On an average day in the U.S. more than 250 people are shot, and in an average year 30,000 die from firearm violence, according to statistics.

They are victims of domestic violence, bystanders in the crossfire of gang warfare and police officers killed in the line of duty.

Law enforcement leaders from across the Midwest gathered Tuesday to tackle the problem.

Nearly 200 chiefs of police, attorneys general, professors, business leaders and other law enforcement officials attended the three-day Great Lakes States Summit on Gun Violence in Chicago.

"We have one thing in common; we are confronted every day in every community by a troubling upward trend in violent crime that threatens the safety of our neighbors and families and the stability of our communities," Joe Carter said. He is president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

The United States has the highest firearm homicide rate in the world, according to professor David Hemenway from Harvard University's School of Public Health.

Compared with countries such as Australia, Germany, Japan and Canada, the U.S. also has the weakest gun-control laws, he said.

"A gun in the home is a risk factor for death," Hemenway said.

In 2005, the FBI reported that 90 percent of the 55 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty were victims of firearms. Carter said this year there are already 42 law enforcement deaths, with 20 from gun-fire.

Carter called the upward trend in violence unacceptable. The IACP Web site reported while overall crime is at its lowest level in more than three decades, Americans fell victim to gun violence at a higher rate last year than in 2004.

"There is a common sense, middle ground for getting guns off our streets," Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said. "Every gun we get off the street is a potential crime deterred and a potential life saved," Daley said.

"This is the group that needs to be together," Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said. Barrett said there were almost 700 gun-shootings in Milwaukee last year.