US mayors call for end to laws preventing them from creating local gun control

A group of nearly a dozen mayors from across the country are calling on state legislatures to lift laws that bar municipalities from enacting local gun restrictions. 

In an op-ed published by USA Today on Saturday, Tallahassee, Fla., Mayor Andrew Gillum; Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Portland, Ore., Mayor Ted Wheeler demanded that state lawmakers “get out of the way” and allow cities to pass their own gun laws.

They decried “gun preemption,” which blocks municipalities from enacting firearm restrictions that may conflict with state law, and blamed lobbying groups like the National Rifle Association for pushing such policies. 

{mosads}

“It’s happening in your state. And it’s happening because lobbyists and special interests know it’s easier to influence a few state lawmakers in 50 state capitols than thousands of local mayors and city councils,” the mayors wrote.

They were joined in the op-ed by eight other mayors: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey; Topeka, Kan., Mayor Michelle De La Isla; Orlando, Fla., Mayor Buddy Dyer; Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Sly James; Ann Arbor, Mich., Mayor Christopher Taylor; Dayton, Ohio, Mayor Nan Whaley; St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson and Providence, R.I., Mayor Jorge Elorza. 

The call to end such state laws comes amid a renewed debate over gun control in the U.S. that began last month after a deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.