Boston to press Congress for tougher gun laws

BOSTON (Reuters) - Boston, facing a spike in gun violence and murders, will press the new Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives to come up with tougher national gun laws, Boston's mayor said on Tuesday.

Thomas Menino, who has led a nationwide campaign against inner-city gun violence, said he would meet House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California in Washington this month to push for stricter gun laws.

"We need to convince Congress to pass common sense gun laws -- laws that punish immoral gun dealers and protect our citizens," he said in his annual "State of the City" address.

Menino, a Democrat, said police took more than 1,800 guns off of Boston's streets last year, twice as many as 2005.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Menino lead "Mayors Against Illegal Guns," a campaign that includes 123 mayors in 44 states, Menino said. It aims to get illegal guns off America's streets.

In September, the FBI released 2005 figures showing violent crime rising 2.3 percent, the first increase in four years, as a wave of murders and shootings hit smaller U.S. cities with little experience of serious urban violence.

Some experts have viewed the increase in violent crime as the result of law enforcement resources being shifted toward anti-terrorism efforts. Others attribute it to softer gun laws, budget cuts that have left fewer police on the streets and more people living in poverty.

Attempts at tightening gun laws are opposed by advocates of unrestricted access to firearms, led by the National Rifle Association, which wields enormous influence in Washington and backs candidates who support easier gun ownership in local and national elections.

There are more than 200 million guns in private hands in the United States, according to the Justice Department.

Boston recorded 74 homicides last year, one short of a 10-year high in 2005, Boston Police statistics show.

"Guns create fear that can kill our communities," Menino said in the 89-year-old Strand Theater in Dorchester, one of Boston's most violent neighborhoods.

Boston was a leader in halting violent crime in the late 1990s when politicians basked in what became known as the "Boston Miracle." Homicides dropped 77 percent between 1990 and 1997 and the city went for almost two years without a homicide against anybody under 18.

Menino blames the upswing in violence on illegal gun trafficking and weak federal and state gun laws.