Today, Mayor Shirley Franklin kicked off the third Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition Regional Staff Conference, which convened senior officials from 13 municipalities, representing five states in the Southeast, to discuss the national fight against illegal guns.
“I was glad to join the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition because big city mayors face similar challenges when it comes to illegal guns and we can all learn from each other ways to effectively combat them,” said Mayor Franklin. “This Coalition is more than studying the statistics; it is about advocacy and active lobbying to get illegal guns off our streets.”
Today’s meeting was designed to improve coordination and information sharing between cities to develop successful strategies in the fight against illegal guns. The conference included discussions on best practices, research and policy perspectives, the impact of pending federal legislation and federal and state lobbying strategies.
Speakers included Assistant Chief Alan Dreher of the Atlanta Police Department; Ms. Alice Johnson, Executive Director of Georgians for Gun Safety; the Honorable Paul Howard, District Attorney of Fulton County, Georgia; Dr. Phillip J. Cook, Professor of Public Policy Studies and Economics at Duke University; Dr. Steven W. Hargarten, Chairman of Emergency Medicine, Professor of Emergency Medicine , Froedtert Hospital and the Medical College of Wisconsin; John Feinblatt, Criminal Justice Coordinator, New York City; Virginia Mayer, Director, City of Boston’s Washington Office.
Earlier this fall, Mayor Bloomberg and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley held the first Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition Regional Staff Conference in Chicago. In November, Mayor Menino held the second Regional Staff Conference in Boston. In January 2007, the Coalition will host the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Summit, which will kick-off the coalition’s first full calendar year of work together. This effort will be the first ever coordinated, national effort to convince Congress to take ideology out of law enforcement.
History of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition: Last April, New York Mayor Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Menino joined with 13 other mayors to work together to take illegal guns off the street. Since the first summit, 118 mayors from 44 states are now part of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition. Each of the 1118 mayors has signed a Statement of Principles, created during the April Summit. The Statement of Principles outlines a commitment to increase enforcement of gun laws; increase penalties for criminals who possess, use, and traffic in illegal guns; oppose federal efforts to restrict cities’ right to access, use, and share trace data; develop technologies that aid in detection and tracing of illegal guns ; support local, state, and federal legislation that targets illegal guns; share information and best practices to coordinate legislative enforcement, and litigation strategies; and continue to expand the effort to other cities around the country.
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For more information about this and services of the City of Atlanta visit our website at www.atlantaga.gov or watch City Channel 26