Bay Area mayors meet to discuss gun violence prevention strategies

OAKLAND, Calif. - Bay Area mayors gathered in Oakland on Friday joining Brady, the gun-control advocacy group, to announce a new regional approach to preventing gun violence — targeting illicit gun dealers.

"Guns know no boundaries," said Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee before she joined other city leaders for a conference at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center. 

"This has got to stop. We've got to get the weapons of war off the streets of America, and we have to make sure that we work together," Lee said.

Officials targeting illicit gun dealers

What they're saying:

Brady President Kris Brown said, "Let's focus on the supply side."

Brown said irresponsible gun dealers sell to straw purchasers, weapons traffickers, and often do it off the books.

"Here in California, it's 10% of the dealers that are responsible for 50% of the guns recovered in crime," Brown said.

For decades now, a law passed with the support of the gun lobby has blocked the ATF from disclosing crime gun trace data. But Brady and some Bay Area cities want to use local and state data to help identify problem gun dealers.

"It's going to take regional partnerships like this to identify public policies, budget assessments," said State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, former Berkeley mayor.

Antioch Mayor Ron Bernal said, "Our boundaries do not bound the guns coming in and out of our communities, and so working together, exchanging information, resources, just uniting together."

Mayors speak of children impacted by gun violence

Local perspective:

Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce spoke of the 4-year-old girl who was shot and wounded while caught in a gun battle in the city's Crest neighborhood in January.

"We have seen the impacts of gun violence on or young people, across generations in our neighborhoods, and it is very much a public health crisis," Sorce said.

Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii agreed, saying, "We need to be collaborating so that we don't have to have children experiencing this type of violence in our city."

Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez said his officers have been researching the supply side of gun violence.

"We need to make sure that they are penalized for making our streets less safe by providing guns," Martinez said. "In Richmond, we've had the Police Department start identifying the weapons and sourcing them just so that we have and idea of where they're coming from."

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan