'Mayors Against Illegal Guns' Wants Obama to Adopt Reforms to Curb Gun Violence

By Al Tompkins

"Mayors Against Illegal Guns," a group of about 450 mayors, has recommended 40 ideas to help control the use of illegal guns in the United States. 

You can look at the group's Web site to see if your local mayor(s) are taking part in this initiative.

The Washington Post said the 40 recommendations address several ways that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) could tighten current enforcement:

"The 51-page document suggests a handful of strategies that would tighten ATF oversight of thousands of gun shows held annually. The study noted that a 2007 inspector general's probe concluded the 'ATF does not have a formal gun show enforcement program.

"ATF agents should have greater discretion to conduct criminal investigations at gun shows identified as sources of firearms later seized in crimes, the report states, noting that 'criminal activity endemic to some gun shows goes unchecked.'

"Agents at gun shows should 'develop undercover integrity tests' to determine whether felons or out-of-state residents are making illegal purchases.

"The report also calls for a better approach to crime gun tracing, the process that tracks a seized weapon back to its first retail sale. The ATF lacks the structure or resources to 'fully realize its power,' the report says, and information is not regularly shared with field offices, and state and local law enforcement.

"To this end, the study wants ATF to be funded to create a new 'Office of Tactical Trace Analysis,' which would replace the current crime gun analysis branch."

The Post said the mayors want much tougher prosecution of federal gun crimes. It explained that "in 2005, the FBI referred 67,713 cases to the ATF, but federal prosecutors pursued only 135 of those cases."