As this city scrambles to get a handle on a rising tide of gun violence, there is a simmering disagreement over the exact source of illegal handguns on the streets of Boston- and about just how many of those guns originate in New Hampshire and other New England states.

The U.S. attorney for New Hampshire, Thomas Colantuono, described public statements from Boston police and anti-crime activists about New Hampshire guns showing up at Boston crime scenes as an "urban myth." According to Colantuono, federal data indicates that only about ten percent of guns used in Massachusetts crimes come from New Hampshire. Colantuono was reacting to comments from a Boston Police spokesman, Sgt. Thomas Sexton, who the Associated Press quoted as saying that stricter gun laws in other New England states could help stem some of the guns used in Boston, where gun seizures are up some 34 percent this year, while the number of gun-related arrests are up about 39 percent.

Sexton spectulated that some of the gun surge might be explained because the guns were "coming from a lot closer to home."

Much of the focus on New Hampshire is being driven by Rev. Bruce Wall, the pastor at Dorchester's Global Ministry Church in Codman Square. Wall, who also has a home in New Hampshire, has visited our northern neighbors in recent days to quiz police officials there about a possible New Hampshire to Boston gun trafficking corridor. Wall has also asked that Boston Police release the names of gun owners who have had multiple guns stolen- a signal, he suggests- of possible culpability, or worse.

No one should blame Wall- or the BPD- for attempting to get to the source of a serious public safety matter in our neighborhood. But the course of the debate itself begs the question: Why should it fall to a Dorchester church pastor and a Boston police spokesman to flush out the intracacies of interstate gun trafficking? Where is the governor of Massachusetts, who spends his weekends and summers on New Hampshire's lakes? Where is the lieutenant governor, who is said to be an expert on criminal justice? Why is the full attention of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts not being beamed onto this crisis? The Romney administration has been noticeably absent from any public discussion around the rising body and bullet count in Boston. They must begin to take a leadership role.

The proliferation of guns is clearly a bubbling problem in our neighborhoods. But it doesn't end at our city limits and it cannot be contained by our law enforcement alone. The problem is one that demands a multi-faceted, intergrated approach from government and private citizens. Federal agents are assisting Commissioner O'Toole's BPD, both in tracking illegal weapons and in searching for clues in last week's Bournside Street homicides.

Now is the time for our governor and lieutenant governor to roll up their sleeves and get to the root of why out-of-state guns are showing up on our streets. Let them use their connections and influence with fellow governors and lawmakers to help stop the flow of illegal weapons, whereever they are from.

-Ed Forry