http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/14429602.htm

Mayors huddle on gun control

THEY'LL HAVE TO LEAD IF FEDS DON'T, SAYS N.Y.'S BLOOMBERG

By Michael Saul

Apr. 26, 2006

"We're here because we face a common problem -- illegal guns," said Bloomberg, who led the daylong summit at Gracie Mansion along with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino.

"This is a national problem and it requires national leadership, and since Congress has so far failed to show leadership in cracking down on illegal guns, we have come forward, together to begin to fill the vacuum," Bloomberg declared.

Citing the 30,000 Americans killed each year by guns, the mayors adopted a six-point resolution that pledges, among other things, to punish more harshly criminals who traffic in illegal guns and to oppose federal efforts to limit the ability of cities to trace guns and share data.

The mayors plan to hold a second meeting this year with the goal of enlisting 50 mayors from across the country to join their campaign.

While the mayors acknowledged that the solution to the war on illegal guns must be hashed out in Washington, they said their voices collectively could jump-start change.

"There is a crisis on the streets and in the neighborhoods of our nation, but the federal government is not helping us," Menino said. "In fact, they've made things worse by cutting our criminal justice funding."

Dallas Mayor Laura Miller said the summit "will make a difference if we actually ... go to Washington together."

Bloomberg, a Republican, has made his war against illegal handguns a focus of his second term.