Local leaders discuss gun control safety

MIAMI (WSVN) -- City leaders from Miami-Dade and Broward County gathered in a meeting to put a stop to gun violence and try to get guns off the street of South Florida.

A sign of cooperation and support as mayors, police chiefs, school officials from Broward and Miami-Dade County, came together on Friday to discuss gun violence and how to keep our children safe.

Miami-Dade Schools superintendent Alberto Carvahlo said, "Today is a great day because the mayor and I alongside leaders and chiefs of police, social agencies and judges are coming together to ensure a safety envelope for our kids in school but also on the streets and where they live."

The national dialog has been focused on school safety ever since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school. "We are looking to the police departments and the mayors, and we're going to break up in working groups, and this is not going to be solved today," said Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez.

On Saturday, the Jordan Grove Missionary Baptist Church on Northwest 59th Street and 12th Avenue will hold a gun buyback program conducted by the Miami Police Department along with the Mayors office in Miami. "The more we collaborate, the more we leverage the individual resources that we have, and the more we reunite the voices and request funding from the state," said Carvahlo.

Gimenez said he wants to make the schools in South Florida safe. "Concrete example: He just passed the $1.2 billion bond program for the school system," said Gimenez. "You can make it harder for unauthorized people to enter the school. You can have cameras in the schools. You can have a better PA system. You can put stronger doors on all the classrooms."

The meeting is just the start of a dialog between agencies to provide safety for children. "Places that have always been seen as safe, safe spaces for our children, have suddenly become vulnerable," said Gimenez.

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