Source: Standard-Times (MA) Pubdate: Monday 22 June 1998 Contact: http://www.s-t.com/ Author: Paul Shepard, Associated Press writer MAYORS CAN'S SOLVE CRIME, YOUTH VIOLENCE RENO, Nev. -- Nothing like a spate of school shootings to draw the nation's sights on guns. It's no different at the U.S. Conference of Mayors' annual meeting, where firearms were a hot topic last week. True, most of the campus incidents occurred in small towns. But they served to focus the big-city mayors' attention on the deadly cocktail plaguing many of them: youth gangs, and the ease with which they can obtain firearms. That doesn't mean, however, that they formed a consensus on how to deal with crime and guns in the hands of children. Some mayors -- Marc Morial of New Orleans, for instance -- favor suing makers of assault weapons, action modeled after lawsuits filed against the tobacco industry. "It would be a product liability issue, because some of the guns that are being sold are unreasonably dangerous," Morial said. While admitting even winning suits against gun makers might not stop children from obtaining handguns from relatives, which was the case in several of the school shootings, it would help "reduce the climate of death and fear in our cities," Morial said. "Drugs, military-styled weapons and gangs are the recipe for urban violence," he said. "If we can eliminate one of those factors, we'll all be better off." Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley agreed that suits against gun makers could yield good results, but he warned any legislation must be narrowly tailored. He said the National Rifle Association, the gun lobby, must not be involved. "We can't attack all guns, and we have to leave the NRA out of it," Daley said. "We would have to identify the domestic and foreign manufacturers and hold them accountable." No other mayor has taken so many high-profiled steps to stem their cities' gun violence as Philadelphia's Edward Rendell. In 1994, Rendell appointed a handgun violence committee to check the flow of weapons onto Philadelphia streets. More recently, he appointed Deputy Mayor Richard Zapille as "the gun czar" to crack down on the number of guns entering the city. Rendell then threatened to sue gun manufacturers to retrieve some of the money city health care facilities spend on victims of gunshot wounds. The Philadelphia mayor now has created a task force of mayors including Clarence Harmon of St. Louis and Scott King of Gary, Ind., to explore with gun makers how to reduce violence and keep firearms away from kids. "We are looking more towards getting some voluntary action from the gun industry, because a suit is a 10-year-down-the-road project," Rendell said. "Lawsuits are still an option, but we are going to give the task force about six months and see where it takes us. - --- Checked-by: (trikydik)