Hero/Hack
Feel free to suggest a hero for this week in the comments!My hack this week is Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, for trying to overstep his authority on gun legislation:
Mayor Nutter likened himself and City Council members yesterday to the band of rebels who formed this country as he signed five new gun-control laws that defy the state legislature and legal precedent.What's ironic is those 'rebels' were tried and true gun-owners. And since when to violent criminals buy legal guns?"Almost 232 years ago, a group of concerned Americans took matters in their own hands and did what they needed to do by declaring that the time had come for a change," Nutter said as he signed the bills in front of a table of confiscated weapons outside the police evidence room in City Hall.
"We are going to make ourselves independent of the violence that's been taking place in this city for far too long," he said.
The five laws - called everything from unconstitutional to criminal by critics - do the following:
Limit handgun purchases to one a month.
Require lost or stolen firearms to be reported to police within 24 hours.
Prohibit individuals under protection-from-abuse orders from possessing guns if ordered by the court.
Allow removal of firearms from "persons posing a risk of imminent personal injury" to themselves or others.
Outlaw the possession and sale of certain assault weapons.
Nutter said he would begin to enforce the laws immediately, with the exception of the one-gun-a-month requirement, which takes effect in six months.
He and Council are in for a fight, however. The city has tried and failed for three decades to buck the 1974 state law that reserves gun regulation to the state legislature. The state's preeminence appeared to be cemented in a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that allowed the legislature to prevent Philadelphia and Pittsburgh from enacting local gun laws.
Labels: Gun Rights, Hero/Hack, Philadelphia
| Permalink | 
