PA State Representative Ed Gainey intends to introduce legislation for an assault weapons ban (AWB) in Pennsylvania.
See
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/...cosponId=20171.
WPXI-TV (Pittsburgh), in typical media orgiastic fashion, covered the story yesterday.
See
http://www.wpxi.com/news/rep-gainey-...ence/259244660
Rep. Gainey's proposed AWB comes on the heels of his sister, Janese Talton-Jackson, being killed outside Cliff's Bar in Homewood after she rebuffed the advances of one Charles McKinney.
See:
http://www.vibe.com/2016/01/janese-t...ed-pittsburgh/.
See also:
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/9...red-pittsburgh.
And also:
http://www.theroot.com/articles/cult...e_said_no.html.
https://www.questia.com/newspaper/1P...ing-death-near.
All the above being laid out. I will offer some thoughts.
It's tragic that Ms. Talton-Jackson is dead.
She was shot and killed by a man (Here I use the term loosely to describe his gender, as no real man would shoot a woman who merely rejected his romantic advances.) who was in possession of heroin and who was found to be in violation of firearms laws already on the books. McKinney faces homicide charges.
Obviously, she was not shot with an AR-15 or an AK-47 (guns most associated with the description "assault weapon") -- as McKinney pulled the gun and shot Talton-Jackson in the chest.
No number of laws would have prevented the lawless McKinney from shooting Ms. Talton-Jackson.
An AWB would not have prevented the killing.
Our inalienable right to keep and bear arms (RTKABA) is not the reason Ms. Talton-Jackson is dead. The existence of the RTKABA is completely irrelevant to the facts of the case.
Having an AWB in place in Pennsylvania prior to Ms. Talton-Jackson's death would not have saved her. Implementing an AWB now certainly will not bring her back.
Lastly, I will broach the subject of Ms. Talton-Jackson. I may be excoriated in some circles for bringing this up, but so be it.
We live in dangerous times. Ms. Talton-Jackson was shot around closing time for Cliff's Bar (2:00 A.M.). What is a 29-year-old mother of two (some reports say three) doing out at a bar (which attracts clientele of the ilk of McKinney) so late in a dangerous area of Pittsburgh?
As Talton-Jackson was shot in the early morning hours of Friday, January 22, 2016 (i.e., Thursday night turned into Friday morning), who was taking care of her young children?
Ms. Talton-Jackson didn't deserve to die, but didn't she realize that risky choices (My research turned up at least one previous shooting in the bar --
http://www.wtae.com/news/man-shot-ki...d-bar/28181964.) sometimes result in dire outcomes? Didn't she realize as a mother that she had a responsibility to minimize and mitigate those risks?
To Rep. Ed Gainey, I say that I'm very sorry for the loss of your sister; you have my deepest condolences.
That being said, Rep. Gainey, it is shameful for a state representative such as yourself to be so ignorant of our history, our constitution, and our laws that you intend to introduce legislation in outright contradiction to them. It is the height of unseemliness for you to use the death of your sister as a stepping-stone to introduce an AWB in Pennsylvania.
My inalienable rights are non-negotiable. The lawless misuse of firearms to commit murder and mayhem does not change that fact one iota.