Mayor Byron Brown says solution to gun violence in Buffalo has to happen in the home

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown sat down with WIVB News 4’s Jordan Norkus Thursday evening to discuss a possible solution to gun violence in the city.

On June 21, 3-year-old Ramone Carter was riding his tricycle outside on Domedion Ave. when he was shot and killed. A 14-year-old and a 16-year-old were indicted in connection to the shooting.

“There are too many guns on the streets in America, too many illegal guns,” said Brown. “And tragedies like what happened with Ramone Carter are playing themselves out just about every day in the United States of America. Something has to be done and our lawmakers in Washington really need to wake up to it.”

When asked about a possible solution to the hundreds of illegal guns in Buffalo, many of which ending up in the hands of teenagers, Mayor Brown said a large part of it has to happen in the home.

“Parents need to be engaged,” he said. “They need be involved in the lives of their children, they need to know what their children are doing … Without that kind of parental involvement and engagement, this kind of thing is difficult to prevent.”

The Cobblestone and Old Pink fires were other topics of discussion, the Mayor saying that both “seem to be suspicious in nature”.

Following the end of the school year, Mayor Brown says that conversations between the city and Buffalo Public Schools in regards to their commissary project are ongoing.

You can watch the whole segment in the video player above.

Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 as a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University.