NRA targets Valdosta mayor

By Dean Poling

VALDOSTA — The National Rifle Association has targeted Valdosta Mayor John Fretti as one of several American mayors linked to a national group concerned with the use of illegal guns.

The mayor said he is a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns organization. But Fretti is also a member of the NRA.

He received one of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action flyers along with several other Valdosta-area NRA members and contributors.

The flyer states: “(New York Mayor Michael) Bloomberg created ‘Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ as a front to lobby Congress to oppose important pro-gun reforms and support new federal gun control restrictions. And Valdosta Mayor John Fretti has joined this anti-gun Bloomberg crusade. It is critical that your mayor disassociate himself from this anti-gun group and you can do your part by contacting his office today and urging him to withdraw his MAIG membership.”

The flyer italicizes the next sentence: “Several mayors have already quit the anti-gun Bloomberg coalition and Mayor Fretti should be the next to do so.”

Fretti told The Valdosta Daily Times that he

believes in the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms, but feels the NRA’s flyer has misconstrued MAIG’s work and his participation with the organization.

As a gun owner, Fretti said, he appreciates, supports and practices the right to bear arms. As mayor, he must consider the safety of Valdosta’s police officers and the public.

“I thought it a good idea, being a member of the NRA myself, to enter into the room to discuss how better to provide our law-enforcement officers the tools they need to prevent the flow of illegal guns into our communities and how to better keep the criminal from out-gunning our law-enforcement officers,” Fretti said of his joining what would become MAIG during a U.S. Conference of Mayors.

In an e-mail to The Times, Fretti noted that a small coalition of U.S. mayors successfully garnered an American Civil Liberties Union endorsement for the use of non-lethal, electronic Tasers by law-enforcement officers. Fretti and 12 other U.S. mayors were co-signers of a resolution supporting police use of Tasers. Following this endorsement, the Valdosta Police Department ordered Tasers for each of its officers.

MAIG came from this effort, with a mission of keeping illegal guns out of criminals’ hands “by strengthening the laws and monitoring the illegal weapons while at the same time better protecting our law-enforcement officers from continually being out-gunned,” Fretti said.

“That was it. That was the original intent. The NRA declined to participate at that time saying that ‘you can’t restrict criminals’ access to guns without restricting common law-abiding citizens’ access to guns.’”

In three years, MAIG has grown from 15-member mayors to 450.

“I figured, with the success of the Tasers, there may be an opportunity to come together to find common ground with the NRA to further help our law-enforcement brothers and sisters,” Fretti said. “The NRA declined every year.”

The NRA flyer claims the MAIG is a “misleading name” and characterizes its members as “anti-gun mayors.” MAIG “has lobbied Congress against national reciprocity of state Right-to-Carry permits, against much-needed reform of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, for regulating gun shows out of existence, and for repealing the Tiahrt Amendment that protects the privacy rights of law-abiding gun owners and limits disclosure of sensitive firearm trace data to protect law-enforcement personnel and protect lawful gun manufacturers from reckless lawsuits.”

Fretti disagreed with the NRA’s characterization. “If I find out (MAIG) restricts the rights of law-abiding citizens, I’m out,” he said.

MAIG principles state member mayors “are duty-bound to do everything in our power to protect our residents, especially our children, from harm and there is no greater threat to public safety than the threat of illegal guns.”

MAIG’s mission is to “find innovative new ways” to maximize punishment for criminals using illegal weapons; “target and hold accountable irresponsible gun dealers who break the law by knowingly selling guns to straw purchasers”; opposition to federal efforts to “restrict cities’ right to access, use, and share trace data that is so essential to effective enforcement, or to interfere with the ability of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to combat illegal gun trafficking”; development of technology to detect and trace illegal firearms; support all legislation targeting illegal guns; get more cities to participate in these efforts.

Wal-Mart, which sells firearms, has also joined MAIG, Fretti said, for the “new Responsible Firearms Retailer Partnership, a 10-point code that will help ensure that guns do not fall into the wrong hands.”

So far, the NRA campaign has been successful in both outing MAIG mayors and getting some of them to leave the organization. The flyer campaign began earlier this week, said Andrew Arulanandam, director of NRA’s public affairs.

“Some mayors feel they have been sold a bill of goods, and are just now finding out (MAIG’s) true gun agenda,” Arulanandam said of some MAIG mayors.

If MAIG’s intentions were solely in keeping guns out of the hands of criminals, the NRA would be more positively responsive to the mayors group.

“The NRA takes a backseat to no one in fighting against illegal guns,” Arulanandam said, adding the NRA is for full prosecution of and maximum sentences for criminals who use guns during the commission of a crime.

Yet, the NRA sees MAIG as an advocate for gun control, Arulanandam said. The NRA believes its members in various cities should push for their mayors to leave the MAIG.

If a mayor does leave, the NRA will alert and herald the departure, Arulanandam said.

Since the flyers’ distribution, Fretti said he’s heard from several Valdosta-area NRA members. They ask him why he wants to take their guns away; he responds that he doesn’t want to take away guns from law-abiding citizens.

“As a citizen/supporter of the Second Amendment, it is my personal responsibility to keep the spirit and intent of the amendment strong,” Fretti said. “As mayor, it is my responsibility to keep the streets of our city safe from gun violence, support our police department and continue to fight against the flow of illegal guns into our cities while respecting our citizens’ rights under the Second Amendment.

“Can they both exist? The NRA says no.”

Asked if the NRA flyer will cause him to drop his membership in MAIG, Fretti said it’s a tough decision. Given that he’s a member of both the MAIG and the NRA, he said he may quit both organizations.

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