Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam belongs to the anti-gun group Mayors Against Illegal Guns (background here). He has recently begun to distance himself from the group and good for him. As he has stated a few times, he signed the petition that had some core principles that he thought everyone could agree on. Well, here are those principles:
1 – Punish – to the maximum extent of the law – criminals who possess, use, and traffic in illegal guns.
2 – Target and hold accountable irresponsible gun dealers who break the law by knowingly selling guns to straw purchasers.
3 – Oppose all federal efforts to restrict cities’ right to access, use, and share trace data that is so essential to effective enforcement, or to interfere with the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to combat illegal gun trafficking.
4 – Work to develop and use technologies that aid in the detection and tracing of illegal guns.
5 – Support all local state and federal legislation that targets illegal guns; coordinate legislative, enforcement, and litigation strategies; and share information and best practices.
6 – Invite other cities to join us in this new national effort.
And I’ll have to say that, based on the wording, I can see how a politician who isn’t that knowledgeable of gun issues would think they sounded peachy. However, what is said and what is meant are different. In Bloomberg’s case, he has intentionally distorted the meanings of items 2, 3, 4, and 5.
By 2, Bloomberg means to bankrupt lawful dealers with frivolous lawsuits, in which Bloomberg’s investigators likely broke the law.
By 3, he means oppose the Tiahrt Amendment and implies that law enforcement would not be allowed access to trace data. And that implication is false. Even ATF notes that the amendment does not interfere with police ability to trace guns.
By 4, he supports microstamping, an ineffective and expensive pipe dream.
And by 5, they mean more lawsuits and gun control.
The wording of the items may sound reasonable to someone unfamiliar with the issues. But I don’t think Bloomberg meant what Haslam thought he meant.
Other mayors figured it out and quit the group.