WASHINGTON, Aug. 22 — Mayors suing U.S. gun makers said Tuesday they deserve equal television time to rebut a firearms industry ad they allege attacks their patriotism.

The ad links the firearms manufacturers to patriots who fought at Gettysburg, Normandy and the Mekong Delta.

ACTOR MARTIN SHEEN also jumped into the fray, accusing the gun makers of using his younger brother, Joe Estevez, to perform the ad’s voice-over so viewers would believe it was him. Sheen and Estevez have similar voices.

"I want to set the record straight and place the gun makers’ despicable deception on notice," Sheen, a gun-control advocate, said in a written statement.

Sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Federation, the ad shows a man plucking the stars and stripes off an American flag. It links the firearms manufacturers to patriots who fought at Gettysburg, Normandy and the Mekong Delta

"But now we are being blamed for crime violence by this administration and big-city mayors whose greedy lawyers are using your tax dollars to sue us for criminals they won’t prosecute," the ad asserts.

The 60-second spot aired nationwide during the Republican and Democratic conventions.

Mayor Joseph Ganim of Bridgeport, Conn., one of several mayors attending a news conference, said the ad amounts to a personal attack on the mayors and others involved in suing the gun industry. As such they should be allowed equal time to respond, he said.

The Federal Communications Commission’s personal-attack rule requires the media to notify persons or groups being attacked and then provide them equal time to respond.

The mayors have written to broadcasters and said they will file a formal complaint with the FCC if they are denied time. Sheen, star of "The West Wing" TV series, is narrating their response ad, which is not yet completed.

A spokeswoman for the FCC did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Jim Chambers, vice president of the National Shooting Sports Federation, said he stands by the ad and bristled at the suggestion it was unpatriotic.

He said the choice of Estevez as the narrator "has nothing whatsoever to do with who he was, but with his professional capabilities as a speaker."

He said the ad, and another one like it, would continue to run through the November elections and the group would "spend what it takes to get our message across to the people."

Thirty-three communities have sued the gun industry demanding they make their guns safer and do more to keep them out of children’s hands.

In March, Smith & Wesson, the nation’s largest gun manufacturer, signed a pledge agreeing to place trigger locks on weapons and make other safety modifications. In return, cities would give Smith & Wesson a preference when buying guns for law enforcement. So far, 411 communities have signed on.

Seven other gun makers and an industry group are suing over the plan, which was reached after two months of negotiations involving the company, state and local officials and the Clinton administration.