An official says he expects the mayors will work through Michael Bloomberg's group. Mayors to 'grade' gun-makers

If certain gun manufacturers refuse to address public safety concerns about firearms and ammunition, dozens of Democratic mayors intend to take their business elsewhere.

Amid a nationwide push for new gun regulations, members of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors have decided to launch an initiative grading gun manufacturers on their compliance with public safety goals. The companies that are least supportive may find it harder to sell their wares to police departments across the country.


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Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, who heads the Democratic mayors group, said the initiative grew out of an epiphany this week: that cities spend millions of dollars a year as customers of these companies, even while their agendas clash on Capitol Hill.

“When we were lobbying on Capitol Hill, it became clear that our goal of trying to pass laws that make it easier to make our communities safe was going to be opposed by the gun and ammunition manufacturers. We recognize as mayors, we help fund that, because we are one of the largest purchasers of guns and ammunition in the country,” Rybak told POLITICO in an interview Saturday morning.

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“So at the Democratic mayors meeting last night, we agreed that we would all go back to our communities, gather information from our police chiefs and procurement officers about how many guns and how much ammunition we purchase, bring that in from the Democratic mayors so that we have a common list of how much money we’re spending, what purchases are pending and who we’re buying from.”

Then, Rybak said, he expects Democratic mayors will work through the umbrella group Mayors Against Illegal Guns – the national gun-control advocacy group launched by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg – to rate the manufacturers.

“Then we’re going to do everything we can as mayors to use … the collective buying power of many millions of dollars in guns and ammunition, to support those who will support common-sense laws and oppose those who are fighting us in Congress,” Rybak said. “I am not going to have the people, the taxpayers of Minneapolis, pay for people to stop the Congress from passing laws that keep our people safe.”

He continued: “It’s especially galling, paying money from our police departments to produce loopholes that allow illegal handguns into my communities that could be used against police officers.”

Gun control and public safety have been dominant topics at the U.S. Conference of Mayors gathering in Washington this week, where the Democratic mayors group met Friday night. Rybak said that in the decade-plus worth of USCM meetings he’s attended, “There’s never been an issue that has so dominating the meetings as guns have dominated this one.”

The National Conference of Democratic Mayors passed a resolution Friday night expressing support for the Obama administration’s gun control and public safety proposals, which Vice President Joe Biden described to the mayors this week.

While mayors in different parts of the country have reacted differently to the federal proposals, city executives have been broadly supportive of new measures to crack down on gun crimes and promote information-sharing between state and local authorities.

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Rybak said that if Congress were to pass legislation with three broad components – a mandate for universal background checks, a ban on high-capacity magazines and new information-sharing measures on crime and mental health – that would be a considerable help.

“That would be a huge win,” he said.