KC mayor: Race plays a role in lack of action on urban violence

Kansas City Mayor Sly James said Wednesday that one reason there’s not more interest in cracking down on all the violence in American cities is because so many of the shooters and victims are black.

“Frankly, I think that that’s one of the reasons that there’s not a little bit more movement,” James told Democratic delegates from Missouri.

James, the city’s two-term mayor, is an outspoken advocate for gun control. He leads a city whether homicide totals of more than 100 are common, and statistics often rank Kansas City as one of the nation’s most violent.

“See person. Track person. Kill person. No problem,” James said. “Shoot through houses. Kill kids. No problem. We’re fine with that. Absolutely no problems with that because we do nothing about it.”

Last year, James wanted state lawmakers to pass a bill that would require a gun owner to report a lost or stolen gun to police. But the GOP-led General Assembly wouldn’t move the measure.

“The state legislature won’t touch it,” James said. “Absolutely crazy.”

He said Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton will push for stricter gun control as part of her agenda.

“I would rather go back to the old West,” James said. “In the old West when you rode into town with a gun on your hip, you had to stop in the sheriff’s office and give him the gun because the only people allowed to do that were the sheriffs.

“There’s absolutely no reason for an AR-15 to be on the streets of Kansas City.”

He called the current epidemic of violence gripping the nation “slow-motion mass murder.”

James also called for a multi-billion-dollar investment in U.S. infrastructure, saying it would create jobs and improve productivity. He said the country lacks the political will to do it even though the need for such a program is so obvious.

“Everyone knows it,” James aid, “and we’re not doing it.”

This story was originally published July 27, 2016 at 11:27 AM with the headline "KC mayor: Race plays a role in lack of action on urban violence."