Rendell to plead case for four gun control bills

[CHAUKA]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07324/835296-85.stm

Governor's lobbying before House panel today called historic
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- Caught in a crossfire between gun owners and gun control advocates, including Gov. Ed Rendell, the House Judiciary Committee will vote today on four major bills aimed at reducing the level of handgun violence in cities and towns across Pennsylvania.

Mr. Rendell, in what is being described as a virtually unprecedented step, will speak to the Judiciary Committee this morning and urge legislators to approve the four gun-control measures.

"This is going to be historic," said Rep. Tom Caltagirone, D-Berks, committee chairman. "In my 31 years in the House I've never known of a governor testifying before a House committee before they voted."

House Bill 22 would limit a person to buying just one handgun a month, or 12 per year, a limit that many gun owners and collectors object to; House Bill 29 would force gun owners to report missing or stolen firearms to police within 24 hours, or face criminal penalties; House Bill 18 would give towns the right to enact tougher gun control laws than the Legislature enacts, something that gun owners say would create an unenforceable "patchwork" of laws across the state; and House Bill 2060 would give an automatic 20-year jail sentence to anyone convicted of shooting at a police officer, even if the shooter missed his target.

Mr. Rendell, a former mayor of Philadelphia, and other city officials are upset because a long-time Philadelphia police officer was recently shot and killed in the line of duty. They say more needs to be done to get guns out of the hands of criminals.

Mr. Caltagirone said he can't predict whether the first three bills will get out of committee but he's certain that legislators will send the one about shooting at police to the full House.

Yesterday, legislators got an earful from both sides of the gun control issue. A group called CeaseFire PA released a new poll of 600 Pennsylvania voters that showed strong support for stricter laws regarding handgun safety.

The bill to require gun owners to report lost or stolen handguns to police was "strongly supported" by 89 percent of those surveyed and got 96 percent in "total support," with only 3 percent opposed. The CeaseFire poll, done by a firm called Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, surveyed 100 registered voters in six different counties from Nov. 2-4.

In Philadelphia, murders have been on the rise in recent years. Four people died in gun violence over the weekend, putting the total for the year at more than 300. During a visit to Pittsburgh yesterday, the governor said enacting the gun control bills is "an uphill fight, but the polls are overwhelming" in support.

"It's time the Legislature show a little backbone and pass gun legislation that doesn't affect the lives of ordinary people," he said.

The bill to limit handgun purchases to one per month got somewhat less support. Fifty-four percent of the people said they "strongly support" such a bill, with total support at 70 percent. There were 26 percent opposed to that idea.

"Good Lord," Mr. Rendell said, "under one gun a month, you as an ordinary citizen can buy 12 a year. It you're married you can buy 24 a year. Who would need more handguns?" And it doesn't affect the purchase of rifles, he added.

Phil Goldsmith, president of CeaseFire PA, said the counties surveyed were Erie, Lancaster, Montgomery, Berks, Northampton and Lehigh. He said the pollsters intentionally avoided big cities such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, where gun violence is always a problem and large majorities want stricter measures taken by the Legislature to get guns off the streets.

Also participating in a telephone interview about the poll were several mayors, including John Brenner of York, Ed Pawlowski of Allentown and John Callahan of Bethlehem.

"The people are way ahead of the politicians," said the mayor of York, which had 15 murders in 2005 and 10 so far this year. "This gun issue impacts our local communities. None of these bills will have one ounce of impact on a responsible sportsman."

But Mike Stollenwerk and John Pierce, co-founders of a gun owners group called OpenCarry.org, which claims to have 3,230 members, disagreed with the governor and the mayors. In an e-mail yesterday, they urged legislators to defeat what they called "the gun control bill triumvirate," bills 18, 22 and 29. They didn't address the bill about 20 years in jail for shooting at police officers.

House Bill 18, giving local towns the power to enact their own gun laws, would "provide some politically motivated localities the carte blanche they seek to target, profile, harass and criminally prosecute peaceful gun owners," OpenCarry.org said.

It complimented Ohio legislators for getting rid of a law that gave individual towns the ability to enact their own gun laws. Doing so, they said, "pre-empted the crazy patchwork of local gun control that was routinely putting law-abiding peaceful citizens through a Kafkaesque criminal procedure nightmare."

They criticized the Pennsylvania committee for "inviting anti-gun Gov. Rendell to intrude upon policy-making in the Capitol." As for the "Rube Goldberg gun-rationing scheme" to limit purchases to one per month, they said, "What's next -- letter to the editor rationing?"

Only three states -- California, Maryland and Virginia -- have such a limit, they said, adding that those states don't have the Pennsylvania constitutional provision that "citizens' right to bear arms in defense of themselves shall not be questioned."

Another spokesman for gun owners, Kim Stolfer of the Allegheny County Sportsmen's League, said the misguided gun proposals are "trying to make honest gun owners scapegoats."

He said that Baltimore now limits gun sales to one per month "and their per capita gun-violence rate is higher than Philadelphia's. South Carolina had such a limit but repealed it because it didn't work. Criminals only need one gun a month to break the law."

[ANTHONY03]

Did anyone send an email to the Governor's office? This man should not be in office. He actually thinks the criminals are using legally obtained guns to commit their crimes. These bills will do nothing but hurt the law abiding citizens.

[RocketFoot]

Is there anyway to impeach a governor? How did this prick even get re-elected? I sure as hell didn't vote for him!

