ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – An organization representing 24 north St. Louis County municipalities has announced a new initiative to take on crime on several fronts.

Vinita Parks Mayor James McGee says it’s essential to act now.

“It’s so important that we got everybody carrying guns, and it’s just the wild, wild west,” he said. “You have open carry, young people—13 (years of age)—carrying automatic weapons with extended clips.”

Among the steps they’re working on: gun control legislation to address the issue of kids with guns. They want the legislation passed in all the municipalities, as well as on the St Louis County Council.

McGee says the most important aspect of this is how the mayors are presenting a united front against crime.

“It’s important because crime has no boundaries,” he said. “Crime will be in Dellwood and Vinita Park, will be in Wellston, but we all have the same united front. If they come to north county, they do the crime, we’re looking for them to do the time.”

St. Louis County Council Chairwoman Shalonda Webb hopes to usher in the new legislation. She says the current laws are not good enough.

“Our laws right now allow for somebody that’s brandishing a gun. They allow someone if they are pointing it illegally,” she said. “But it does not address the issue of someone unlawfully carrying a weapon.”

Webb wants to go after minors walking the streets with firearms.

“We’re looking at those that are under the age of 18 that are carrying these weapons,” she said.

But she acknowledges that getting this legislation passed is going to take a while.

Meanwhile, North County Police Cooperative Chief John Buchannan wants to talk about what can be done right now.

“Focusing on trouble areas, and we want to make sure that we are visible,” he said. “We increase our patrols. We do what you call saturation patrols, so we bring in an additional 15 officers, and we just flood the street.”

The new announcement comes in the wake of a recent expose on the spike in crime in the Wedgewood area of unincorporated north St. Louis County. Residents called FOX 2 when crimes like vandalism, car theft, robbery, and the like had increased by 200%. They went from five such incidents of crime last year to 15 this year.

On Tuesday, the mayors said they wanted to take a big approach to dealing with crime throughout the county. They want to send a strong message of support of residents and a message of warning to criminal suspects. Police also say they’ll make great use of drones.