Former New York City Police commissioner Bill Bratton used the Monday morning Times Square subway bombing, which authorities concluded was an act of terror, to discuss gun violence in America.
Police said that 27-year-old Akayed Ullah, an immigrant from Bangladesh who lived in Brooklyn and is now in custody, had a suicide-bomb vest that detonated prematurely, failing to kill anyone in the area. The incident occurred at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a block from Times Square and one of the busiest commuter hubs. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the failed bombing was "an attempted terrorist attack."
Bratton appeared on MSNBC to discuss the attack, where he said that, while terrorism is always a problem, U.S. law enforcement had it largely in check.
"In the whole country since 9/11, the number of deaths committed by terrorists has been a relatively small number," he said in a clip flagged by NewsBusters.
"But some place in America today, some nut with a gun is going to go out and kill three or four people," he added, pivoting the conversation. "Every day we have a mass shooting in this country."
"So while we need to focus a lot of attention on terrorism because it attracts so much attention, at the same time we're a country that's losing tens of thousands of citizens every year to gun violence," Bratton said. "And we don't seem to be able to get control of that in the way we've gotten control over the terrorism issue."
"This is such a good point," host Stephanie Ruhle agreed.