October 28, 2006

TODAY'S EDITORIAL

Our position:  City and state leaders should join the national campaign against traffic in illegal firearms.

Urban crime may have many contributing factors, but it is no oversimplification to say that unlawful traffic in firearms is a prime culprit with too many places to hide. 

A national response is needed, and it is not sufficient to count on Congress, where the current trend is to weaken restrictions on the flow of weapons to criminals. 

Enter Mayors Against Illegal Guns, organized last spring by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. The coalition comprises 109 municipal chiefs from 44 states, running the gamut of party and ideology but united in their disgust with the open market in lethal tools. 

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Many other irons are in the fire for the mayors' coalition, including a response to congressional efforts to restrict access to federal data tracing gun sales. That information has been brought to bear against many street dealers and gun stores whose wares, intentionally or through negligence, wound up used in crimes.

From New York to Seattle, from Miami to Omaha, a mobilization is under way to stem a prime source of violence. City Hall is fighting back, and police chiefs nationwide are shoulder to shoulder. If public safety is truly a priority concern of our city's mayor and our legislature, as they claim it is, Indiana will enlist in the solution.