Philly mayor: U.S. gun violence is also terrorism

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.

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