Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition

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Categories: Gun control advocacy groups in the United States | Gun politics in the United States

Gun interest groups in the U.S.
Pro-gun rights
Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Gun Owners of America JPFO Law Enforcement Alliance of America Liberty Belles National Rifle Association Pink Pistols Second Amendment Foundation Second Amendment Sisters Students for Concealed Carry on Campus
Pro-gun control
Americans for Democratic Action Americans for Gun Safety Foundation Brady Campaign Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence Coalition to Stop Gun Violence League of Women Voters American Hunters and Shooters Association

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition is a coalition of mayors from 225 different United States cities, with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The group was formed on April 25, 2006, during a summit held at Gracie Mansion in New York City that was hosted by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The initial group consisted of 15 mayors; the 15 drafted and signed a statement of principles^[1] and set a goal to expand their membership to 50 mayors by the end of 2006. That goal was met six months ahead of schedule, and led to its current membership of 225 mayors.^[2]

The Coalition contains mayors from both major political parties, and its statement of principles has received the endorsement of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National Conference of Black Mayors ^[3].

1 Origin
2 Tiahrt Amendment
3 Criticism and Controversy
4 Participating Mayors
5 External links
6 References

Origin

Mayors Against Illegal Guns is funded in part by a $175,000 grant ^[4] from the Joyce Foundation, a Chicago-based non-profit organization which supports gun control measures.^[5].

Tiahrt Amendment

One of the primary goals of the organization is to undo the Tiahrt Amendment. Since its passage in 2003 as an amendment to an appropriations bill, the Amendment has forbidden the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives *(ATF) from releasing information from its firearms trace database to anyone other than a law enforcement agency or prosecutor in connection with a criminal investigation, and any data so released is deemed inadmissible in a civil lawsuit.^[6] The mayors contend that the Amendment restricts access of cities and law enforcement to gun trace data, hindering municipal police departments' ability to track down sellers of illegal guns.^[7] Mayor Bloomberg has called the Amendment "an insult to the thousands of police officers that face the threat of illegal guns."^[8] During a breakfast meeting sponsored by the Lady's Home Journal, Bloomberg called the Fraternal Order of Police a "fringe organization" after it opposed his efforts to repeal the Tiahrt Amendment. "I would say resident within the Fraternal Order of Police is far more expertise with the administration of justice than Mayor Bloomberg's limited experience in that area," shot back James Pasco, the group's executive director.^[9]

In July, 2007, after the House Appropriations Committee rebuffed attempts to repeal the amendment, the Senate Appropriations Committee went further, approving a bill that, according to the New York Times, "threatens law enforcement officials with prison time for using gun tracing data beyond a specific investigation, say, for identifying and targeting trafficking patterns."^[10]

Criticism and Controversy

The ATF, along with the Fraternal Order of Police^[11] and the Southern States Police Benevolent Association^[12] oppose repealing the Tiahrt Amendment.

Five mayors have withdrawn from the organization, claiming that they were misled about the group's anti-gun platform.^[13]^[14]^[15] They are: Idaho Falls Mayor Jared Fuhriman; Carmel, Indiana Mayor James Brainard; Rio Rancho, New Mexico Mayor Kevin Jackson; Anchorage, Alaska Mayor Mark Begich; and Oldmans Township, New Jersey Mayor Harry Moore^[16].

Mayor Bloomberg has been criticized by Virginia's Attorney General, Robert F. McDonnell, for sending private investigators to conduct "sting" operations of gun shops in the Commonwealth without coordinating these investigations with state or Federal law enforcement agencies, thereby possibly compromising on-going investigations. In reaction to these "sting" operations, the state legislature passed legislation making it a felony to engage in private investigations of gun shops without state or Federal law enforcement officials present. ^[17]