Philly mayor defies gun rights

Posted on April 12, 2008 by Lance

The Inquirer (the Philadelphia one, of course) reports that Mayor Nutter has signed into law a measure that will restrict gun rights by achieving these goals, my commentary underneath:

Limit handgun purchases to one a month.

I take it this is supposed to help crime by forgetting the fact that anyone bent on committing violence with a gun can just as easily buy a gun from a black market or steal the gun. Good, law abiding citizens cannot buy multiple guns, but any criminal can.

Require lost or stolen firearms to be reported to police within 24 hours.

Requires? Nothing less than outright idiocy. I wonder if they took into consideration that the gun I had stolen was stolen in the first place. That probably didn’t cross their minds. Is it still against the law to fail to report it?

Prohibit individuals under protection-from-abuse orders from possessing guns if ordered by the court.

The Court has no right to tell anyone if they can or cannot own a gun. This can only hurt law abiding citizens–someone bent on hurting another human can get a gun no matter what.

Allow removal of firearms from “persons posing a risk of imminent personal injury” to themselves or others.

This is the key right here. Any cop who gets angry at his neighbor can say the person is risking personal injury and take their guns. It’s happened in my city and it was nothing short of wrongful tyranny. This is where the line goes too far.

Outlaw the possession and sale of certain assault weapons.

As if criminals are going to legally buy an assault weapon in the first place, this can only hurt citizens who might collect them or use them for target shooting (a legit reason to own one). Perhaps they want one to protect their self from the cop coming to take their gun because they are a “‘persons posing a risk of imminent personal injury’ to themselves or others.”

Filed under: Politics

« Hillary Is Like The Annoying Contact Lens Stuck In My Eye Bomb explodes in Iranian mosque »

9 Responses to “Philly mayor defies gun rights”

  1. fooser, on April 12th, 2008 at 12:05 pm Said:

    Mayor Nutter .. what a fitting name

  2. Mike O, on April 12th, 2008 at 3:50 pm Said:

    Looks like that camel’s putting his whole head in the tent; wait untill the rest of him comes to push you out.

    Ironically, this will likely put more guns on the street. If I were an enterprising gun store owner, I’d immediately start a ‘Gun of the Month’ club.

  3. Subaltern, on April 13th, 2008 at 4:45 am Said:

    Perhaps it is a good time to remind the firearm fundamentalists among us that indeed, it is 2008 and not 1787.

  4. Mike O, on April 13th, 2008 at 5:41 am Said:

    Subaltern: are you aware of some expiration date on the Constitution, or some secret Constitutional Convention going on?

    “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

    What part of ’shall not be infringed’ do you not understand?

    INFRINGE (v)- to commit a breach or infraction of; violate or transgress; to encroach or trespass on

  5. Josh Adams, on April 13th, 2008 at 6:54 am Said:

    Also, in 1787 it was a recognition of rights that we have on account of our being human beings. It wasn’t a right offered to us in a temporal context. It’s something we have the right to do - protect ourselves, from crime or tyranny. And the truth is, passing laws makes it no less a right…and you can damn well bet that I won’t be reporting any guns, lost or stolen or whatever, at any point. I’m still a human being, I still have rights, and anyone that wants to take those from me can be the first to start the pile.

  6. Terry Woods, on April 13th, 2008 at 5:08 pm Said:

    Not for nothin’, but did anybody pull that musket out of Heston’s cold dead hands yet?

  7. halldg, on April 14th, 2008 at 7:49 am Said:

    I was going to say something in offense to anti-arms people, but I think Mike O summed it all up: “What part of ’shall not be infringed’ do you not understand?”

  8. gmrishel, on April 14th, 2008 at 8:33 am Said:

    Well, the last time I read the PA state unified firearms act, there was something in there something along the lines of no municipality can make laws pertaining to firearms. So this is pointless politicking as usual and wont stand up in court if challenged (I hope that someone does it as soon as possible).

    Look, a firearm is nothing more then a tool for putting holes into things at a distance. I have never heard of a firearm hurting anyone with out someone’s finger of the trigger, baring accidentally dropping one. People should look at the deeper root cause of the problem. Crack, probably hurts more people in more profound ways than firearms at this time. The fight against hard drugs and boosting general economics of problem areas would bring more rewards per effort.

  9. Lance, on April 14th, 2008 at 8:45 am Said:

    People like Subaltern scare me.

Leave a Reply