-You were mayor for 12 years.
-Well, it was supposed to be for four and then eight.
But somehow or other, the law got changed
in the middle of the night. I don't know how it happened.
-Oh, my God! You know exactly
how it happened, yeah. -We had 12 years, yeah.
-Well, you accomplished a lot. -Well, everybody says,
"You did more in the third term than the first and the second,"
but that's not true.
It just takes a long time to do big things.
And so what we delivered in the third term
was started in the first or the second term.
But it just takes a long time to pass laws
and fight legal challenges and build a constituency
and raise the money. And in government
where they have these short terms for mayors,
a lot of cities have two-year terms.
It's ridiculous 'cause they can't get anything done.
-Yeah, I mean, but in those years,
you got pretty major things done.
I mean, the no smoking in bars and restaurants.
-Nobody ever would have thought.
And that's spread all over Europe and Asia
and Latin America. It really is amazing.
-It was amazing.
I didn't think that it would work.
-Nobody wanted a picture
when I was walking down the streets anymore.
But I did get a lot of one-finger waves.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, you certainly did.
What do you think your -- What do you think your
greatest accomplishments were when you were mayor here?
-Well, life expectancy in New York City
is now three years greater than it was
when I came into office,
and three years greater than the national average.
So, if you think about it,
if you have friends anyplace in the country
and you want them to live longer,
bring them to New York. -Wow, I didn't think about that.
-I can't guarantee any one will live three years longer,
but if you have enough friends, it will work.
-Yeah. [ Light laughter ]
What are your key issues now for your presidential campaign?
-Well, everybody cares about public health,
everybody cares about guns,
everybody cares about homeless people in the streets.
People are worried about security internationally.
But I think any -- The thing that most people
are disturbed about is the lack of consistency
in Washington -- the coming and going,
and the lack of focusing on climate change,
which could kill us all. -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
What about gun control?
Maybe you can talk a little bit about that.
-Look, there's a federal law that says
you can't buy a gun if you are a minor,
have psychiatric problems, or have a criminal record.
Every gun store basically follows the law.
The sales on the Internet and sales at gun shows
aren't covered, because those came after the law was written,
and nobody's been willing to change the law.
So what we've got to do is have,
for gun shows and for Internet sales,
the same tests as for gun stores:
can't buy a gun if you're a minor;
can't buy a gun if you have psychiatric problems;
can't buy a gun if you have a criminal record.
And if you do that, you would save
a dramatic, large number of lives.
There's 20 states that have already done it.
The suicide rate's a lot lower,
the murder rate's a lot lower in all of those.
And the trouble is, the other 30 states haven't yet passed it.
And so that's what you could as president.
I think you probably could force a national law.
And if you did that, you would save...
This year, there's going to be 19,000 suicides
with illegal guns and
12,000 homicides with illegal guns.
And you could stop a lot of that.
It's just -- Only country in the world doing it.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You were talking about public health.
Anything -- The number-one things
in your brain right now for public...
-Well, stopping smoking is one of them.
Doing things like having smoke detectors
in your apartment or house
so that you get out quickly in the case of fire.
Putting bars on windows if you live in a high building
and you have young kids, so they don't fall out.
Better restaurant sanitation in the kitchens.
You have these -- We have in New York
a sign on the window -- "A," "B," "C" or "D" --
depending on how clean your kitchen is.
That's saved a lot of lives
because people don't come down with salmonella.
Better traffic signs so you don't have traffic deaths.
I mean, it's a whole bunch of things
that contribute to making things healthier.
And we, for the first time in history --
people are dying from things
that are under their own control.
It used to be that you died from --
you inherited it, you caught something
like, you know, malaria or something like that.
Now it's because of behavior.
And you can control these things.
And just getting people to pay attention --
don't be obese and don't smoke,
and you'll live an awful lot longer.
Just those two things would make most of the difference.
-Before we go, what is the message
that you want to send to everyone,
why you're running for president?
-Replace Donald Trump...
[ Applause ]
...pull the country together,
And make the country's government work.
And that's what, I argue, I bring to the party,
because in New York City,
the government worked for 12 years.
You can do the same thing at a national level.
And we can actually implement
the things that Congress keeps passing
and they never fund,
and nobody ever does anything about it.
It's time to say, no, we're gonna get our lunch eaten
by China and other countries around the world.
Our educational system used to be in the top 10.
Today, it's barely in the top 50.
In a world where education is going to be more important,
you just cannot do this.
You'll never end poverty unless you fix education.
One thing we should focus on. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Michael Bloomberg, thank you so much for coming.