DETROIT, MI -- There have been over 1,600 crimes this year, including robberies, assaults, shootings and homicides, involving a perpetrator with a gun, according to the Detroit police data.

That's an average of over 10 gun crimes a day.

Federal, state and county leaders came together at U.S. Attorney Barbara L. McQuade's office Monday to launch a coordinated gun violence reduction plan that involves increased federal prosecution of gun crimes and an ad campaign that lets would-be criminals know what their possible sentence could be if they're caught with an illegal gun.

McQuade, with the help of two new assistant prosecutors funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, plans to target gun-toting criminals with violent or drug-dealing pasts.

Someone arrested with a gun who has three prior violent felonies could be sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison.

"Felon + Gun = federal prisons," two accompanying billboards, one at Interstate 94 and Conner on the east side, and another at Southfield and Grand River on the west side, will say.

CrimeStoppers of Michigan is assisting with a TV advertising campaign that shares some of the same information.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said being a felon in possession of a firearm is punishable by up to five years in prison. Sentences go as high as 10 years in the federal system, though McQuade said it's "typically" between two and four years.

Anyone who uses a gun in commission of a felony faces an additional five years in prison under federal prosecution, with up to 25 additional years for a second offense.

One issue is the gray area between federal and state law. Federal law and Michigan law have different criteria to determine if a felon may legally own a gun.

There are potential cases in which a person could be in violation of federal felony firearm possession laws, but compliant with state law.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, noting 200 to 300 new police officers are set to be hired this year, said criminals are making "risk-reward" decisions regarding their crimes, and this campaign will communicate the risk side of the equation.

The gun violence initiative comes about a year after a similar effort to curb carjackings, which McQuade said fell 32 percent last year.

"We may not have the resources to get everybody right now," Duggan said, "but we do have the resources to go after everybody who uses a gun. ...We're going to make it much less pleasant when you are arrested."

McQuade said many criminals are "absolutely shocked" when they learn the extent of the sentence they could receive for merely carrying a gun.

McQuade said there will "always be frustrations with how the system works" in regard to criminals with lengthy histories being released and recommitting violent crimes.

"Our goal here is to figure out how we can work within that system and do the best we can,"

TerriAnn Hall, 17, Alexis Dixon, 15, and Alexis Edwards, all students at Detroit's Osborn High School in northeast Detroit, said guns are a big problem among area youth.

Despite having security guards and metal detectors, they said guns are prevalent, and kids often have hiding spots on campus where they keep guns.

"The gang-banging kids do," Edwards said. "It doesn't matter what school you go to in Detroit, kids are going to gang-bang. They carry weapons."

"It's on school time, too," added Hall.

The teens said while some teens carry guns because of their involvement in gangs, others carry simply to protect themselves from the daily threats that surround them in Detroit, Dixon said.

In May, police said a 14-year-old girl was raped in an alley by a man wearing a mask, while a week later four teens reported attempted abductions and being stalked.

Hall thinks gun crime would be best addressed with a full gun ban.

"I would say no guns period," she said.