It's time for community leaders to connect the dots and find a way to stop gun violence before it erupts again in Erie.

We acknowledge the quick work of Erie police in charging nine people after a series of shootings, including one homicide, last week.

We appreciate the concerns of youth program administrators coping with funding cuts.

We worry about poverty, truancy, single parents and unemployment in the inner city.

We listen with all our heart when bereaved parents push for change after they lose a child to gun violence.

We hear the words of religious leaders when they speak about the despair that blankets some neighborhoods, leading some lost souls to seek respect with the barrel of a gun.

To end gun violence in Erie, we can't finger just one cause, but we could start with the guns themselves. An organization called Pennsylvania Mayors Against Illegal Guns has spoken out in recent days to close a loophole in federal law that allows illegal guns to be sold at gun shows.

"We're right next door to Ohio. The fact that a felon can just take a drive across the state line to a gun show and pick up a handgun without a background check is a serious problem," says Aliquippa Mayor Anthony Battalini.

Mayor Joe Sinnott is part of this group. Does he agree with Battalini? Are illegal guns a widespread problem in Erie? We know that on April 14, Erie police charged Lewis J. Mitchell, 28, of Cleveland, with possessing drugs with intent to deliver, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a prohibited firearm. Police said that along with suspected drugs, they seized an AK-47 assault rifle from Mitchell when he was arrested in the 300 block of West Seventh Street.

Are drugs the reason for the recent violence? On April 21, police made two separate traffic stops and charged three people with various drug violations. One suspect is Timothy Graves, 50, of Detroit. Police say they found $150,000 worth of suspected heroin and cocaine packaged in his car.

Some observers say that kids in the inner city are growing up without hope. How old are they when they first get into trouble? Consider Larry Lemon, who was 17 when he was charged with homicide in the Jan. 5 shooting death of Steven Harrington II. At a recent court hearing, records showed that Lemon first got involved in the juvenile justice system at age 11, when he was found guilty of stealing from a purse at McKinley Elementary School.

It's too easy to blame the recent violence on warming temperatures. Steve Arrington was killed in early January. On April 20, when Joshua Thompson was shot in the back of the head near McKinley Park, the overnight temperature dropped to 34 degrees.

Erie needs a systematic look at all the causes to change the climate of violence.