Miami, FL.—“Yesterday's events surrounding the death of a law enforcement officer and the injury of three others in South Florida, once again brings to our attention the dangerous rise of assault rifles in our streets.  These high powered weapons designed for war have no business in our streets and certainly no business in the hands of criminals who use them against our police and citizenry.”

“I have asked my fellow mayors who are gathered in Trenton, New Jersey, for a meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors leadership, to join me in once again calling on our Congressional leaders to renew the ban on assault weapons.”

“Since the expiration of the ban, we have seen an upward spike in the number of assault weapons in our streets - weapons that have been confiscated by our police and used to commit numerous crimes as the one used in yesterday's senseless murder.”

“While we support the Constitutional rights of all Americans to own legally obtained weapons, we cannot risk that these highly deadly assault weapons fall into the hands of criminals.  The choice is clear: we can rid our cities and streets of these assault weapons, thus making our streets safer, or we can continue to lament the loss of innocent lives as a result of their proliferation.”