NEW YORK -- Mayor Michael Bloomberg has never shied from using his political post and his personal fortune to push for gun control, but he's in a new, unsought spotlight after ricin-laced letters were sent to him and a group he helps lead.
Bloomberg, speaking Friday on his weekly WOR Radio show, shrugged off any spectre of danger.
"There's always threats, unfortunately. That comes with the job," the mayor said. "I trust the police department and I feel perfectly safe. I've got more danger from lightning than from anything else and I'll go about my business."
He added, "We're certainly going to keep working on getting guns off the streets, out of the hands of criminals and people with mental problems."
The poisoned letters to Bloomberg and the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns essentially threatened that "anyone who comes for my guns will be shot in the face," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Thursday.
Later, the Secret Service disclosed that a similar letter had been sent to President Barack Obama.
The letters arrived after Bloomberg played a prominent role in a now-stalled push for new firearms laws in response to the December school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut.
"The work Mayor Bloomberg does is vitally important to our cause, and our thoughts are with them this week," Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said in a statement Thursday.
Thanks to his office and pocketbook, the billionaire mayor has become a uniquely influential figure in the gun debate.
Vice-President Joe Biden said in March that "there has been no support that has been more consequential" than Bloomberg's in the recent, White House-fueled press for new gun restrictions. And the powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association has made clear it sees Bloomberg as a leading foe.
Representatives for the NRA and another gun-rights advocacy group, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, didn't immediately respond to inquiries Thursday about Bloomberg's stature in the gun-control debate.
As leader of the nation's biggest city, Bloomberg says he feels mayors are on the front lines of a fight against gun violence -- and that killings and shootings have dropped to historic lows in New York during his nearly 12-year tenure. And he has pursued the fight elsewhere.
His administration has set up gun-buying stings in other states to highlight what it said were illegal sales, on the premise that many illicit guns in New York were bought elsewhere. The city has sued dozens of out-of-state gun dealers, resulting in court-appointed monitoring for many. One South Carolina dealer also ended up pleading guilty to a federal weapons charge.
Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which now includes more than 900 mayors. Financed partly by Bloomberg , the non-profit group has spread its message through such means as a Super Bowl ad this year and another, $12 million ad campaign less than two months later.
The White House and Bloomberg letters were intercepted at mail facilities before reaching the president or mayor. The third was opened by the mayors' group director, Mark Glaze.
Three New York police officers who examined the letter to Bloomberg experienced minor symptoms that have since abated, authorities said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ricin is found naturally in castor beans. Exposure can cause difficulty breathing, vomiting and redness on the skin.
The letters were the latest in a string of toxin-laced missives, but authorities would not say whether the letters to Bloomberg and Obama were believed to be linked to any other recent case.
In Washington state, a 37-year-old was charged last week with threatening to kill a federal judge in a letter that contained ricin.
About a month earlier, letters containing the substance were addressed to Obama, a U.S. senator and a Mississippi judge. One of the letters was traced back to a Mississippi man who was arrested.
