MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The mayor of Minneapolis wants to reduce gun violence in the city and he’s taking a new approach.
During Wednesday’s city council meeting Mayor R.T. Rybak said he’s going to closely examine where the city purchases its guns and ammunition.
“We buy a lot of guns and ammunition, we should really question whether the companies that we are buying from are going to Washington and are working with us or fighting against us,” he said.
Rybak says he wants to begin a constructive dialogue with companies they buy from and see if they would like to be partners with the city in reducing gun violence in the community.
“We believe that’s’ a value they should share,” the mayor said.
Since 2008, Minneapolis has spent $593,000 on ammunition and $193,000 on guns. The handguns primarily purchased are Smith and Wesson M&P. The shotguns purchased are Remington 870s.
If Minneapolis Police officers purchase their own guns, they receive a stipend of around $800 a year.
Ammunition is where most of the money is spent, and it’s purchased from two local companies: Streicher’s Police Equipment in Plymouth and Federal Cartridge Company in Anoka.
“We do restrict our sales to only approved personnel, such as law enforcement, military or public safety personnel,” said a Striecher’s employee and wanted to remain anonymous.
Rybak is not the only mayor taking this approach on gun safety. He says 60 other Democrat mayors across the county are doing the same.
“We’ve been asked by the people of Minneapolis to make this a safer city,” Rybak said. “I don’t believe the city of Minneapolis would like their dollars to be sent to companies that are fighting with us on that.”
Minneapolis Deputy Chief Travis Glampe says that at this point he’s eager to hear what the companies are going to say.
“We’ve been dealing with these companies for a long time,” Glampe said.
WCCO Radio also placed a phone call to Federal Cartridge in Anoka. They have yet to return the call.
