MAYORS AGAINST ILLEGAL GUNS ANNOUNCES 29 MAYORS
FROM OHIO JOIN BI-PARTISAN COALITION AT CLEVELAND CONFERENCE

Coalition of Mayors Continues to Expand: Over 340 Members Represent More Than 55 Million Americans.

The bi-partisan coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns today announced that 29 new mayors have joined the group that is committed to respecting the rights of gun owners while keeping illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. The announcement was made at a meeting of the group held in Cleveland, hosted by Mayor Frank G. Jackson. Coalition co-chair Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino spoke to the new members of the group, and highlighted the importance of strong leadership at a local level that relies on forging neighborhood partnerships between community members, public safety officials, and youth development agencies.

“The expanding Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition shows that fighting illegal guns isn’t about one political party or another; it’s about public safety,” said coalition co-chair and Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino. “I look forward to working with the Obama administration to refresh our urban public safety agenda. I’m very proud of the progress that we have made in Boston on this issue, and this conference is an opportunity to gather ideas and feedback from the leaders who are on the frontlines waging this battle everyday.”

“The ranks of our coalition continue to grow with like-minded mayors who believe in common sense practices to keep streets safe and guns out of the hands of criminals,” said coalition co-chair and New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. “Mayor Menino and Mayor Jackson should be commended for their work in Ohio and elsewhere. I welcome the 29 new members of the coalition to our fight to fix the broken background check system and to keep the citizens we are responsible for protecting out of harm’s way.”

New York City was represented at the event by John Feinblatt, the Mayor’s Criminal Justice Coordinator.

“Most Americans, including gun owners, support the coalition’s approach to protecting public safety,” said Feinblatt. “Mayors Against Illegal Guns wants to keep guns out of the hands of people who, by law, shouldn’t have them, and the simple truth is this can be done while respecting gun rights. It isn’t an either-or issue, we can and must do both.”

The mayors were also briefed on the Mayors Against Illegal Guns federal legislative agenda. The coalition has proposed a four-point plan to fix the background check system, including: 1) Closing the gun show loophole; 2) Requiring gun dealers to perform criminal background checks on all gun-handling employees; 3) Closing the fire sale loophole that allows dealers whose licenses have been revoked to continue to sell their inventory; and 4) Closing the terror gap that leaves those on the terrorist no-fly list off the list of prohibited purchasers of firearms.

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns, created in April 2006 by Mayors Bloomberg and Menino, has grown to more than 340 mayors. In April, at a National Summit held in Washington, DC, the coalition announced that Wal-Mart, the largest seller of firearms in the nation, adopted the new Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership, a 10-point code developed by Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Wal-Mart. The Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership is a set of policies that include video recording of sales, rigid controls on inventory, checks that gun purchasers are not misrepresenting themselves and the development of a first-of-its kind computerized crime gun trace log for retailers.

With 51 mayors, Ohio now has the most mayors of any state in Mayors Against Illegal Guns. The newest members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, all from Ohio, are: