this is "nightline." >> tonight -- >> pisses me off. country off. >> one mayor is taking a stand. >> no reason for anybody to die. none. >> call for gun reform in cancel city in a state that's seen more relaxed gun laws and more deaths. >> your face lights up when you talk about it. >> and after the loss of her son one mother on a mission for change. these women are embracing hashtag black love. why single black women living in new york city are having a tougher time finding mr. right. what if you could keep your pet forever? >> he's got the same white paws. he's got the same -- >> sort of. how pet cloning is quickly becoming big business.

>> but first the "nightline" 5.

good evening. thank you for joining us. tonight, the great gun debate. a tale of two cities determining to save young lives. in kansas city, missouri a mayor fighting for stricter gun laws. and in oakland, california operation cease-fire. how this is fueling conversation

can ignore. >> pisss me off. and it should. it should piss everybody in this country off. there's no reason for a lot of these people to die. none. why do we accept it in. >> reporter: kansas city mayor sly james is a man on a mission. desperate to decrease the number of deaths from guns in his city. >> it's obscene. >> reporter: and in his city 2016 is not off to a promising start. >> we had four, five murders in the first four days, five days. >> of this year. >> of this year. >> reporter: the debate over whether or not stricter gun laws save lives is no more clear than here in missouri. in the past decade missouri has relaxed their gun laws, and in that same time span gun deaths have increased 16%. mayor james has had enough. >> too many people die, and they don't have to. and somebody needs to say that, and somebody needs to care prrpt the debate over how to protect americans from guns while still protecting the right to bear arms is a major issue on the

>> and i will continue to take on the gun lobby. >> the second amendment is so important. they're not going to take your guns away, folks. >> reporter: this week the president issuing his own executive actions for gun control. and becoming emotional when recalling the victims of mass shootings, like the children of newtown. >> every time i think about those kids it gets me mad. >> reporter: mayor sly james has also seen the horror of an innocent child killed. >> i went to the scene of a 3-year-old who had gotten killed in a drive-by shooting while he slept in his bed. >> reporter: and on the streets the calls for the police to respond to gun violence come all too frequently. >> shots fired calls. that comes to about 16 a day. >> reporter: 16 a day? >> that's what it averages out to, yes. >> reporter: that seems like a lot for a city like kansas city. a reality that the president could not ignore. >> meanwhile, since missouri repealed a law requiring comprehensive background checks and purchase permits, gun deaths

higher than the national average. >> what was your sense when in the president's remarks the other day you mentioned your city by name? >> we always like to have our city mentioned by the president but not necessarily in that light. we have an issue here with gun violence. we have virtually no laws that limit the sale and proliferation of guns. >> reporter: lifelong kansas city resident rosalind temple knows all too well the pain caused by gun violence in this city. in november 2011 her 26-year-old son antonio thompson was shot dead in his own home. >> your face lights up when you talk about him. >> it does. he used to always make me laugh. he was always by his mother. he was one of the mama boys. >> reporter: the homicide rate is so high here that mothers of children gunned down get together. >> we call on 60 mothers weekly to check on families to see how they're doing.

get them to come into our human support. >> reporter: rosalind leads a group called mothers in charge. >> let me know if anything we can do, come out and call. >> reporter: a group of individuals who provide support for families of victims of gun violence. >> we take a stand in our community. we fight back. we say no more losing our children. >> reporter: you okay? >> yeah. i'm okay. >> reporter: it's hard still. >> it's hard. >> reporter: rosalind actually keeps a hotline fwoen herphone with her at all times. the calls come in 24/7. >> every time my phone rings once a homicide occur, the murder squad, they call me and i meet them out there. because if it's not no one there, i'm there for that loved one. >> reporter: how would you describe the pace of the killings here now? >> they've been fast. >> reporter: missouri as you know has some of the most lax gun laws in the country. what's that mean here in kansas city for you and your organization, the families you work with?

year, it devastated me and community. >> reporter: nearly 2,000 miles away in california, a state with far stricter gun laws than missouri, gun deaths have decreased slightly since the introduction of stricter laws in 2013. but gun laws only go so far. here in oakland violence has still ravaged some of its toughest neighborhoods, residents tell us. >> how old was he? he was a young cat, right? >> yeah. 17. >> reporter: to combat growing crime in 2012 oakland implemented "operation cease-fire," a coalition formed by groups in the community, local government and clergy. led by pastors mike and ben mcbride. >> so here we're spending a lot of our work here in the bay area, particularly here in oakland oakland, building relationships with those who are highest at risk to commit acts of violence, providing them services and on-ramps to change their lives. we find they are actually able to stop shooting and see their lives transformed.

