By CHRIS BRISTOL
Yakima Herald-Republic

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakima Mayor Dave Edler complained Monday that he's being targeted by the National Rifle Association for his membership in a gun-control organization called Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Edler said that local members of the NRA have been pressuring him in recent days to quit the "anti-gun" group, which he described as a nonpartisan organization made up of more than 450 mayors across the country.

"This organization's sole desire is to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals, the mentally ill and juveniles," he said during a media briefing at City Hall.

Edler said Yakima's problems with gang violence are well documented and that Washington state is the No. 4 exporter of illegal firearms to Mexico and the No. 1 exporter to Canada.

"It's an issue of law and order and life and death," he said.

A flier that is being distributed by the NRA accuses Mayors Against Illegal Guns of being a front group formed by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to support new federal restrictions on guns.

The flier said the group wants to regulate gun shows "out of existence," opposes reform of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and supports repeal of a federal law known as the Tiahrt Amendment that limits the disclosure of sensitive firearm trace data.

Edler accused the NRA of exaggerating or mischaracterizing the group's goals. For example, he said the mayors group wants sellers at gun shows to have to perform the same kind of background checks that gun dealers must perform.

"The goal is to target irresponsible sales of guns," he said, not gun sales in general.

Russ Harman, a retired electrician and treasurer of the NRA-affiliated Yakima Rifle and Pistol Association, said he had received an alert from the NRA about Edler's involvement in the mayors group.

Harman said he has known Edler for years and shares the mayor's concerns about the need for gun show background checks.

And though he believes Edler is personally honorable, Harman said experience with opponents of gun rights make him skeptical about the true purpose of groups like Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

"Somebody always jumps on the bandwagon," he said, adding that "anything that chips away at our base beliefs is a bad thing."

* Chris Bristol can be reached at 509-577-7748 or cbristol@yakimaherald.com.