Daley and Bloomberg Won't Take it Anymore

'We're not going to take it anymore'
(http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/112071,CST-NWS-daley26.article)

October 26, 2006

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter
Mayor Daley, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and their counterparts from across the country gathered in Chicago on Wednesday to share their "successes and frustrations" in the never-ending war against gun violence.

The daylong meeting scheduled for today at Chicago's 911 center is the first of three strategy sessions planned by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, an organization formed last spring by Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.


'NRA is really worried'
Bloomberg used this week's execution-style murder of Maywood Police Officer Thomas Wood, 37, as a call to arms for "common sense" gun laws. He called it Wood's "unfinished work ... It's what we owe to his memory."
Asked how a coalition of mayors could possibly counter the political muscle and money of the National Rifle Association, Bloomberg said, "I don't think the NRA is winning. I think the NRA is really worried that, for the first time, mayors who represent ... tens of millions of people in this country are coming together and saying, 'We're not going to take it anymore.' "

Daley's gun control proposals have, for the most part, been shot down by the General Assembly. He suffered a crushing blow in 2004 when his pioneering lawsuit against the gun industry was dismissed by the Illinois Supreme Court.


A 'counterweight'
Daley described the coalition of 109 mayors from 44 states as a "counterweight" to a pro-gun lobby that has had a "disproportionate influence" on federal gun policies.
"We're spending all of our time and effort trying to defeat legislation" that would tie the hands of police officers when it comes to tracing guns used in crimes, Daley said.

"That is a waste of our time," he said.

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