Michael R. Bloomberg

One of the most effective ways that government can fight poverty is to help individuals and families prepare for and manage financial distress -- when a job disappears, or wages are cut, or the bills pile up too high. And right now, with unemployment above 8 percent, and with many...

Over the next few days, the Obama administration will decide whether to address a major public health challenge facing the country: the large amount of mercury that continually pours out of coal-fired power plants, contaminating our air and drinking water.

Every year, mercury from coal-fired power plants is responsible for...

How difficult is it for criminals, the mentally ill, and drug abusers to buy guns in Arizona?

We sent undercover investigators with hidden cameras to find out, and the answer is: not difficult at all. Just 15 days after the horrible tragedy in Tucson, our investigators found that people who may be prohibited by federal law from purchasing guns can nevertheless buy them as easily as a hamburger with fries at the local McDonald's.

The investigators visited a Phoenix gun show as a follow-up to a 2009 undercover investigation we conducted at gun shows across Ohio, Tennessee, and Nevada. In that investigation, we found out just how easy it is for criminals and the mentally ill to walk in and buy guns - no questions asked. It called attention to a huge loophole in the law that enables criminals and other dangerous people like drug abusers and the mentally ill to get guns without having to go through a background check.

Since then, four of the seven gun shows we investigated have decided to require background checks for all gun sales. At the time of the investigation, those four gun shows hosted 198 private sellers who were offering 2,600 firearms for sale in just one weekend. Furthermore, ATF has now investigated one of the unlicensed gun dealers we caught on camera making illegal sales in Nevada, and they seized a stockpile of 800 guns he was keeping at his house in Mesa, Arizona.

It's great news that four of the seven gun shows from the initial investigation have decided to change their practices. But the reality is that the practice of selling to prohibited purchasers is widespread, as we saw again at a gun show in Arizona.

Screenshot from video showing an unlicensed private seller making an illegal sale to an undercover investigator, January 23 Crossroads of the West Gun Show, Phoenix, AZ.

Our investigators went to the Crossroads of the West gun show in Phoenix. You can watch the undercover videos and ask Congress to close the loopholes in our gun background check system at gunshowundercover.org.

The investigation sought to answer two simple questions:

First, how easy is it to buy a gun without a background check?

It's easy. At the gun show, an investigator bought - with no background check - a Glock 19 with an extended magazine, similar to the gun Jared Loughner allegedly used to kill six and wound 13 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. Unfortunately, under current federal laws, that sale was legal.

The second question we ask was would private sellers sell guns to people who said they probably couldn't pass a background check?

Again, the answer was yes. An investigator bought two handguns from two different private sellers, even after they said they probably couldn't pass a background check.

This fits the pattern of illegal activity at gun shows that we uncovered in 2009 - and it's all the more frustrating that it's happening just a little more than a hundred miles away from Tucson.

An undercover investigator holding a Glock 19 with a 33-round magazine purchased without a background check at the January 23 Crossroads of the West Gun Show, Phoenix, AZ.

In 2009, 19 out of 30 private sellers made the sale in spite of the law, which says even private sellers are prohibited from selling to anyone they have reason to suspect could not pass a background check. This time, two private sellers in Arizona did the same thing.

We did these investigations for two reasons: to expose a glaring gap in the nation's gun laws, and to urge Congress to take notice - and take action. Unfortunately, they've done nothing to close this deadly loophole in our background checks.

Last week, our coalition announced a new plan to fix gaps and close loopholes in our nation's gun laws. Visit gunshowundercover.org to watch today's new videos and ask Congress to finally take action.

As I said after our first investigation in 2009, the vast majority of gun buyers at gun shows are law abiding citizens. Requiring background checks on all gun sales will not detract from anyone's Second Amendment rights. What it will do is send the message that we're no longer going to make it easy for criminals to get around the law.

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Today, I joined Martin Luther King III and survivors, family members and friends of the victims of the shootings in Tucson, Virginia Tech, and Columbine and other incidents of gun violence that happen every day but never make the headlines. We launched a national campaign urging Congress to take two...

The shooting in Tucson, Arizona has affected our entire country. In the days since, as we have prayed for the victims and survivors, we have also reflected on the lessons we might learn.

Yesterday, again, many of us contemplated the tragedy of gun violence as we came together to mark...

On Sunday January 9, 2011, Mike attended services honoring the first anniversary of the Haitian earthquake at Evangelical Crusade of Fishers of Men Church in Brooklyn, where he spoke about the tragic events in Arizona on January 8. The following are Mayor Mike Bloomberg's remarks as delivered.

I walked...

A handful of states with weak gun laws are the largest contributors to the U.S. market for illegally trafficked guns. That's the alarming finding of the new report "Trace the Guns: The Link Between Gun Laws and Interstate Gun Trafficking," a groundbreaking report issued today by Mayors Against Illegal Guns,...

The following are New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's remarks as delivered on Governors Island.

We have come here to Governors Island to stand where the earliest settlers first set foot in New Amsterdam, and where the seeds of religious tolerance were first planted. We've come here to see...

Henry David Thoreau wrote that, "City life is millions of people being lonesome together." Viewed from afar, city life can indeed appear impersonal and isolated. But that view, to turn a rural cliché on its head, misses the trees for the forest. Most cities are really a collection of local...

It's amazing but true: we can prevent terror suspects from boarding an airplane, but the FBI doesn't have the power to block them from buying dynamite or an AK-47.

I believe strongly that they should. And so do the 500 mayors who are members of our bi-partisan coalition of...

Today is the 11th anniversary of the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School, which left 13 dead.

Last Friday was the 3rd anniversary of the 2007 mass shooting at Virginia Tech, which left 32 dead.

And since those dark days, tens of thousands more Americans have been killed with...

Ever wonder how criminals are able to get guns so easily? It's depressingly simple. On any given weekend, at dozens of gun shows held in states across the country -- criminals can buy guns from "private sellers" who are not required to perform background checks.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco...