by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Two years ago, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg started the Mayors Against Illegal Guns conference with 15 mayors from across the country.
Monday morning at the Main Library, he welcomed 18 more mayors – and essentially 18 more police forces — to the organization that is now about 300 strong.
Aside from the sheer numbers, Bloomberg said it’s just as important this organization hasn’t developed any partisanship. He says violent crime and those who commit it don’t care about Republicans, Democrats or any other party.
“This is not a partisan issue at all,” said Bloomberg, who was in town along with the other mayors for a daylong conference. “This is an issue of people getting murdered by people with guns that federal laws say they shouldn’t have.”
Mayor John Peyton welcomed and hosted the group that included mayors Kevin Burns of North Miami and Frank Ortis of Pembroke Pines. Miami Mayor Manuel Diaz was scheduled to attend, but couldn’t make it.
“Gun violence is taking a huge toll on cities throughout the nation, and stemming the flow of illegal guns into the hands of criminals will help stem the tide of violent crime,” said Peyton. “That’s a goal every public servant should share, and it’s one that has united this bipartisan coalition of municipal leaders and state legislators today.”
In addition to the conference, Bloomberg and Peyton announced the formation of the State Legislators Against Illegal Guns, which will work with the mayors’ organization. In a show of both solidarity and cooperation, several legislators signed a “Statement of Principles” in which they pledged to “work within their respective states and with each other to identify common-sense policies that will help keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”
The founding members of the State Legislators Against Illegal Guns are: Evan Jenne of Florida, Eric Schneidermann of New York, Thomas Owens of Kansas, Brad Ashford of Nebraska, Cherrelle Parker of Pennsylvania and Elizabeth Coulsen of Illinois.
In an editorial sent to the Florida Times-Union, Peyton talked about three common sense approaches to reducing the number of illegal guns on the street and thus reducing the number of violent crimes and murders.
Peyton said he would like to see the database of information on guns recovered from crime scenes kept by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms be made more available to local law enforcement agencies.
He also wants to close the loophole that allows the sale of guns at gun shows to virtually anyone. Currently, licensed gun dealers are required to run background checks on potential customers. However, these background checks are not required at gun shows.
“This means criminals can easily purchase guns at gun shows — no questions asked,” said Peyton.
Finally, Peyton would like to see the end of gun sales when the ATF shuts down gun dealers for violating laws. According to Peyton, when forced to close, the dealers are allowed to sell their inventory without the previously required background checks.
“In effect, this means that when the ATF shuts down a dealer for selling to felons, it then turns around and allows that dealer to sell to felons. Only in Washington,” said Peyton.