would agree with that: You can't stop everybody. Isn't it worth stopping as many as possible, saving as many lives as we can? And I think comprehensive background checks and trying to keep guns outta the wrong hands would help us do that.

I hope we will come together as a nation and do whatever it takes to keep guns away from people who have no business with them.

Far too often we see attention paid to the firearm and not the criminal.

There are competing studies on how much crime drops or doesn't drop when there are strict rules on gun possession and sale. I don't think there's any question that New York City's very tough laws have reduced violence.

There's no evidence that registering guns reduces the level of gun violence. It's not that I don't think it's something worth doing, but it's something you do much later.

If there's one crime for which there has to be a certainty of punishment, it is gun violence.

We need a comprehensive strategy that includes expanding criminal background checks for all commercial gun sales, dedicated federal law to combat gun trafficking, and a strong commitment to mental health services.

Even though New York is the safest big city in the nation, there are still far too many illegal guns on our streets. Nearly all of them arrive from out of state - and most are sold by a small group of rogue gun dealers who refuse to obey federal laws.

We are going to trace more effectively, how these guns are ending up on the streets, to unscrupulous gun dealers, who often times are selling to straw purchasers. And cracking down on the various loopholes that exist in terms of background checks for children, the mentally ill.

If you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. The first people who are going to be in line to turn in their guns are law-abiding citizens. Criminals are going to be left with guns. I believe that concealed carry is a way of reducing gun violence.

The most frustrated and most stymied it is the fact that the United States of America is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common-sense, gun-safety laws. Even in the face of repeated mass killings.

Right now - and this is something Donald [Trump] has supported, along with the gun lobby - right now, we've got too many military- style weapons on the streets. In a lot of places, our police are outgunned. We need comprehensive background checks, and we need to keep guns out of the hands of those who will do harm.

Gun control is not the answer to stop crimes committed with firearms.

The gun lobby whips up people and makes them believe that President Obama or I are coming for their guns. Well, that's ridiculous. And he's said it, I have said it. But we do want to save lives by keeping a gun from somebody who shouldn't have it.

There is no law in the world - there is no law unwritten, there's no law on the books - that's gonna stop a criminal from getting a gun.

when guns are outlawed only the outlaws will have guns.

The first thing is we got to make sure we try to keep guns out of the wrong hands. And I want comprehensive background checks.

What is wrong with keeping guns out of the hands of the wrong people?

We've got to get guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.

Well, I think there has to be some (gun) control.

Any new gun control is simply gonna infringe on the law-abiding ability to exercise constitutional rights. There's not a single law that could be written, that has been written, that could be passed that would stop Omar Mateen from getting a gun and shooting people up.

We have to tackle the plague of gun violence, which is a big contributor to a lot of the problems that we're seeing today.

If guns cause crime, all of mine are defective.

They say if you outlaw guns, only outlaws will have guns. Well, those are precisely the people who need them!

I think that dealing with guns is one way to handle the violent-crime issues that we have in this country.