Dallas Mayor To Attend National 'Gun Summit'
Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2006 9:45 am
http://cbs11tv.com/topstories/local_sto ... 21916.html
"Dallas Mayor To Attend National [Bloomberg] 'Gun Summit'
Sarah Dodd
(CBS 11 News) DALLAS CBS 11 News has learned Dallas Mayor Laura Miller has been asked to participate in a nationwide summit aimed at getting illegal guns off the streets.
CBS 11 has obtained a copy of a survey just completed by the Dallas Police Department.
It shows last year, in Dallas alone, there were about 6,500 gun related crimes.
Mayor Miller is taking this information to New York, where she and a dozen mayors from the largest cities in the country will try to develop a strategy to tackle the illegal gun problem.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling on other mayor's, from the nations largest cities, to come together and share policing strategies in an effort to get a handle on the country's illegal gun problem.
“It's a powerful message, of course when you have the top mayors with a signature on a document, there's not any legislature that's not interested in what the mayor's have to say,� Miller said.
Dallas has consistently had the highest violent crime rate among cities with more than a million people, but according to the latest numbers, compiled just this week, the cities stats are getting better.
In 2005 there were about 6,500 gun related crimes. That number is down 6% from the year before.
Last year there were 135 homicides by handgun, that's down 22% and 1,200 people were arrested last year for weapons violations - an increase of 39%.
“We see a lot of crime in the city and it's not the legal gun holders that are the people committing those crimes,� said Dep. Chief Mike Genovesi, Dallas Police Department.
Both the Dallas Police Department and the mayor agree that Texas has lax laws when it comes to gun possession, and there is no statewide data base in place to track who owns a gun.
“In Texas, until a couple of years ago, you could have a gun in the back and a beer in your hand. It's better, but still a pro-gun state,� Miller said.
This is the first national gun summit. Mayor Millers heads to New York next Tuesday with hopes of mapping out a blueprint of ideas that other cities can follow."
"Dallas Mayor To Attend National [Bloomberg] 'Gun Summit'
Sarah Dodd
(CBS 11 News) DALLAS CBS 11 News has learned Dallas Mayor Laura Miller has been asked to participate in a nationwide summit aimed at getting illegal guns off the streets.
CBS 11 has obtained a copy of a survey just completed by the Dallas Police Department.
It shows last year, in Dallas alone, there were about 6,500 gun related crimes.
Mayor Miller is taking this information to New York, where she and a dozen mayors from the largest cities in the country will try to develop a strategy to tackle the illegal gun problem.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is calling on other mayor's, from the nations largest cities, to come together and share policing strategies in an effort to get a handle on the country's illegal gun problem.
“It's a powerful message, of course when you have the top mayors with a signature on a document, there's not any legislature that's not interested in what the mayor's have to say,� Miller said.
Dallas has consistently had the highest violent crime rate among cities with more than a million people, but according to the latest numbers, compiled just this week, the cities stats are getting better.
In 2005 there were about 6,500 gun related crimes. That number is down 6% from the year before.
Last year there were 135 homicides by handgun, that's down 22% and 1,200 people were arrested last year for weapons violations - an increase of 39%.
“We see a lot of crime in the city and it's not the legal gun holders that are the people committing those crimes,� said Dep. Chief Mike Genovesi, Dallas Police Department.
Both the Dallas Police Department and the mayor agree that Texas has lax laws when it comes to gun possession, and there is no statewide data base in place to track who owns a gun.
“In Texas, until a couple of years ago, you could have a gun in the back and a beer in your hand. It's better, but still a pro-gun state,� Miller said.
This is the first national gun summit. Mayor Millers heads to New York next Tuesday with hopes of mapping out a blueprint of ideas that other cities can follow."
