Baltimore- Barely a week after the Mets traded pitcher Kris Benson to the Baltimore Orioles, his spitfire wife, Anna, is trading brickbats with the locals.

Her latest adversary is gun-control advocate James Brady, who lives just outside Washington, a short drive from Baltimore. The 65-year-old Brady was paralyzed – and nearly killed – by John Hinckley’s bullet during the 1981 assassination attempt on Brady’s then-boss, President Ronald Reagan.

“I am afraid of gun-control lobbyists,” the 29-year-old Benson writes on her Web site, annabenson.net, where she calls herself a “pistol-packing mama,” reveals that weapons are placed “strategically” all over her house and urges everyone to obtain a firearm.

“I think that it is ridiculous that I am not allowed to protect myself in my private NY apartment because people like Jim Brady want to remove potential crime guns from the market,” Benson adds.

Yesterday Brady told me: “Anna Benson sounds like an idiot. I’m honored to not have her on my team. … She scares me. She’s a head case.” But Brady added: “I might be willing to have lunch with her if she doesn’t bring her piece.”

Benson’s flack, Ronn Torossian, fired back: “It’s safe to say that Anna is saddened and sorry about the unfortunate experience that James Brady suffered. But by calling her an idiot, he’s calling every responsible gun owner an idiot.”

Pistols at dawn?