More cities join national gun safety coalition

WASHINGTON - Despite a federal lawsuit challenging a major provision of a sweeping national gun safety plan, federal officials said Thursday the number of cities joining the effort has grown to 190 communities and continues to swell.

''To get 190 communities is an overwhelmingly supportive response,'' said Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo, an architect of the gun safety plan introduced by President Clinton in March.

Last month, Smith & Wesson, the nation's largest gun maker, agreed to install gun locks on all the firearms it sells, the introduction within three years ''smart gun'' technology and the prohibition on sales of its weapons at gun shows without a background check.

In return, Smith & Wesson will be the preferred choice for law enforcement officials in the 190 communities that have joined the Communities for Safer Guns Coalition. On March 31, the coalition included just 65 communities. The 125 new coalition members announced Thursday include Peoria, Ill.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Trenton, N.J., and Reno, Nev.

Communities on the list range in size from behemoths like Los Angeles and the Brooklyn borough of New York to smaller Burnsville, Minn., and North Little Rock, Ark.

But the plan to give Smith & Wesson a leg up on its competitors is now facing a legal challenge since seven gun makers and an industry group filed a federal suit Wednesday in Atlanta alleging an illegal conspiracy in restraint of trade.

Cuomo told a news conference Thursday that the lawsuit misses the mark.

''After the Smith & Wesson agreement, there are two types of gun manufacturers: safe and unsafe. Working with law enforcement, we prefer to do business with the safe manufacturers,'' Cuomo said.

Under the gun safety plan, purchasing agents for law enforcement officials in those communities will buy Smith & Wesson guns, provided that model and cost factors dovetail with the city's needs.

It is that preferential buying provision that rankled the gun manufacturers and pushed them to file suit.

''We have a handful of local government officials trying to decide gun distribution and design patterns across the United States,'' said Jeff Reh, general counsel for Beretta U.S.A., one of the seven gun makers suing HUD and 16 cities in the coalition. ''The mayors are trying to expand their authority beyond where they were elected.''

At the HUD press conference, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., called the lawsuit ''laughable'' and added, ''It seems the gun industry is spoiling for a fight. To that we say, 'Make our day.'''

Aside from HUD, also named in the lawsuit were the California communities of San Francisco, Berkeley, East Palo Alto, Inglewood, Oakland, and San Mateo; as well as Bridgeport, Conn.; Atlanta; Miami-Dade County, Fla.; Gary, Ind.; Boston; Detroit; St. Louis; Newark, N.J.; Philadelphia; and the District of Columbia.