work with the utmost urgency. >> this is an act of survival for us. this isn't an act of charity. this is an act of altruism. we do this every day because we know if we don't our own lives children. >> reporter: they lead what's called night walks throughout oakland, engaging personally on the ground with at-risk youth. >> we're walking these neighborhoods, trying to really see, you know, who are folks that are actually hanging out in some of the spaces that we can connect with. it's the consistency of showing up in the same places, building the relationships. >> reporter: as a result of this strategy, oakland has seen a 20% decrease in homicides. it's a program that has worked for 27-year-old clarence ford. a mentee of michael mcbride's for the last decade. >> i try to lead by example. and like let people know that,

i had my hardships. it was difficult. but it's possible. [ applause ] >> reporter: tonight, president obama is back at it, headlining cnn's "guns in america" town hall. >> there's nothing else in our lives that we purchase where we don't try to make it a little safer if we can. >> reporter: and in the audience families who have lost loved ones to gun violence. >> the bottom line is is that it doesn't matter what the reason, it doesn't matter what the color. it doesn't matter what the economic, socioeconomic status is, there's too many people dying in this country at the end of a gun and there's too little being done to change it. >> reporter: the mayor did admit to us there is still no easy answer. next, could race be a factor for women looking for love? and later, you never want to have to part with your pet. so if you could, would you clone your furry friend?get hungry just thinking about 'em. and at red lobster's big festival of flavors

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finding mr. or mrs. right is rarely easy. for anyone. tonight you're about to meet five young black women who are looking for love. what's keeping them from finding their prince charming? here's abc's linzie davis. >> this one is really nice. >> really? >> reporter: monae bell has gone to great lengths to find love and marriage. >> do you, monae bell, take vaughn copeland to be your husband? >> reporter: first on the fyi show "married at first sight." >> i do. >> yes. >> reporter: where complete strangers are matched by experts and agree to get married without

spouse until the moment they walk down the aisle. >> you're harping on something insignificant right now. >> reporter: but for monae lived pf. >> if we're going to call each other names that's real productive. >> that's not a name. that's a legitimate characteristic. >> how did that work out? >> i'm divorced. it didn't work out. >> reporter: monae and her husband vaughn copeland called it quits after just five weeks. >> you got my keys? >> got the keys. >> you have almost 5,000 looks. >> reporter: since then monae has tried and failed at finding mr. right. >> i feel like i deserve something better than what i've dating. >> reporter: it's an issue that black women in particular have a lot to say about. >> it is very hard for black women to find love. in fact, just about every black woman you ask that question will say that it's almost impossible. >> reporter: according to the census, black women are far less

counterparts to get mayorrried. >> people don't want to admit professional black women are not making it up. >> reporter: at 34 monet is still on a quest for true love, this time on another reality show, " #blacklove." "sex and the city." an inside look at the dating and drama of five single black women living in new york city. all attempting to discover love. >> what i really want is a gentleman. >> reporter: relationship experts and therapists coach them along the way. >> as a woman of color sometimes we hear that black women are too strong in a relationship. >> i guess my question is why do you have to go through training in order to date and get married? >> well, i'm still single. so if i'm still single, i need to look at myself and say monet, like what are you doing wrong? are you projecting something out you that don't really want to project? or what is it about me that's

getting men -- or not having -- not meeting a man who's in a space where he wants to commit? >> reporter: the show's title was born out of the overwhelming social media use of that hashtag during the first season of "married at first sight." as viewers rooted for the ultimately doomed marriage of the two black participants. >> a lot of the black twitter or the african-american community would hashtag black love in support of us. they wanted us to make it. >> we are hungering to see a healthy black relationship on television. and there are more and more. >> you need to focus. >> reporter: relationships like the one portrayed on the abc show "blackish." >> maybe you're right, babe. thank you. >> you're welcome. i love you. >> i love you too. >> they're funny. they're down to earth. they're struggling to raise their kids. >> obama's the first black president? >> he's doing a bang-up job over here. >> you can see a little bit of yourself in that if you are married and you can see a little

