Menino takes campaign against illegal guns to Washington

(Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

Mayor Thomas Menino (center) and Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon (right) listened today at a summit on illegal guns to
Joe Samaha, the father of Reema Samaha, who was shot and killed at Virginia Tech.

By Globe Staff

Mayor Thomas M. Menino told a congressional task force this morning that Boston police have recovered 202 guns this year that have been used to commit crimes despite the city’s strict firearms laws.

The majority of those guns were illegal and as many as 60 percent came from other states with weaker laws, he said.

“Illegal guns know no borders,” Menino said, according to prepared remarks provided by his staff. “This only reinforces the need for common sense federal action to help close these gaps and protect our police, our residents and our community.”

During Menino’s testimony at the Rayburn House Office Building he discussed a coalition he formed with Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York and 13 other mayors to campaign against illegal guns. In less than two years, the group has grown to more than 300 mayors who represent 53 million Americans across the country that Menino said has transcended geographic and political boundaries.

“That’s why I am here – because I believe that working with our coalition will help keep illegal guns out of Boston and all of America’s cities and towns,” Menino said.

“When I get the phone call in the middle of the night with news of another senseless tragedy,” Menino said, “I ask myself – and we all should ask – ‘Where did the gun come from?' ''

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