The mayor of Rockford, Ill., announced at a city hall meeting that he is leaving Michael Bloomberg’s “Mayors Against Illegal Guns.” And as soon as the pending Illinois concealed carry law goes into effect, Mayor Larry Morrissey said, he’ll apply for a permit.

Morrissey said he is leaving the group, founded by the New York City mayor, because rather than taking illegal guns off the street, as its name implies, the group infringes on the rights of legal gun owners, according to usofarn.com. http://usofarn.com/rockford-mayor-larry-morrissey-leaving-mayors-against-illegal-guns-getting-concealed-carry-permit/

“The reason why I joined the group in the first place was that I took the name for what it said — against illegal guns,” he said.

The challenge of the city’s law enforcement was, in the vast majority of cases, “typical handguns” that are “in the hands of people prohibited from having them,” he said.

Morrissey’s announcement earned him a spirited round of applause at the meeting.

Later, as the mayor took questions from the floor, someone asked, “Do you support concealed carry?”

That was apparently in response to a bill the Illinois General Assembly passed by a veto-proof majority, against the governor’s wishes.

“Yes, I do support concealed carry,” Morrissey answered. “I plan on myself getting a concealed carry permit once they become available in the state of Illinois.”