Addressing the gun violence crisis in Western New York

We know Buffalo is no stranger to gun violence. We have seen too many police scenes like the one on Domedion Avenue on June 21.

3-year-old Ramone Carter was shot and killed. His 7-year-old sister was shot and injured.

Prosecutors said two boys, 14 and 16 years old, are both charged with murder, attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon in the deadly shooting .

Officials said Carter and his sister were not believed to be the intended targets of the shooting.

Tragedies like this are why Surgeon General Vivek Murthy declared that gun violence is a public health crisis. In his landmark report, it found firearms are the leading cause of death in kids and more than half of Americans say they or a family member have experienced a gun-related incident.

7 News spoke with some of our elected officials at the local and state levels to see what more can be done to prevent this violence.

Zeneta Everhart

WKBW

"You have to get them while they're young. Because otherwise, you end up with 18-year-olds who shoot up grocery stores, right? Grocery stores filled with Black people," Everhart said. "It's going to take everyone from the top down from the bottom up and put everybody at one table and say look, what are we going to do? How are we going to access resources?"

Mayor Byron Brown

WKBW

"We just need to redouble our efforts to focus on this issue and the surgeon general declaring gun violence a national epidemic is very important because it focuses the eyes of this nation on this problem," Brown said. "I think if we all see each other as important as members of our family as part of our humanity we'll do different."

Senator Patrick Gallivan

WKBW

"We need to re-invest resources in law enforcement, invest resources in taking illegal guns off the street. And ensure that we hold people who use guns illegally, firearms illegally are held accountable for their actions. And I think all of those things are lacking right now in New York, and that's problematic," Gallivan said.

Congressman Tim Kennedy

C-SPAN

Congressman Tim Kennedy also addressed this issue on the House floor Tuesday calling on his colleagues on Capitol Hill to act now.

"That means universal background checks. Reinstating the assault weapons ban. Banning bump stocks, military-grade armor and high-capacity magazines," Kennedy said.