POSTED: 10:48 am EST March 3, 2008

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Nearly 300 mayors, including those from Jacksonville, Miami and New York City, met at the downtown library Monday to share ideas about battling illegal guns.

The Mayors Against Illegal Guns conference was inspired by the fact that 34 Americans are killed every day with a gun, most of which are possessed illegally.

"Gun violence is taking a huge toll on cities throughout the nation and stemming the flow of illegal guns into the hands of criminals will help to stem the tide of violent crime," Peyton said. "That's a goal every public servant should share, and it's one that has united this bipartisan coalition of municipal leaders and state legislators today."

Peyton was especially eager to hear from Mayor Michael Bloomberg about how he claims New York City reduced its crime rate 20 percent last year.

"(Peyton) had a chance to talk to our police commissioner, Ray Kelly, about the things that we've done in New York -- some of which will work here and some of which won't," Bloomberg said. "What's right for one city isn't necessarily right for the other, but the objectives of keeping your population safe are what we have in common."

The mayors met jointly with the Florida Conference of Mayors to sign a statement of principals and announce the formation of State Legislators Against Illegal Guns.

Monday's summit also discussed a seven-state initiative to build a regional data-sharing system for illegal gun data. The goal of the system will be to create a clearinghouse of criminal activity on Interstate 95's so-called "Iron Pipeline" to help police departments...