October 04, 2009
Stroudsburg borough is lucky to have a mayor who recognizes the difference between legal and illegal guns.

Yet such is the prevailing hostility toward anyone who questions any aspect of gun possession - possession, not ownership - that Mayor Charlie Baughman now finds himself in the sights of the National Rifle Association and Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association.

You see, Baughman recently joined Mayors Against Illegal Guns. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino founded MAIG three years ago. The nationwide coalition of mayors works with police departments and advocacy groups to fight criminals who use or traffic in guns.

That is a commendable mission. But it's not commendable enough to hold legitimacy in the eyes of people who feel that even efforts that distinguish between legal and illegal guns threaten the constitutional rights of legal, law-abiding gun owners. Baughman, himself a gun owner, is not worried about that. He knows that criminals prefer pistols with the serial number filed off, rapid-fire assault weapons that no one could use for deer hunting, guns of all kinds for which there's no legitimate ownership record, and therefore no way to track. Baughman wants to help law enforcement find ways to track these illicit guns, hold irresponsible gun dealers accountable and find and punish criminals who use guns.

Tunnel vision gun owners, spurred by the powerful National Rifle Association, have been sending hostile messages to Baughman urging him to resign from MAIG. The NRA and groups like it hold tremendous sway over gun owners and elected officials. They are suspicious of MAIG, part of whose mission is to oppose federal efforts - many of them championed by the NRA - that make it hard for cities to obtain, use and share information about illegal firearms.

For their part, the NRA and its members constantly seek to expand Americans' gun rights, enshrined in the Second Amendment and among the most liberal in the world, and they are often successful. Earlier this year Congress approved a bill that will allow permitted gun owners to carry their weapons into national parks. As if those hallowed locations harbor desperados from whom park visitors must protect themselves in order to enjoy the scenery.

To his credit, Baughman so far is weathering the hail of verbal bullets gun-rights advocates are shooting his way. He may be in the line of fire among hard-line gun owners, but he has the support of the International Association of Police Chiefs and the National Sheriffs Association. These professionals spend their lives fighting crime and tracking criminals and weapons. They understand all too well the proliferation of illegal guns in America and the difficulties law enforcement agencies have in tracking them and combatting crime. They understand the difference between gun possession and legal, responsible gun ownership. They're on the right side. So is Mayor Baughman.