"Someone with a gun has really two options, he's going to end up dead or in prison," said Acting Erie County District Attorney Michael Flaherty, as he announced a new state grant to reduce gun violence.
Local leaders met Thursday on the city's east side to discuss the GIVE grant, a state funded project giving nearly $2 million to Erie County and Buffalo.
"This year we have recovered just under 500 guns, 200 in the last two months alone," said Buffalo Police Commissioner Daniel Derenda.
The city is working to crack down on shootings and gun violence, which typically peaks during the summer months.
"We have seen crime continuously drop in the City of Buffalo, but one violent crime, one homicide is too many," said Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown.
Looking at the statistics on the Buffalo Police website, guns are the main weapon used in 20 of the city's homicides so far this year. Seventeen of those homicides were gun-related. Commissioner Derenda says only three of the 20 homicides so far this year have been solved.
"Six from previous years have been solved so far, several more are very close to being solved," he said.
Our of the 42 homicides in 2015, more than half of them involved victims being shot. Twenty-three remain unsolved.
"We need the community to get involved so we can solve more of these cases," Derenda said.
Digging deeper into the statistics, comparing last year to this year, there were six fewer homicides than there are to date right now.
Commissioner Darenda says a victory is getting illegal guns and gans off the streets, but the biggest hurdle is solving the crime, when the community is unwilling to come forward.
