BOSTON – More than 100 mayors have joined Mayor Bloomberg’s crusade against illegal guns, and they’re getting organized with a new Web site and strategy meetings.
Bloomberg, who was in his native Boston yesterday to promote his gun campaign, said he was encouraged by the amount of support he has been getting.
In April, Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Tom Menino hosted the first-ever Gun Summit at Gracie Mansion, with 13 other mayors.
Now mayors from Seattle, New Orleans, Newark Albany and Honolulu have signed on to Bloomberg’s gun coalition, bringing the number to 109.
“We are Republicans, we are Democrats and we are Independent. We represent cities of all sizes from 44 different states,” Bloomberg said during a press conference at Boston’s City Hall.
“But no matter what our differences, we all share one thing in common – a belief that we have a responsibility to do everything possible to take illegal guns off the streets and out of the hands of criminals.”
The diverse coalition is made up of 85 Democrat, 12 Republican, three Independent and nine nonpartisan mayors.
“Each city is different. All of us face different political climates and different state laws, but we want to help each other,” Bloomberg said.
Bloomberg and Menino also unveiled a new Web site – http://www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org – that will provide information on pending legislation and litigation, the latest research on illegal guns and a list of the mayors involved in the crusade.
The coalition has also scheduled three meetings to come up with ways to get the federal government to help them.
The mayors will meet in Chicago later this month and then in Atlanta and Boston next month.
“Our challenge is to convince Congress to stop being soft on crime and start helping us do our job,” Bloomberg said.
“And sadly, our job includes showing up when a police officer gets shot by an illegal gun, and ex plaining to the par ents or spouses and children that their loved one isn’t going to come home.
“Congress doesn’t have to do that,” he said. “For them, [sup porting pro-gun legis lation] is just a cheap way to try to buy votes.”
Menino likened the fight against illegal guns to the war on terror.
“Homeland security must be about protecting American cities and towns,” Menino said.
“Until our streets are rid of illegal guns, we don’t have homeland security.”
Bloomberg has raised his national profile this year by taking on the powerful gun lobby and urging Congress to “take ideology out of law enforcement.”
Joining the battle
More than 100 American mayors have enlisted in Mayor Bloomberg’s “Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition”
* They include 85 Democrats, 12 Republicans, three Independents and nine nonpartisan mayors.
* They come from major cities such as San Diego, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, Honolulu, New Orleans, Seattle, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, Miami, Newark, Atlanta, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Washington, D.C.
* They also come from smaller towns, such as Fargo, N.D., and Idaho Falls, Idaho.