Greenwich Selectmen Back Gun Control Measures

For more than an hour Thursday morning the Greenwich Board of Selectmen, the Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence and private citizens discussed the merits of gun control over illegal guns.

In the end, the selectmen and the council agreed measures are needed to stem the flow and use of illegal guns. However, there was disagreement over how the selectmen should show their support, and the council, which presented a petition of support they said was signed by 324 town residents, is unhappy the selectmen didn't vote to align themselves with the Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG).

First Selectman Peter Tesei said he wanted a measure that would assure his fellow selectmen were able to participate in the MAIG effort. However, according to Jonathan Perloe, MAIG's membership is limited to mayors. If the selectmen were to agree, only Tesei would be allowed an honorary membership rather than a full membership afforded to mayors.

"Fundamentally this doesn’t work for us as it is designed for mayors. If this is coming before the board, all the board members should have equal opportunity to support," Tesei said.

Selectman David Theis offered a sense of the board resolution to be submitted to MAIG with language that mirrored MAIG's statement of principles—that local, state federal strategies to keep military-style and illegal guns off the streets.

Selectman Drew Marzullo wanted the resolution to include universal background checks and a vote to sign on with MAIG. Without support of Tesei and Theis, his motion failed. Afterwards, Marzullo said of his motion's failure, "I think it’s a way to not attach yourself to a left-wing lobby group."

Tesei responded, "I don't think that any of us here have characterized (MAIG) that way.      

After more than an hour of what Tesei characterized as a discussion over "semantics," he said the selectmen stood behind the resolution and hoped that with the Greenwich Council's assistance, MAIG would accept the Greenwich vote.

Even though he voted in favor of "sense of the board resolution," Marzullo said, "That is not the same as the "board" voting on joining a violence prevention advocacy group with a large diverse membership."
 
Last Thursday night, in an e-mail Perloe and the council said, "We welcome the Board of Selectmen’s resolution demonstrating their support for the MAIG Principles. However, we do not believe that the Board’s action has the same impact as joining MAIG, as argued by First Selectman Tesei."

The council also said it would press again Tesei to join MAIG and said it would mount a campaign to rally town residents to lobby the selectmen to vote to join MAIG.