NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg: President Barack Obama's top priority should be guns

NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City's mayor says that in the wake of the Connecticut shooting rampage, President Barack Obama's priority should be to lead the country on gun control.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the president's job "is to perform and to protect the American public."

Bloomberg has been an outspoken gun control advocate for years. He notes that New York state has some of the toughest gun laws in the country, and New York City the lowest murder rate of any big American city.

The mayor says it's time for Obama to stand up and tell the country what needs to happen, not go to Congress and ask what lawmakers want to do.