Leaders of several East Bay cities gathered with gun violence prevention experts in Oakland for a day-long conference on Friday.<\/p>\n
Convened by Mayor Barbara Lee, the gathering focused on two central themes: collaboration at a regional level to address gun violence, and focusing on the supply side of the problem \u2014 the flow of illegal firearms on the streets of cities like Oakland.<\/p>\n
\u201cCities across the Bay Area have experienced drastic drops in violent crime recently, over the last year, a testament to the powerful work by the officials here and communities around the region. This, however, remains true: gun violence continues to devastate far too many communities and families across the Bay Area,\u201d said Kris Brown, president of the gun violence prevention group Brady<\/a>, at a press conference before the gathering.<\/p>\n Lee said she worked with Brown for many years in Washington D.C. on bills aimed at stopping gun violence, including unsuccessful efforts at repealing the Tiahrt Amendment, a law that restricts the ability of law enforcement to share gun tracing data showing the sources of firearms used in crimes. One success, said Lee, was having the U.S. surgeon general designate gun violence as a public health issue<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n Friday\u2019s gathering, inside the Henry J. Kaiser Center for the Arts, brought together the mayors of Oakland, Berkeley, Richmond, Vallejo, Antioch, Stockton, and San Leandro, along with Brady and the California Wellness Foundation.<\/p>\n Discussions scheduled for the day included topics like \u201cDisrupting the Illegal Firearm Supply\u201d and \u201cGun Industry Accountability Implementation.\u201d<\/p>\n