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Jersey City has begun requiring gun companies that supply its police department with weapons to disclose more about their business practices, an effort that is being watched by law-enforcement agencies in other cities.
Gun-control advocates and firearms industry representatives said Jersey City is the first municipality in the nation to demand such information.
Questions include how firms dispose of old weapons and comply with background-check laws, and whether they make semiautomatic rifles -- often called assault weapons -- for sale to civilians, according to bid documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The requirement went into effect earlier this year for gun and ammunition contracts worth at least $500,000 for Jersey City's 800-member police force. The purpose: to try to change the firearms industry through the power of the city purse.
"It shows municipalities and police departments have the ability to shape the dialogue," said Steve Fulop, the Democratic mayor of New Jersey's second-largest city, about gun buying.
The effort is setting up a fight with gun makers and supporters of Second Amendment rights.
"These politicians are politicizing the purchase of firearms for law enforcement, when law enforcement should be able to buy whatever best suits their needs," said Andrew Arulanandam, managing director of public affairs for the National Rifle Association.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a leading firearms trade association, is monitoring Jersey City's efforts and studying legal action. "It's an issue that could be of industry concern," said Lawrence Keane, the Connecticut-based gun-rights group's senior vice president and general counsel.
There is skepticism that law-enforcement agencies could have much impact on the nation's $15 billion market for guns and ammunition. Jersey City typically purchases about $250,000 in ammunition and guns each year -- more this year because more police officers are being hired—a tiny piece of the market.
Even if other police departments demanded such information, a survey of large firearms manufacturers found that law enforcement accounted for up to 10 percent of their total sales, said Maksim Soshkin, guns and ammunition industry analyst for IBISWorld, a market-research firm. Mr. Soshkin was skeptical that the industry would change in response to the wishes of a small segment of the market. Daniel Feldman, an associate professor of public management at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, called the effort promising.
Further, gun suppliers who bid to sell to police departments like Jersey City's are often middlemen who don't have much influence over larger ideological issues, such as whether military-style rifles should be legal.
The two companies that are bidding for Jersey City business -- Atlantic Tactical of Pennsylvania and Lawmen Supply Co. of Pennsauken, N.J. -- are respected regional companies that sell to law enforcement but aren't national household names.
Nevertheless, Mr. Fulop, who took office last July, has been trying to rally other mayors to his cause, securing verbal support from Seattle Mayor Ed Murray. "We are very interested in exploring this initiative in Seattle," said Mr. Murray, who like Mr. Fulop is a Democrat.
So far, about two dozen law-enforcement agencies across six states -- including in Cleveland, Durham, N.C., Cook County in Illinois, New Rochelle, N.Y., and New Haven, Conn. -- have agreed to ask a different set of questions from Jersey City's, requesting manufacturers' standards in choosing dealers and if they are developing gun safety technologies. About 20 communities in southern Florida are also moving forward with a disclosure effort.
"This is simply allowing cities to be informed consumers," said Casey Woods, founder of Arms With Ethics, a Florida nonprofit advocating for disclosures in police arms purchasing.
Gun-control advocates also see the disclosure effort as a new way to tackle the issue after Congress didn't pass new firearms restrictions after the Newtown, Conn., school shooting in December 2012.
Activists hope that public police departments can leverage their purchasing power to push gun manufacturers to invest in safer weapons and not sell to retailers that have track records of selling to criminals.
In Jersey City, local officials had long gone through the state to purchase its service weapons, but Mr. Fulop decided to take over the bidding process. In December, the city put out a request for bids with six questions, but got no responses.
City officials revised the form, removing two questions -- does the company fund research related to gun violence and safety technology, and does it lend its brand name to violent video games. One question was added, on the handling of guns the city puts out of service, which are often traded back to the supplier for a discount.
The companies' responses differed primarily in their policies on handling old arms traded in by police departments. But officials at both said they didn't mind answering the questions.
"Ultimately, as long the questions aren't asking confidential information, I'd certainly share with anybody what our sales practices are because they are ethical and certainly legal," said Sean Conville, president of Atlantic Tactical.
Chris Ferrari, president of Lawmen, said he would consider opting out of future bids if Jersey City sought to restrict how the company conducted business. "This is definitely a different type of questioning," he said.
