An Idaho Mayor Withdraws From Bloomberg's Gun Group

An Idaho mayor has dropped out of Mayor Bloomberg's coalition against illegal guns, city officials said.

The mayor of Idaho Falls, Jared Mr. Bloomberg's coalition in October, but withdrew earlier this month because of pressure from constituents and what he told a local news organization was a sense that the coalition had an " agenda" of preventing guns from entering the hands even of law-abiding gun owners. The coalition is called Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

Mr. Fuhriman declined to comment for this article.

"I found there's probably a little more of an agenda coming from Mayor Bloomberg's office than I anticipated," he told Channel 3, KIDK, on January 2. "So as I looked into it, I could see there was a conflict with the NRA and some of the beliefs we have here in Idaho."

Mr. Fuhriman is the first mayor to drop out of the coalition by his own choice, a spokeswoman for Mr. Bloomberg's office, Virginia Lam, said. A mayor of Pittsburgh, Robert O'Connor, died while in office in September, which caused Pittsburgh to be temporarily withdrawn from the coalition. The current mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, joined the coalition again after taking office. The five states not represented in the coalition are Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

"Our bipartisan coalition of more than 120 mayors from 44 states is committed to cracking down on criminals who possess, sell, and use illegal guns," the mayor's criminal justice coordinator, John Feinblatt, said in a statement. "It's unfortunate that some in the gun lobby have misrepresented the mission of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and have decided to stand in the way of common sense measures to keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals."

Idaho Falls is a city of about 55,000 people nestled in the Rocky Mountains in the southeast corner of the state. A city councilmember, Michael Lehto, said the town is considered to be one of the strongest Republican majorities in Idaho with about 80% voting for the party during primaries. Idaho Falls rarely has a murder and about four armed robberies a year, he said. The right to carry guns is considered an important right because so many people use them to hunt elk and other wildlife in the surrounding region, he said.

The owner of Ski's Guns in Idaho Falls, John Ski, described the city as having a "very, very pro-gun type of situation here."

After Mr. Fuhriman signed onto Mr. Bloomberg 's coalition against illegal guns, some of the Idaho Falls mayor's constituents began writing letters and calling the offices of the mayor and the council members, the president of the City Council, Ida Hardcastle, said.

"There was just a real uprising. They interpreted it as it was taking guns away from people who use them to hunt," Ms. Hardcastle said. "There were some people who were ready to string him up."

A spokesman for the National Rifle Association, Andrew Arulanandam, said the association was making no organized efforts to contact mayors signed onto the Bloomberg coalition, but that many members are opposed to Mr. Bloomberg's approach to reducing the number of illegally acquired guns.

"Upon rudimentary analysis you'll find that the true intent of the Bloomberg effort is not to reduce crime but rather to enact gun control among law-abiding Americans," he said.

Mr. Bloomberg has made a major push to reduce the number of illegally acquired guns entering the city. The New York Police Department has reorganized its gun units and increased enforcement. The mayor has testified in Washington, D.C., for stronger gun laws and founded with Boston's mayor, Thomas Menino, the coalition of mayors. He has filed lawsuits against 28 out-of-state gun dealers for allowing "straw purchases," or gun sales in which one person fills out the paperwork but the gun goes to another. The lawsuits are based on evidence collected by a private investigation firm that conducted sting operations early last year. Six dealers have settled with the city.