Cleveland streets are a better battleground for the gun-control debate than Newtown, Conn.

The incomprehensible December mass shooting of children at Sandy Hook Elementary sparked the first real push for gun control in years. But statistically speaking, it was an anomaly. The shooter was mentally ill and used a legally purchased gun. Though the mix of unchecked mental illness and access to guns certainly deserves attention, the issue does not fuel everyday gun violence.

Gun cntrol advocates lost the debate by focusing too much on Sandy Hook. This made it easy for the National Rifle Association to keep the argument narrowly focused on the harsh reality that no gun law could have prevented what happened at Sandy Hook. The NRA then moved the debate to non-control issues such as arming school officials.

Both sides of the debate need to spend time in the streets of Cleveland, if for nothing else than to reframe their respective sides in the debate.

Kids and adults are being shot here with far more regularity. Mental illness and legal gun purchases are not in the equation. Arming teachers is irrelevant here.

In just the last week, here are a few stories of gun violence:

Twelve-year-old Toni Landers was shot in the chest in a Cleveland park. She was caught in crossfire of a gun battle that involved at least 10 shots. She is recovering.

Twenty-year-old Jayvion Walden was shot and killed leaving a Cleveland gas station.

Eighteen-year-old Mustafa McWhorter was fatally shot around noon near the back entrance of the Eastman branch of the Cleveland Public Library.

Along with the families of victims, the most outraged people are the neighborhood and community activists who continue to try to reduce urban violence, which often involves guns.

Where are the gun-control advocates or the NRA?

A small group of activists and religious leaders from around the country are in Cleveland this week for a national gang summit. At the four-day meeting at Cleveland State University, known as the “International Urban Peace, Justice and Empowerment Summit,” participants share best practices for how to curb street violence. The summit’s message might surprise some — especially the NRA.

The activists and leaders don’t blame guns.

They blame busted families, youth without direction, and oppression. The activists work everyday to mentor youth and guide them to more productive lives.

But unlike the NRA, these activists believe easy access to guns plays a role and deserves attention.

“We got young boys walking around with more gun power than the police,” says Khalid Samad, a Cleveland activist and key organizer of the summit.

Yet, the gun lobby and its supporters balk at nearly every attempt by politicians to address this reality. How can they ignore youth in Cleveland who can get a gun nearly as easily as they can score a baseball glove?

To understand better how guns get on the street, I turned to two experts: Former Los Angeles gang members Lamar Graham and Donna Graham, who are married and attended the summit. Lamar, a former Bloods leader and Donna, a former member of rival gang the Crips, ticked off the list without pause.

Guns are bought off unscrupulous security guards.

Guns are stolen from homes and cars.

Gun are bought from gun shows, private dealers and any other outlet that doesn’t perform background checks.

“It’s never a problem,” Lamar said.

Obviously, all these sources can’t be stemmed with laws. But the last source certainly could be. Federal lawmakers failed this year to pass legislation that would have expanded federal background checks for would-be buyers at places like gun shows. Though some pro-gun groups supported the idea of gun-show background checks, the legislation still crashed.

That’s another blow to Cleveland, not Sandy Hook.

A couple years ago, state lawmakers stripped Cleveland of its gun-control powers with a law prohibiting any city from regulating guns.(The court's ultimately sided with the lawmakers.) That stopped Cleveland cops from confiscating assault weapons bought at gun shows and driven into the city limits.

So why are we not attacking the problem here with the same national fervor that followed Sandy Hook? The answer is obvious. Urban gun violence just doesn’t capture the sympathies of the nation like a mass shooting at a school.

Until it does, we won’t likely get a more meaningful debate.