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NEW YORK (AP) ― The mayors of more than a dozen U.S. cities gathered Tuesday at a summit aimed at purging the streets of illegal guns, with organizers accusing the federal government of not doing enough to stop the problem.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino led the summit, prompted by a spate of high-profile gun deaths in their cities in recent months.

"There is a crisis on the streets and in the neighborhoods of our nation, but the federal government is not helping us with a solution," Menino said. "In fact, they've made things worse by cutting our criminal justice funding."

The mayors signed a six-point resolution to combat illegal gun violence at the summit, and Bloomberg said they hope to come back in greater numbers for a second gathering later this year. They hope to eventually begin a coordinated public relations campaign to put pressure on the federal government and state legislatures.

"We've put the days of waiting for Congress to act behind us," Bloomberg said.

The mayors -- from cities including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Dallas, Milwaukee and Seattle -- gathered at the official mayoral residence, Gracie Mansion, to exchange ideas.

Menino told the story of meeting recently with a sixth-grade class in Boston in which 9 out of 10 pupils said they knew where they could find a gun. The 73 homicides in Boston last year, Menino said, marked the highest number in 10 years.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said: "We are the ones who get the phone calls on a bright sunny afternoon that a little girl has been shot. I want those phone calls to stop."

Many of the mayors said that they hoped to develop means to prevent illegal guns from being brought into their cities from other states.

"Gun crime is a national problem that needs a national response," Menino said.

Bloomberg has zeroed in on gun control as a priority for his second term. Crime statistics show the number of shootings this year is slightly lower than last year, but high-profile gun deaths continue to cast a spotlight on the issue.

Bloomberg recently testified before Congress with harsh words against a bill that would prevent authorities from being able to share gun data with local governments. Some municipalities had used the information to launch lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers.

The National Rifle Association criticized Bloomberg for his congressional testimony and called Tuesday's event "a taxpayer-funded publicity stunt."

"The mayor's answer is an elitist national campaign on the backs of law -- abiding gun owners," said Chris W. Cox, the NRA's chief lobbyist. "Believe me, the rest of the country does not want Mayor Bloomberg's elitist gun policies, because they don't work."

The mayors said that legislation pending in Congress would prevent the federal government, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, from sharing trace data from guns seized during criminal investigations across the country with local authorities.

Bloomberg said the legislation would keep the police departments from getting information they need to protect the public and to get guns off the streets.

But the NRA says the bills are aimed at keeping gun data out of the public domain to avoid compromising criminal investigations.
"Despite Mayor Bloomberg and the gun control community's mass hysteria over trace data, law enforcement including ATF agrees with the NRA," Cox said.

The resolution signed by the mayors promises to punish criminals to the maximum extent of the law for gun crimes and to target gun dealers who break the law. It calls on cities to oppose federal efforts to limit cooperation on gun data. The mayors also resolved to aggressively support legislation to fight gun crimes and to develop technologies to detect and trace illegal guns.

"It's a powerful message when you have many of the nation's top mayors joined together to create a statement this strong. There's not any Legislature that's not interested in what these mayors have to say," said Dallas Mayor Laura Miller.

Other mayors attending the event were from the cities that included Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., Trenton, N.J., Jersey City, N.J., and Buffalo, N.Y., and Jackson, Miss.

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