[BradC]

I have emailed my rep this morning.

Anyone else on Sam Roeher (sp?)'s email list? He seems pretty pro-2a and sent an email around yesterday about this, from his email...

Governor Puts PA Gun Owners' Rights in the Crosshairs....Again

Once again, Gov. Ed Rendell is trying to push through legislation that infringes on the rights of law-abiding gun owners.......in the name of dealing with big-city violence.

To keep you informed, here's an update on a new push to pass "one gun a month" legislation.

On Tuesday, Nov. 20, legislative action is expected to push House Bill 22, legislation that would limit firearm purchases to one gun a month, out of the House Judiciary Committee. The "one gun a month" plan has proven to be ineffective in states where it's now law: Virginia, Maryland, and California have passed this plan and still have homicide rates above the national average. Gov. Ed Rendell, himself, is making a presentation to the Committee urging its passage.

Here's My Question

Why punish the law-abiding gun owners and sportsmen all over Pennsylvania with an ineffective law like the "one gun a month" option? Rendell and the House Democrats are taking the same old path to limit 2nd Amendment rights, while turning a blind eye to the fact that current gun related laws are not being effectively enforced.

Standing With You to Protect Gun Owners' Rights

You have my continued commitment to vote in favor of the rights of Pennsylvania's law-abiding gun owners. I am not on the House Judiciary Committee but have urged its members to vote against this legislation. As the Republican Chairman of the House Game& Fisheries Committee and as a sportsman myself, I know the need to punish the wrong-doers and enforce our current firearms laws, while protecting our 2nd amendment rights.

I will send you another update as this situation progresses.

[dmg1969]

Originally Posted by BradC

I have emailed my rep this morning.

Anyone else on Sam Roher (sp?)'s email list? He seems pretty pro-2a and sent an email around yesterday about this, from his email...

Yes. Although I am not in Sam Roeher's district, I am on his mailing list. He seems like a stand-up guy as far as RKBA.

[ChamberedRound]

I got Sam Rohrer's email. I'm on his list even though I'm not in his district; I'm in the neighboring one. Rohrer's definitely a stand-up guy, and I wish he was my representative. He's all about:

- Limited Government
- Very Pro-2A, and Chairman of the House Game and Fisheries Committee
- Against the Federal RealID program, and pushing PA to pass legislation against implementing it
- Proposing legislation that would eliminate the School Property tax, replacing it with a modified sales tax.

He's definitely one of the good guys.

[GunLawyer001]

Rendell is on live TV now, the PCN cable channel.

He's already used the final argument of the losers, "it's worth it if it saves just one police officer...or one store owner..."

Well, no. No it isn't. Instituting a totalitarian regime would stop some crime and save some lives, but I think most of us agree that the trade off is unequal. Liberal weenies contemplating more gun control fall into the converse of the saying about pessimists, who "see the cost of everything and the value of nothing." Well, gun control enthusiasts always think that more restrictions MAY have some value and cost nothing to implement. They never even pretend to balance the cost and benefit, because they honestly don't see a cost.

Rendell just said that "1 gun a month" would still allow a man to buy 12 guns a year, but this requires that man to mark his calendar and carefully make a purchase every 30 days, no more, no less. He can't buy them at gun shows because the timing is wrong. He can't buy 2 or 3 in December when there are more gun shows, he can't buy a couple at an auction. He can't ever buy a matched pair of pistols.

In return, the benefit is...what? Illegal gun resellers have to hire twice as many straw purchasers? Rendell mentions a guy who bought 24 guns in a year. This law would cut that in half. Big deal. So 12 million Pennsylvanians have a fundamental right turned into a metered privilege, and a few hundred straw purchasers have to hire more help to put the same number of guns into criminal hands. Meanwhile, the actual point-of-sale criminals usually go unpunished because they are junkies who don't know what they are doing, or girlfriends of gangbangers who just did what he told them to do.

What these gun-banning loons fail to grasp is that marijuana and cocaine are completely illegal, but readily available, despite being consumable goods. So tightening the legal point of sale for guns won't EVER eliminate or slow down the illegal sales. They've already eliminated mail order sales, imposed background checks, tried waiting periods, expanded the group of prohibited persons, banned entire categories of weapons, and restricted place and manner of carry. Some states go further and ban all handguns or all guns. It never works.

[Garpman]

Very well said gunlawyer. It was just disconcerting to only get two responses to all my letters.

I just read an article that states the bills have an uphill battle just as before, and they are counted as not likely to pass. There are still people with common sense out there, but for how long...

[dgg9]

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

Some states go further and ban all handguns or all guns. It never works.

Sure -- commodity prohibition NEVER works, when you're trying to interdict a small number of highly motivated buyers. The actual number of hard core career criminals is not that large in major cities, so there's zero/none/nada way of preventing them from getting illegal guns.

Of course, while the useful idiot voters think that's the reason for gun control, I don't think the elites like Rendell think that for even a moment. No one who actually examined the evidence for 5 seconds would fail to realize gun control simply doesn't work. All it does is incrementally remove RKBA. And that is Rendell's motive.

[MarcS]

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

Rendell is on live TV now, the PCN cable channel.

He's already used the final argument of the losers, "it's worth it if it saves just one police officer...or one store owner..."

Fuck that. If i get killed on the train by some crackhead after home rule says i can't carry in philly anymore, is it worth it? This is a shitty argument that assumes my life is worth less than others.