29 CITIES & COUNTIES AND THREE STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL JOIN WITH CLINTON ADMINISTRATION TO FORM COMMUNITIES FOR SAFER GUNS COALITION

WASHINGTON - Officials from 29 cities and counties, and three State Attorneys General today joined with the Clinton Administration to form the Communities For Safer Guns Coalition, which will support purchase preferences by government law enforcement agencies for guns made by companies that have adopted new gun safety and dealer responsibility standards.

The announcement was made in Washington by: Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo; White House Domestic Policy Advisor Bruce Reed; Senator Charles Schumer of New York; Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy of New York; Attorneys General J. Joseph Curran of Maryland, Eliot Spitzer of New York, and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut; Mayor Bill Campbell of Atlanta, Mayor Joseph Ganim of Bridgeport, CT and Mayor Blanca Vela of Brownsville, TX. Many of the other elected officials joining the coalition participated in the press conference via telephone.

The following cities announced today that they will support giving a gun purchase preference to any gun maker adopting the new gun safety and dealer responsibility standards agreed to last week by gun maker Smith & Wesson, the Clinton Administration, local governments and attorneys general:

CALIFORNIA: Berkeley, East Palo Alto, Hemet, Inglewood, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jacinto, Santa Barbara. CONNECTICUT: Bridgeport, Stamford. FLORIDA: Miami-Dade County. GEORGIA: Atlanta and Fulton County. HAWAII: Honolulu. INDIANA: Bloomington, Gary. LOUSIANA: New Orleans. MASSACHUSETTS: Boston, Gloucester, Springfield. MICHIGAN: Detroit and Flint. MISSOURI: St. Louis. NEW JERSEY: East Orange and Newark. OHIO: Akron. RHODE ISLAND: Providence. TEXAS: Brownsville. WISCONSIN: Madison.

"As President Clinton has said, governments at every level should use their procurement policies to support manufacturers who take responsible steps to make guns safer and to keep guns out of the wrong hands," Cuomo said. "It's common sense for police to buy guns from a company that makes it harder for criminals to get hold of guns that can be used against police and civilians."

Senator Schumer expressed strong support for the new coalition, saying: "This program should be replicated in every law enforcement agency and I applaud Secretary Cuomo for initiating it. Congress should work with the Administration to see that this initiative applies to all federal agencies and I plan to introduce an amendment to the budget resolution to ensure that happens."

Smith & Wesson - the nation's largest handgun maker - became the first manufacturer to adopt the new gun safety and dealer responsibility standards Friday. Under the agreement, Smith & Wesson agreed to make major changes in the design, distribution and marketing of guns to make them safer and to help keep them out of the hands of children and criminals. The local governments, federal government, and the Attorneys General of Connecticut and New York agreed to drop pending lawsuits or not bring possible lawsuits against Smith & Wesson.

Governments in the Communities for Safer Guns Coalition are inviting more local governments to join them in their gun purchase preference policy. Representatives from each level of government will reach out to their counterparts.

If other gun makers adopt the same changes made by Smith & Wesson, they will also receive a purchase preference from governments in the Coalition when the governments buy comparable guns for police departments and other law enforcement agencies.

It is estimated that governments at all levels may purchase as many as one-third of the guns manufactured in the United States, so a preference by governments for guns that meet certain standards can act as an incentive to manufacturers to adopt those standards - much as the demand for certain types of cars by motorists prompts auto makers to make more such vehicles.

Last week Cuomo announced he will propose a regulation encouraging the nation's 3,200 public housing authorities to give preference in their gun purchases to any gun makers that adopt the new gun safety and dealer responsibility standards.

In addition to covering gun purchases by housing authorities, the regulation will encourage the authorities to apply the same requirement to private subcontractors that provide security at housing developments. Purchases by housing authorities will have to be made consistent with all local, state and federal procurement laws and regulations.

The agreement signed by Smith & Wesson requires the company to: 1) Install mandatory gun locks and other child-safety devices on all guns. 2) Introduce "smart gun" technology in all newly designed handguns within three years that allows guns to be fired only by the owner. 3) Bar gun sales - including gun show sales - without a background check of the buyer. 4) Limit the delivery of multiple handgun sales.

Representatives of the following cities and counties that filed lawsuits against gun manufacturers have approved the agreement and pledged to drop their lawsuits against Smith & Wesson in exchange for the company's landmark reforms: Miami-Dade County, FL; Los Angeles, Inglewood, San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, West Hollywood and Berkeley in California; Bridgeport, CT; Atlanta, GA; Camden and Newark in NJ; St. Louis, MO; Detroit, MI; and Gary, IN.; Boston; and New Orleans. More of the remaining 12 local governments with pending lawsuits against gun makers soon could decide to sign the agreement.

The agreement is the product of negotiations between HUD, the Treasury Department and local governments with Smith & Wesson that were designed to settle lawsuits already filed against Smith & Wesson and to make new ones unnecessary.

The agreement is designed to reduce the toll of gun violence, which annually claims over 30,000 lives and injures another 100,000 people in crimes, accidents and suicides around the nation.

A commission made up of two representatives from local governments, one from states, one from Smith & Wesson and one selected by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms will oversee the agreement.

The Oversight Commission will have the power to notify Smith & Wesson of any gun dealer violations. This notification will trigger penalties against gun dealers by Smith & Wesson and the Commission that could include barring dealers from selling Smith & Wesson products.

Smith & Wesson will also take action, including suspension or termination, against dealers responsible for a disproportionate number of crime gun traces. This provision is designed to focus industry attention on the relatively small number of current dealers that are the source of many guns used in crimes. An estimated 57 percent of guns used in crimes are sold by just 1.2 percent of dealers.