As the national debate on gun control rages anew, Dallas leaders are trying to enforce an existing program to disarm thousands of violent offenders.

So far, the effort has foundered.

Fewer than 100 guns have been retrieved from domestic abusers in the county since 2015 — a fraction of the thousands of firearms county officials expected abusers to turn over.

State and federal laws prohibit convicted abusers and anyone subject to a protective order from owning a gun.

The Dallas County program allows abusers to turn over their guns to the Sheriff's Department, which stores them at its shooting range.

But enforcement has been the program's undoing.

Police officers and prosecutors rely on the abusers themselves to report whether they have a firearm. There's no incentive for them to tell the truth, and it's up to them to surrender the weapons.

After 17 people were killed last month at a Florida high school, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings held a news conference where he called out judges for not doing enough to disarm domestic abusers in the county.

The finger-pointing didn't sit well with judges. State District Judge Brandon Birmingham and Dallas County criminal court Judge Shequitta Kelly invited prosecutors, police, advocates, county leaders and the mayor into the courtroom.

"For anyone to insinuate that we're not doing the best we can, that's insulting," Kelly said of the mayor's comments.

Kelly runs one of the two misdemeanor family violence courts in Dallas County. Birmingham handles felony domestic violence cases.

"We work really hard to make sure nobody is killed," Kelly said. "To say we're not doing anything is not true."

The various leaders met Tuesday in Birmingham's courtroom.

When a Dallas Morning News reporter walked into the courtroom to observe the meeting, the mayor said, "We can either get nothing done, or you can go and we can have an open conversation."

In the hallway after the meeting, he said the judges "feel they need help doing their jobs. And we're going to listen to the judges and try to facilitate that effort."

Rawlings didn't suggest how to fix the toothless county program.

"Some ideas were postured in here, and I said, 'Done,'" Rawlings said. "Guys, you put together those plans, what needs to happen at the city level, what needs to happen at the county level, what happens at the state level, you've got me working."

Birmingham and Kelly have said that they need more information on guns when domestic violence cases are presented so they don't have to rely solely on the abuser to tell the truth about gun ownership.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said he's committed to strengthening the enforcement of the gun surrender program.

"It's frustrating and unacceptable that the program's not working," he said.

It will likely take more county money to hire additional investigators in the district attorney's office to check whether abusers own guns.

As council member Jennifer Staubach Gates left the courtroom Tuesday, Jenkins teased her about funding coming from city coffers.

"Give me some of your money. I'll give you some of my money," he said.