BY TANYA BRICKING
The Cincinnati Enquirer

President Clinton has enlisted Cincinnati in the fight to curb illegal gun trafficking by tracing where juveniles buy firearms used in crimes.

"Make no mistake: Gun traffickers are funneling guns to lawless youth," the president said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "We know how they operate, and we intend to shut them down."

Gun sales to anyone under 18 are illegal. To curb teen gun crime, Mr. Clinton last year asked 17 cities, including Cleveland, to test the gun-tracing program. He added Cincinnati and nine other cities Saturday.

The program sends data on every gun seized from a juvenile crime to a computer system operated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The gun's serial number is used to trace it to the last legal point of sale.

Boston credited the program for helping to reduce juvenile crime there; nobody 17 or younger died from guns in 1996.

Boston police traced dozens of crime guns used by gang members to a single Mississippi student. And in New York City, federal agents used the program to trace guns to a dealer in Alabama who sold 4,000 guns that were later seized.

City Councilman Tyrone Yates was among those who pushed for Cincinnati to be added to the program.

"There is not a major urban area in the United States that does not have this problem," Mr. Yates said. "Cities should clamor for a program like this."

Nationally, the number of juveniles killing others with guns has risen sharply, from 854 in 1980 to 2,320 in 1994, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Hamilton County Juvenile Court officials counted 291 offenses involving firearms in 1995. 'There is not a major urban area in the United States that does not have this problem. Cities should clamor for a program like this.' - City Councilman Tyrone Yates