By JOHN LATIMER
Staff Writer

Updated: 07/09/2009 11:22:58 PM EDT

Lebanon Mayor Trish Ward has added her name to a list of more than 100 mayors across the state who want to fight gun violence by passing laws that will remove illegal guns from the street.

The Pennsylvania coalition of Mayors Against Illegal Guns was started a year ago by Reading Mayor Thomas McMahon and six other mayors who put their names on the list. The state's coalition is part of a national organization boasting signatures from 400 mayors representing every state in the country.

"This is a true milestone," McMahon said in a news release issued yesterday. "We now have 103 Pennsylvania mayors in our coalition. Our citizens deserve to be safer, and Mayors Against Illegal Guns is working to make that happen. In Pennsylvania, our mayors have attended too many funerals, for our citizens as well as for police officers shot in the line of duty. Illegal guns aren't just a big city problem anymore - their terrible impact is felt in smaller cities and towns as well."

The mayors are urging the state Legislature to pass laws aimed at reducing access to illegal handguns, including tougher sentencing laws against gun dealers and criminals who possess and traffic in them.

The coalition also supports a law passed by eight cities, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, that requires gun owners to report when their firearms are lost or stolen. Pittsburgh's law, which was passed in December, is being challenged by the National Rifle Association.

Ward said she is a gun-rights advocate but supports the law. However, she said, she wants to see how it plays out in the courts before bringing it before Lebanon City Council.

"The key word is 'illegal,'" she said. "But the key word is also 'responsibility' for those who possess guns legally. You can't leave your car doors unlocked, and you need to keep your house secure so that they are not stolen."

Most of the city's violent crime is committed with illegal guns, Ward said. There is evidence, she said, that the June shooting of 22-year-old Wilson Martel, who was left paralyzed below the waist, involved stolen weapons.

In some cases, victims won't cooperate, she added.

"When you get involved with these kinds of crime with these thugs and idiots, they won't cooperate with us to solve crimes, even victims," she said. "These thugs and bullies need to be taken off the streets. We need a sincere effort to do whatever it takes to get rid of them. So far they are hurting each other, ... but we can't take a chance on innocent people getting shot."