Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter believes gun violence in American cities should also be considered terrorism.
“Domestic terrorism is international terrorism,” Nutter said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. “There is really no level of distinction between the violence that goes on, on the streets of America on a daily basis and the episodic acts of international terrorism that also take place, primarily in cities.”
Nutter, a Democrat, spoke to the AP Monday after a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and members of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C. The meeting with mayors from Washington, Baltimore, New Orleans and Gary, Ind., was already scheduled prior to the terrorist attack in Paris that killed 129 people and injured 350 more.
Nutter, who was elected in 2007 and re-elected in 2011, has made public safety a top concern of his while in office. On Monday, he called for a stronger relationship between federal and local officials to help fight American violence in the same way global terrorism is addressed.
“Citizens around the world feel unsafe because of international terrorists … those same feelings exist for many in (American) communities,” Nutter said. “These criminals are terrorizing our citizens and that same level of fear of violence, the death of citizens, the destruction of property, are the same. In many cities across the United States of America on a weekend, you very well could have six, eight, 10 people shot.”
There have been more than 240 homicides in Philadelphia so far this year, while Baltimore hit the 300 mark for the first time since 1999.
