Bloomberg on gun control: Obama needs to tell the country what to do

Sunday morning on NBC's Meet the Press, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg called for President Barack Obama to lead the nation's gun control effort in the wake of the tragic school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

"It only happens in America and it happens again and again," he said. "There was another shooting yesterday -- three people killed in a hospital. We kill people in schools, we kill them in hospitals, we kill them in religious organizations, we kill them when they are young, we kill them when they are old, and we've just got to stop this."

Following the shooting in Newtown on Friday, which left six adults and 20 children dead, Obama said the country needed to "take meaningful action" to prevent similar tragedies.

"It is time for the President to stand up and lead, and tell this country what we should do," Bloomberg said. "Not go to Congress and say, 'what do you guys want to do?' This should be his number one agenda. He's the President of the United States, and if he does nothing during his second term, something like 48,000 Americans will be killed with illegal guns. That is roughly the number of Americans killed in the whole Vietnam War."

Bloomberg, who has long been an advocate of stricter regulations on gun ownership, said Obama should direct federal agencies to enforce gun laws more aggressively. He also said the President should introduce legislation to Congress, such as an assault weapons ban.

Watch video, uploaded to YouTube, below: