Long-time gun control activist Lori O'Neill signed up several mayors after speaking to the Northeast Ohio Mayors and City Managers' Association

By Chad D. Baus

Amidst news of an increasing number of mayors in Ohio and across the country who are resigning from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's gun control front group, Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), and in the wake of questions over whether the organization is adding mayors to their membership rolls without permission, there is now more evidence which suggests that some mayors' names have been used to prop up Bloomberg's anti-gun agenda without their knowledge.

On August 17, Walton Hills, OH Mayor Marlene Anielski notified Buckeye Firearms Association of her decision to resign from MAIG, and two weeks later, Madiera Beach, FL Mayor Patricia Shontz notified Buckeye Firearms Association of her decision to resign. This notification came on the same day Brunswick, OH Mayor Dale Strasser notified the National Rifle Association that MAIG was using his name even though he never joined.

I have now received notification that two more Ohio mayors have asked to be removed from the MAIG membership roster, and as comments made by Strasser, Shontz and Warsaw, IN Mayor Ernie Wiggins, the circumstances involving these mayors continue to pose questions about just what it takes to earn oneself a supposed "membership" in MAIG.

The Associated Press reported recently that the U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to permit riders on the Amtrak passenger railroad to transport handguns in their checked baggage.

The report says the proposal was approved by a 68-to-30 vote, and would give Amtrak riders rights comparable to those enjoyed by airline passengers, who are permitted to transport firearms provided that they declare they are doing so and that the arms are unloaded and in a securely locked container.

Current Amtrak policy, which prohibits weapons, including firearms, from being carried on its trains, was put in place after the bombings of passenger trains in Madrid five years ago.