Due to space constraints in today’s paper, I didn’t have much room to write about last night’s blowup over Yakima Mayor Dave Edler and guns.

So, here’s a more thorough rundown of what happened.

The setting was the City Council’s bi-weekly business meeting. Moments earlier, the council had rejected a call to place conditions on Councilman Ensey’s recall-related legal fees.

Instead of adjourning, Edler said he wanted to talk about his membership in the national gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns and a proposed forum in Yakima on gun crime.

Repeating comments he made Monday, Edler complained of being “inundated” with calls and e-mails from members of the National Rifle Association over his membership in the mayors group.

In that context, he asked his colleagues if they wanted him to “refrain” from hosting the forum. Officials in some of Washington’s biggest cities, including Seattle, reportedly want to attend.

After insisting that he “absolutely” knew what he was getting into when he joined the group, Edler stressed his belief that the organization’s No. 1 goal is to enforce laws already in place.

“We’re not messing with the Second Amendment,” he said. “We want to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, kids and the mentally ill. That’s it.”

The comments led to an immedidate rebuke from Councilman Bill Lover, who said he was offended Edler joined a national organization without permission from the rest of the council.

““You’re not authorized to do it by yourself,” he said, adding that organizations like the mayors gun group — founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg — “have agendas.”

Edler responded by challenging the council to formally order him to quit the group or even ask for his resignation as mayor.

“Coalitions like this one get things done,” he said, calling the NRA’s position an example of “the far right vs. the far left. Most of us — most of us — are right in the middle trying to make our communities safer.”

What followed was a sometimes confusing discussion about the role of the mayor in Yakima’s council-manager form of government. It threatened to bog down because nobody had a copy of the city charter — until former mayor Mary Place, who is challenging Councilman Micah Cawley for his seat this fall, provided one from her seat in the audience.

Under the city charter, the mayor is selected by the seven-person council from within its ranks. The position is largely symbolic, but the mayor does have powers in an emergency or disaster and runs council meetings.

Over Councilman Micah Cawley’s objection, the council eventually voted 4-1 to let Edler stay in the mayors gun group. (Members of the council also said they support Yakima serving as host of the gun crime forum.)

Cawley said he was voting ‘no’ because he didn’t know enough about the mayors group and was concerned whether its “agenda was in line with the city of Yakima.”

He wanted more information.

Edler abstained. Ensey was absent.

- Chris Bristol