well the recent shootings are spurring federal and local lawmakers to urge more action from the Department of Justice calling on the government to fully carry out rules outlined in a law recently signed by President Biden that would close existing background check loopholes it's a regulation Advocates say will reduce the number of deadly weapons ending up in the wrong hands senior political correspondent David Cruz reports enough to The Killing enough to the loss of lives Senator Bob Menendez this morning in Newark echoing the calls for an end to gun violence in the days after a mass shooting in Texas that left eight dead that just five days after another shooting in Oklahoma with six dead but also closer to home four dead in the past week including a seven-year-old in separate Newark shootings the senator and Newark mayor rasparaka swimming against the tide of gun violence in the country set to break records Baraka who presides over a city where gun violence is actually on the decline says more resources are critical I would say Obviously we need more hands on deck and the great work that these organizations are doing have to be expanded this doesn't mean we don't have incidents in Newark it means the difference between now and 10 years ago we can respond holistically to these incidents where you know a previous time it was only this police responsibility to respond to this so we only put pressure on the police now says Baraka organizations like the newer Community street team helped not only to prevent violence before it happens but to care for victims families and affected communities there are many things they could do they have to counsel the mother whose child it was who was there the aunt who was also there to other people who are Vic who were a lot who survived the killing when they had the hospital hospital-based intervention tries to intervene so he won't go out and seek revenge right which causes another uh homicide to take place all of those kids that are related to the boy through football or through other things who may believe they become the victims of crime next who now begin to exhibit behaviors where they begin to themselves participate in violence and crime and so we intervene in their lives early on almost a year after the safer communities Act extended background checks for gun purchases under 21 funded state-red flag laws another Crisis Intervention programs like ncst Menendez called on the ATF to do more what goes on here in Newark with the mayor in the newer Community State team does and deploy it doesn't deploy Outreach workers without a strategy or a plan the Newark police department doesn't respond to a call without backup if individuals are answering the call with the proper tools and training then we should expect nothing different from our Regulators in Washington simply put the ATF needs a plan it needs a strategy it needs to enforce the tools of its disposal of the bipartisan safer communities act anything less is an insult to the brave men and women who answer the call of duty here in Newark and to the citizens who are caught in the crossfire police aren't saying if the guns used in the recent Newark homicides were purchased legally and officials can't honestly say if stricter gun laws will help slow the record gun violence only that silence and complacence are deadly allies in a fight where the victims far outnumber the perpetrators I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight News [Music]