Thursday, 4:30 PM
Menino tells mayors to band together against guns
By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON, DC -- Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino told a group of mayors gathered in Washington, D.C., they must band together to press for stricter gun laws at a conference he organized with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
"Mayors need partners and that is why we are here today," Menino said.
The coalition Menino formed with Bloomberg, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, has grown from 15 mayors from across the country when it met last April in New York to more than 100. Some 50 attended today's meeting, where they discussed strategies to oppose proposed federal legislation that would restrict a federal database that tracks sales of guns by serial numbers.
Menino and other mayors are hoping to capitalize on the new Democratic majority in Congress to promote an agenda they hope will help reduce urban gun violence. Menino planned to meet with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this afternoon to push the agenda.
"Since the new year, three middle school students, all under the age of 15, have been shot and killed in Boston," Menino said in opening remarks at the conference. "I visited the schools of the two of the students. Their classmates are scared, keep asking why. I couldn't give them an answer because there is no good answer. This type of sad incident happens too often in cities across our country."
Menino planned to remain in Washington through Thursday. He planned to attend a meeting of the US Conference of Mayors.
