The government is to consider making gang membership an aggravating factor in sentencing for gun crime offenders, the home secretary, John Reid, said today.

Ministers will also seek to clarify whether five-year minimum jail terms can be handed to youths aged 18-21 for gun offences, Mr Reid told a gun crime summit at 10 Downing Street.

But a number of community leaders who spoke at the summit said they were uncomfortable with more gun crime legislation, and warned that Britain was in danger of creating a generation of "urban child soldiers".

The meeting followed the fatal shootings of three teenagers in south London over the past fortnight, and brought together ministers, police chiefs and community leaders.

Mr Reid earlier said the aim was to find ways to prevent Britain from becoming a country overrun by guns. He said encouraging young people to think guns are "cruel not cool" was as important as tougher gun laws.

He told Sky News: "Young kids are not the beneficiaries or the exponents of gun culture: they are threatened - they are victims of it.

"We saw that recently in London, but we have also seen it in Manchester and Nottingham, Liverpool and elsewhere.

"We are not attacking young people. We are standing alongside the majority of young people because they are the people who are most threatened."

The home secretary said new measures would be introduced, including banning replica guns, stronger offences for possessing or hiding a gun.

The Conservative leader, David Cameron, said efforts to change attitudes within local communities were needed alongside tougher legislation in order to reduce gun crime.