Philly dot Com (Sorry ... The Philadelphia Enquirer) has an article about the FIFTEEN Firearms Control Bills backed up in the state legislature.
(We already talked about at least one of them, here.)
You can read the whole thing .............. here:
http://www.philly.com/philly/
hp/news_update/HARRISBURG_
-_Seven_months_after_a_
special_two-day_legislative_
session_on_crime_in_which_
more_than_a_dozen_
gun-control_bills_were_
defeated__anti-crime_
advocates_are_hoping_a_new_
climate_in_Harrisburg_will_
mean_movement_on_
long-stalled_gun-control_
meas.html
I have to admit, that is the longest URL I have ever seen. I'm sure there are some conclusions to be drawn from this, but I am not man enough to accept the challenge.
Well, it's probably not significant that Philly's newspaper doesn't know how to generate a short, unique URL, but it probably IS significant that:
- PA introduced a dozen gun control bills seven months ago ... all of which were defeated.
- "... the number of slayings in Philadelphia is edging painfully upward - 105 at last count, the majority of them at the point of a gun."
- "Gov. Rendell has turned up the volume on his pleas for stronger gun-control measures, and Democrats now control the state House. All this comes at a time when a new poll suggests a majority of Pennsylvanians are willing to accept handgun-sale limits. " "... the bills face an uphill battle in the General Assembly, which is dominated by lawmakers who support gun rights.
So, if there is such a ground-swell of popular support for gun control in Pennsylvania, why is it so difficult to make new laws?
Answer: Politics. Or, not to put too fine a point on it, the lawmakers are keenly aware that (a) their main priority is to be re-elected; (b) their constituents don't REALLY want the State to take their guns away, and; (c) if they vote for gun control laws, the politicians will NOT be re-elected!
Think I'm making this up? This is a direct quote from the article:
This sounds serious. The Public has identified a problem (heightened murder rate in major urban centers); The Politicians have offered a legislative solution (specifically, limit gun purchases to one per month, in an attempt to limit "straw purchases"; The Public has rejected that offer.
From House Speaker Dennis O'Brien (R., Phila.), who blocked gun-control bills as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, to the current leaders of the committees in the House and Senate, there is reluctance to support gun bills for fear they will fail or bring lawmakers defeat in the next election.
Rep. Dan Surra (D., Elk) said that while he sympathized with residents living in high-crime areas, he could not support any gun-restriction bill because in certain quarters of his district, a hunting stronghold in the north-central part of the state, guns are a single-issue item at the polls.
"They will vote you out on this," Surra said.
(Governer) Rendell's mention of gun control in his February budget in the Capitol drew a chorus of hisses from Republicans - and likely some Democrats in the Capitol - underscoring the largely geographical, rather than political, divide on the issue.
The Politicos are wandering around Harrisburg, scratching their pointy-haired heads, asking each other "What's wrong with this picture?"
As far as I can tell from the article, they have decided that voters are a fickle bunch. They not only want a 'solution', they want 'the RIGHT solution'. This is beyond the competence level of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, so their response is to -- what?
That's right, they are determined to JAM Gun Control down the throats of their constituents, as soon as they can figure out an acceptable way to reword the phrase "Take Your Gun Rights Away From You".
Well, good luck to you, PA Pols. (Not really, you slimy scum-sucking bottom-dwelling Lawyers! I hope you try, and I hope you choke on it.)
Yeah, you think? That's something new in American Politics, especially when there's a new Democratic Majority in the State Legislature.
"Voters are in a different place than some lawmakers," said Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), the poll's sponsor and chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
But deep philosophical differences separate those in rural areas who treasure their Second Amendment rights, and for whom a Winchester .30-06 is for shooting deer, from those in urban areas who associate gun use with murder.
"The feeling out here is that proposals that deal with firearms in general are inched toward the precipice, and once you start eroding Second Amendment rights, it's a cascading effect," Surra said.
"Guns are part of our culture, too. The difference is we don't shoot each other," said Surra, who recalls teaching students to build guns in shop class.
Well, not shooting each other seems an uniquely intuitive step in a situation which has already been defined as "we have too many people shooting each other, what should we do about that?"
Obviously, that's too simplistic and the Pa Pols have ignored what may seem "a common-sense approach" to some of us.
The Gun Owners' Advocate Speaks:
Clearly, a battle looms over one-handgun-a-month in the Capitol
"We're opposed, of course," said Melody Zullinger, executive director of Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen, an umbrella group representing 300 hunting and outdoor organizations.
...
"All [the laws] do is infringe on law-abiding citizens' rights," Zullinger said. "The criminals get illegal guns on the black market. It's not going to curb the crime problem."
The Gun Control Advocate Speaks:
This time around, gun-control groups have a new advocate: Philip R. Goldsmith, Philadelphia's former managing director, who is now president of CeaseFire PA.
"The time is ripe," said Goldsmith, who wants to build a grassroots movement like the one that defeated the controversial pay raise that legislators voted themselves in 2005. "The paradigm is changing on this."
and ...
Pennsylvania "is a priority state for us," said Peter Hamm, communications director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Handgun Violence, which teamed with other gun-control groups to form the coalition Pennsylvanians Against Trafficking Handguns in 2005. "We believe there is enough political ability in the legislature to enact change."That looks good to the Democrats, I suppose. But here's the Money Quote:
State Sen. Stewart Greenleaf (R., Bucks), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he supported one-handgun-a-month but would not bring up a bill for a vote in his committee that is doomed to failure.
"I run what I think I can get through, and this didn't come close to passing," said Greenleaf. "Still, we have to do something that will have an impact. It's a war."
Yes, it's a war. The conflict is between Citizens who want to reduce the murder rate in their (gun-control intrusive) urban areas, and politicians who can see no other solution than to take firearms out of the hands of honest citizens.
As my old friend Bumstead is fond of saying: "When all you have is a hammer, all of your problems look like a nail."
.. and as another friend, Earthworm, would say:
"What a bunch of Maroons!"
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