John Sharp to Bill White: Quit anti-gun group

Just received this news item from Texans for John Sharp:

SHARP CALLS ON WHITE TO QUIT NATIONAL ANTI-GUN GROUP

U.S. Senate Candidate says Houston Mayor's membership in New York City coalition is out of step with mainstream Texas

(AUSTIN) — United States Senate candidate John Sharp today called on opponent Bill White to immediately denounce his position in a national anti-gun coalition founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, saying that the Houston Mayor's continued membership in the group is a threat to the rights of law-abiding Texans to own guns.

"Mr. White's war on guns is already making it impossible for him to be elected statewide in Texas," Sharp said. "He should immediately disassociate himself from this anti-gun group so he doesn't also hurt the chances of other Democrats running for public office."

Sharp said a measure in the U.S. Senate last week that would have allowed legal gun owners with valid permits to carry concealed weapons from one state to another failed by just two votes after fierce opposition from the group, known as Mayors Against Illegal Guns.

White is one of only two Texas mayors who are currently a part of the group, which was formed by Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to champion legislation aimed at limiting gun ownership.

Among the top goals of the mayors' anti-gun coalition is to repeal the Tiarht Amendment, which was passed by Congress in 2003 to protect gun owners from the release of their confidential personal information to anyone but a federal law enforcement agency in connection to a specific criminal investigation.

Millions of legal gun owners in Texas could find their constitutional rights threatened by White’s support of the group's agenda, Sharp said. A life member of the National Rifle Association, Sharp has a perfect legislative record in support of the Second Amendment, owns dozens of guns, and is an avid hunter.

New York's Mayor Bloomberg founded the group to promote legislation that would limit gun ownership across the country. The group boasts a membership of more than 400 mayors, mainly from the Northeast and California. Houston Mayor White is a charter member and one of only two Texas mayors who belong to the group.

In addition to advocating the end of the federal Tiarht Amendment, the groups is pushing to create broad new authority for the federal government to register gun show customers and maintain a database of information on legal gun sales that take place at such public events.

Bloomberg's group is widely criticized for its "determination to punish all those who possess" firearms, and a number of high-profile mayors have quit the group, including U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska), who joined the group when he was Anchorage mayor. According to news reports, he realized that "the coalition is working on issues that conflict with the beliefs we share in Alaska about legal gun ownership." (Anchorage Daily News, February 4, 2007.)