if you're not. >> reporter: whether black women really do have a harder time finding love is a provocative subject and one "nightline" has debated before. >> i would be lying if i said that i don't have fleeting thoughts of okay, i'm 32, my clock is ticking. >> reporter: in 2009 chateau waters was a 32-year-old high school counselor. she seemed to have it all. brains, beauty, stable career. and she was also single. >> a lot of our white friends are married about 25, like happily married. kids by 27. and we're like what is the deal with the bgs? and that's the black girls. >> reporter: since then chateau has gotten married and has two kids. >> a lot of my black professional educated friends say that it's so hard to find love because the pool of black men is so small. >> reporter: 75% of black women will eventually get married. and like with any race or gender, finding the right partner can take years. >> it's a social catastrophe that we're in the midst of with

imprisonment numbers, the unemployment numbers, underperformance academically. these are crises. >> reporter: stanford professor ralph richard banks found the statistics so troubling he wrote a book about them called "is marriage for white people?" >> black women have fought the good fight. they've engaged in a noble endeavor of trying to lift black men. that strategy hasn't really worked. >> i really enjoyed this. >> reporter: the idea of black women giving up on black men only served to make some angry. >> there's no other ethnic group anywhere advocates annihilating their own race. >> reporter: but bank argues if you look at the numbers there's simply a shortage of eligible black men. >> black women are faced with a shortage of black male peers would do well to expand their options in the same way that people of other races have and to look beyond black men in their search for a partner.

open to dating outside her race. >> i just want love and i just want to be happy. and if it comes with a black man, i think that would be amazing. but if it came in a different -- something other than african-american i'd be okay with that as well. >> reporter: so the search goes on, both online and in person. >> i am going out with this guy. we've been hanging out, dating for a couple of months now. >> life is good. >> i know. >> and i like him. i think he's a good guy. he's grounded. he's a gentleman. and he's handsome. >> i love these. >> reporter: in the man-time, she's making plans to freeze her eggs. >> the moment i made that decision was the moment it alleviated so much stress. >> reporter: and if she doesn't find true love, she's learning to be fine with that too. >> finally i'm coming to the place to realize that i'm okay and that i'm enough and whomever this man is if he doesn't like

where i'm tired. it's too much work. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm linzie davis in new york. and next, how man's best friend just became twice as loyal. i absolutely love my new york apartment, but the rent is outrageous. good thing geico offers affordable renters insurance. with great coverage it protects my personal belongings should they get damaged, stolen or destroyed. [doorbell] uh, excuse me. delivery. hey. lo mein, szechwan chicken, chopsticks, soy sauce and you got some fortune cookies. have a good one. ah, these small new york apartments... protect your belongings. let geico help you with renters insurance. what super poligrip does for me is it keeps the food out. before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles.

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finally tonight, how far would you go to bring back a pet? now, pet cloning is making it possible to go farther than ever before. and devoted pet owners are not going to let a hefty price tag stand in their way. laura and richard have been waiting for this moment for months. >> oh, my god. it's just a miracle.

>> reporter: the birth of their precious puppy. >> you can't see my big smile through the mask. >> reporter: but their bundle of joy isn't exactly brand new. >> it's got the same white paws. it's got the same -- >> nose. the same white on his nose. >> and a patch on his chest. >> reporter: it's a clone. laura and richard paid $100,000 to a south korean biotech company to recreate dylan, their 8-year-old boxer who died of a brain tumor this summer. >> it was just an amazing dog. it was so soft. you know, never in his life would he dream of even the slightest growl at anyone. >> reporter: the dna that made him was harvested 12 days after his donor died, making scientific history. >> we've been able to amass special knowledge, sort of personal know-how regarding the method and cloning of -- best cloning of a dog. >> reporter: pet cloning is becoming a big business. the seoul scientists say they've

pregnancy success rate, the world's highest. there's even a reality show about the process. the tlc series "i cloned my pet." >> oh, look at how cute you are. >> reporter: for many grieving pet owners it's a way to connect with their furry loved ones who've passed over to the other side. >> he cannot have been happy when you put this on. >> of course he was. he looked very, very handsome. >> reporter: danielle tarantova told my "nightline" co-anchor dan harris that cloning her dog trouble was worth every penny. >> i couldn't believe it. it's amazing. everything is the same. everything. even his personality is the same. what trouble used to doe does. >> so his name's double trouble. >> yeah. first one's trouble. second one's double. >> reporter: but critics have major concerns. they say there are tons of other potential pets out there who are looking for homes. there are some who worry this could be a slippery slope to human cloning. plus for those people forking over major money there's no guarantee your cloned pet will

your original pet.