Updated at 12:38 p.m.
About two weeks after Mayor R.T. Rybak threatened to withhold city funds from gun manufacturers critical of the president's gun control plan, a local dealer has a message for City Hall:
"WE DON'T WANT YOUR BUSINESS," wrote Gary Shade, president of an Apple Valley custom firearms shop, in an e-mail to Rybak and the City Council on Tuesday.
Shade doesn't currently do business with Minneapolis cops, but wants to make it clear that he won't in the future since "your mayor believes he can bully gun manufacturers with threats of no business."
"When your police run out of ammunition, or need service parts for their firearms look elsewhere," Shade wrote.
Shade's letter said he is joining with Olympic Arms and LaRue Tactical in restricting sales to police departments or cities that support Obama's "unconstitutional" gun control plan or are "affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Police."
In an interview, Shade said he sells to other police departments, but only sent the letter to Minneapolis because of Rybak's strong comments.
"If they come out and do what Rybak said -- '[He] said we have to see where we spend our dollars, who we spend them with. If you don't support us on this we're not going to spend them with you' -- then I'll write letter…He's playing with the safety of his own police officers," Shade said.
