Oakland Mayor Lee hosts Bay Area mayors at gun violence prevention conference

Leaders from a number of East Bay cities gathered with gun violence prevention specialists in Oakland on Friday for a daylong convention.

The assembly, convened by Mayor Barbara Lee, centered on two central themes: cooperation on the regional stage to handle gun violence, and a focus to the provision facet of the issue: the move of unlawful firearms by the streets of cities like Oakland.

“Cities throughout the Bay Space have skilled dramatic declines in violent crime over the previous 12 months, a testomony to the sturdy work of officers right here and communities throughout the area. Nevertheless, this stays true: gun violence continues to devastate far too many Bay Space communities and households,” mentioned Kris Brown, president of the Gun Violence Prevention Group. Bradyat a press convention earlier than the assembly.

Lee mentioned she labored with Brown for years in Washington, D.C., on payments aimed toward ending gun violence, together with failed efforts to repeal the Tiahrt Modification, a regulation that limits regulation enforcement’s skill to share gun monitoring knowledge that reveals the sources of firearms utilized in crimes. One success, Lee mentioned, was having the U.S. surgeon normal labeling gun violence as a public health problem final 12 months.

Friday’s assembly, on the Henry J. Kaiser Heart for the Arts, introduced collectively the mayors of Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, Vallejo, Antioch, Stockton and San Leandro, together with Brady and the California Wellness Basis.

Discussions deliberate for the day embrace matters comparable to ‘Disrupting the Unlawful Firearms Provide’ and ‘Implementing Duty within the Arms Business’.

Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce mentioned that when a child was shot in her town in Januaryshe was decided to not permit the excessive stage of gun violence to develop into normalized. “We’ve got to deal with the supply, the provision of weapons,” she mentioned.

Berkeley Mayor Adena Ishii mentioned she just lately obtained a letter from a baby who witnessed a capturing close to their elementary college. The kid wrote that he was afraid to witness the violence and needed to rush into the constructing seeking security.

“We want the group to come back collectively and establish the supply of the issue,” mentioned Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez. “We all know the supply is weapons coming into the group.”

Lee mentioned the principle purpose was to carry collectively regional leaders to create a collaboration that may deal with the issue past particular person cities. “We would be the leaders within the public well being technique towards gun violence, along with regional companions,” she mentioned.

Staff from Oakland’s police and violence prevention departments had been current, in addition to violence prevention employees from different cities.

Lee mentioned the group will report again on their objectives and plans at a later date.