Thomas M. McMahon
Mayor, Reading, Pennsylvania

As Mayor of Reading Pennsylvania, I am committed to keeping illegal guns out of the hands of criminals. I also believe that responsible gun owners share my concern for gun safety. Many have said that reporting of lost or stolen handguns is a sensible thing to do, and that we need to do all that we can to help protect the public from the illegal use of such guns.

I feel so strongly about this issue that I have asked my Pennsylvania colleagues to join me in the national, bi-partisan "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" coalition. This is an effort that seeks a common-sense approach to keeping illegal guns off the street.

I'm not alone in my concerns. In fact, now nearly 70 mayors in Pennsylvania have joined me and the Mayors Against Illegal Guns coalition in Pennsylvania. Gun violence is not just a big-city problem. Across the state, mayors from towns such as Erie, Greensburg and Turtle Creek have joined me and the state-wide coalition. We now have one of the largest state-wide groups of mayors in the country working on this coalition.

While we may not agree on everything, we all believe that Pennsylvania citizens need to know how illegal guns are contributing to the violence in our communities. Most importantly, we all need to keep asking our state legislators to do something about it.

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