Penn Gov asks for tougher gun control

[ericire12]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09105/962854-53.stm

Rendell prods lawmakers on gun control
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
By James O'Toole, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Prodded by the shooting deaths of police officers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Gov. Ed Rendell will ask lawmakers today to enact a series of measures to control gun violence.

The Democratic governor will detail his proposal at a Harrisburg news conference.

Previewing the measures in Pittsburgh yesterday, Mr. Rendell recalled the memorial service last week for the three Pittsburgh police officers gunned down in Stanton Heights. Noting that any number of legislators had attended similar events during years of increasing gun violence, he argued that those lawmakers could pay a more effective tribute to fallen officers by enacting common-sense gun control laws.

"Our police officers in the state are simply outgunned," he said.

Mr. Rendell has advocated gun control measures in Harrisburg in the past with little success. In particular, he has called for a limit of one gun purchase a month to curb the problem of straw dealers who legally purchase guns but then resell them on the black market.

Last year, Rep. David Levdansky was soundly rebuffed on the House floor when he urged the passage of a bill that would have required gun owners to file a report within 72 hours when their weapons were lost or stolen. The measure was aimed at the same straw purchaser phenomenon as the one-gun-a-month proposals advanced by Mr. Rendell.

Nationally, a ban on so-called assault weapons, enacted in 1994, was allowed to expire in 2004. The Democratic majority in Congress has shown no inclination to revive it. On the 2008 campaign trail, President Barack Obama endorsed efforts to reinstate the assault weapons ban and to require background checks for sales at gun shows similar to those required for purchases from gun shops. Since taking office, however, the administration has not pushed gun legislation to the top of its agenda.

"The amount of firepower that the deranged person in Pittsburgh had was stunning," Mr. Rendell said yesterday. "If the AK-47 hadn't jammed, we might have had a lot more dead than just the three officers."

Mr. Rendell wouldn't comment on whether prosecutors should seek the death penalty against Richard Poplawski, the Stanton Heights man arrested after the shooting deaths. He noted, however that, as governor, he must sign a death warrant before any execution can be carried out.

"I would sign that death warrant without a moment's thought," he said of the Pittsburgh case.

Mr. Rendell said that one of the measures he would propose is a restoration of the option for Pennsylvania municipalities to enact their own gun laws -- an option taken away by the Legislature in 1996. Philadelphia, where Mr. Rendell served two terms as mayor, has tried to impose local gun restrictions in the last year, prompted by the shooting deaths of four Philadelphia officers over the past two years. Enforcement of the new Philadelphia laws has been held up by legal challenges based in part on the legislative pre-emption of the local gun law authority.

"If the city of Pittsburgh wanted to take action on gun laws, we should let them," Mr. Rendell said. "What works in Pittsburgh won't necessarily work in McKean County."

[Hazcat]

Yep, perfect dumbocRat answer.

Lets have a mixture of laws all over the state and let the citizens try to figure them out and comply.  Of course many will be 'caught' in violation which is of course, the whole idea.

[shooter32]

Isn't it Penn. the state that closes school on the opening day of deer season and can't hunt on Sunday's 

More gun control wont prevent"mindless people from doing mindless acts"

[tombogan03884]

Isn't it Penn. the state that closes school on the opening day of deer season and can't hunt on Sunday's 

More gun control wont prevent" helps mindless people from doing mindless acts"

Fixed it for you 

[1911 Junkie]

Rendell's a dickhead and, thankfully, in his last term.

He already tried once (himself going before the state house, first time ever for a gov to do so) to lobby
personally for stricter gun control laws and got slapped down hard.

But hey, you can't waste all the emotions that follow a good crisis, right.

Isn't it Penn. the state that closes school on the opening day of deer season and can't hunt on Sunday's 

Only the better schools and yes, no hunting on sundays (it's reserved for riding quads and poaching)

[Sponsor]

[Fatman]

Isn't it Penn. the state that closes school on the opening day of deer season and can't hunt on Sunday's 

Yep, but the influx of fern Staters may end this. Had a neighbor that moved in from NYC guy ask me about deer, "what are those animals in my yard?"

Small feckin' giraffes, call the game warden QUICK!

[BAC]

Isn't it Penn. the state that closes school on the opening day of deer season and can't hunt on Sunday's 

More gun control wont prevent"mindless people from doing mindless acts"

I never hunted, but vividly remember returning to school on the 2nd day of buck season to an almost empty school (students and teachers).

[ericire12]

UPDATE: Rendell Asks For Ban On Semi-Automatic Weapons

HARRISBURG (KDKA) ―
   
Just yesterday, Governor Ed Rendell spoke out about gun control laws.

Today, the governor asked federal and state lawmakers to do more to protect police.

Governor Rendell, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Police Chief Nate Harper gathered with other officials in Harrisburg to discuss how Pennsylvania can prevent situations like the death of three Pittsburgh Police officers from ever happening again.

"Make them decide who they're with. Are they with law enforcement or not," said Rendell.

With those words, Governor Rendell called on the public to push lawmakers to enact common sense gun measures to protect local police beginning with a ban on AK47s and other semiautomatics.

"These weapons have absolutely no purpose but to kill," said Rendell. "They can't be used for sport; they certainly aren't used for hunting."

Ravenstahl endorsed that ban and other proposals to require the reporting of lost and stolen guns and to give local communities the power to enact tougher gun measures.

"One thing that was also abundantly clear on April 4th was that our police officers were out armed," said Ravenstahl. "They were out armed. The individual that fired the AK47 had much more firepower and strength than these officers did. It was unfortunate and that has to change."

"Over 100 rounds were fired," said Harper.  "It leads to the potential of 100 lives being injured or ruined in some fashion. We have three families that are now victims of assault weapons."

Afterwards, Chief Harper told KDKA that much more can be done to honor the fallen heroes like legislative action to protect their comrades.

"We need all the support that we can get and when you see the citizens come out to pay homage to the fallen officers, that was one step," said Harper. "The next step is to take action to call the legislature, the state representatives and voice their opinion on this and show support."

However, given the strength of the National Rifle Association and other second amendment groups in Pennsylvania, it's going to be very difficult to persuade state legislatures to make the kinds of changes the governor, the mayor and police chiefs are advocating.

There's one group that may be persuasive, it's law enforcement -- the police officers themselves.

Video here:
http://kdka.com/local/automatic.weapons.Rendell.2.985879.html

[1911 Junkie]

"One thing that was also abundantly clear on April 4th was that our police officers were out armed," said Ravenstahl. "They were out armed. The individual that fired the AK47 had much more firepower and strength than these officers did. It was unfortunate and that has to change."

Here's an idea, lets better equip and train the police.

[ericire12]

"One thing that was also abundantly clear on April 4th was that our police officers were out armed," said Ravenstahl. "They were out armed. The individual that fired the AK47 had much more firepower and strength than these officers did. It was unfortunate and that has to change."

Here's an idea, lets better equip and train the police.

It is an irrelevant point the Gov was making.... those cops were ambushed. That loon who killed them could have probably used just about any gun in almost any caliber.