Column | Pittsburgh gun bills fail civil rights and safety

[azuredragon]

I am the Assistant Opinions Editor of The Pitt News and did my own investigative work into the ordinances for a feature column you can read here: https://pittnews.com/article/139544/...ts-and-safety/

In it, I talk about how they were crafted and what they would do with comments from legal experts and policy analysts.

This is just a quick excerpt from the column that should give you an idea of what it touches on:

When asked why cosmetic features like bayonet mounts qualified guns as assault weapons, Strassburger seemed stumped.

“That’s a really good question, you got me,” Strassburger said. “I don’t have a good answer for that.”

I want to plug this here not because of self-interest but because these are facts that I found and reported through research and interviews because I believe the public has a right to know these things. I hope y'all find the information useful and go make your voices heard at the public hearing.

For some clarification on format, location, and rules for the hearing, this article should clear some of that up: https://theincline.com/2019/01/23/wa...-need-to-know/

[Jhaydeno]

Well said, and that last paragraph is brutal! Unfortunately, anyone backing this bill has either a wad of cash in their pocket from Bloomturd, or lacks the comprehension to follow your well reasoned arguments, and won't be swayed. Keep up the good work though, there are those of us in PA that appreciate the media support!

[Mike_Golf]

Thank you for your article. Gun owners see very little objective reporting in the media. For that reason, you’re likely to get a tepid response here. Simply put, we don’t trust you.

The media often repeats anti-gunners’ lies and misinformation. As you’ve seen yourself, gun grabbers have no idea what they’re trying to regulate. That makes all of this even more frustrating for gun owners.

Governing based on emotion is seldom a recipe for success. For example, during the crack epidemic, community leaders shouted from the rooftops, “Do something!” and the government knee-jerked the response. After devastating a generation in the urban areas, those same community leaders are essentially shouting, “Undo something!”

Only once courts and governments uphold the RKBA and acknowledge the human right to self-defense will gun owners even consider anything but blanket opposition to gun control measures. But Article 1, Section 21 of the PA Constitution is even more clear than the US Constitution’s 2nd Amendment, so we have little reason to concede anything.

[Wilderness 1864]

I am the Assistant Opinions Editor of The Pitt News and did my own investigative work into the ordinances for a feature column you can read here: https://pittnews.com/article/139544/...ts-and-safety/ . . . .

https://theincline.com/2019/01/23/wa...-need-to-know/

This is a good article.

I wonder how much of this is merely explained as a poor cut and paste job (with even greater negligence in editing and proofreading). If Pittsburgh is anything like the NY State Legislature, most of it is being supplied by anti-Constitution groups. I recall there was one particularly embarrassing gaff in the NY Safe Act. Governor Cuomo, a man almost completely without shame, was embarrassed by the preposterous ban on magazines holding in excess of 7-rounds (Cuomo claimed that to be the standard magazine of semiauto pistols) and when challenged on that absurd position, let slip that the bill's contents were supplied by Bloomberg's Everytown in order to deflect blame away from himself. Of course, Bloomberg dissembled and claimed that NY is responsible for the contents of the laws they pass.

O'Connor doubles down on his knowing and intentional breaking of Pennsylvania's firearms laws. Admissions all over the place there, and he just won't stop. The brazen lawlessness of government officials from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh defies description. Yet, after passage of this illegal law, these same hypocritical public officials will be demanding that the people comply or face the consequences.

Strassburger is no less culpable. Still, her "I don't have a good answer for that", is an almost refreshingly honest statement from an anti-Constitution legislator who, like most that I have observed, understand very little about firearms, function, applications, or their proper use and handling.

One thing is certain, almost all of those cosmetic accessories (i.e. barrel shroud/forearms, thumbhole stocks, pistol grips, compensators, etc.) are intended to enhance accuracy, surer, and more safe firearms handling. So by banning them, it must be Pittsburgh's position that increasing the chances of inaccurate shooting and less safe and reliable gun handling is good public policy. I guess the Pittsburgh Council deep down wants people to miss what they aim at, figuring that somehow makes everyone more safe. Sure, a tad of sarcasm there, but that is, in fact, exactly what these proposed bans unwittingly accomplish.

One final consideration, everyone in Pennsylvania and the US outside of Pittsburgh cannot travel to or visit Pittsburgh without being at risk for arrest and prosecution for violating Pittsburgh's arcane laws. The City would like to gull everyone into thinking that their actions are purely local in nature, but barring an ironclad exemption from the law for anyone not actually a citizen of Pittsburgh, it seems to me that everyone has a stake in this. Even with such an exemption, the citizen is still subject to arrest and punishment until he or she can prove their innocence. That is why we, and many other states, have preemption laws.

[stainless]

Nice article Jeremy. The statement from O’Connor sounded similar to a copy / paste from Pelosi "pass the bill to find out what is in it " or whatever her inane comment was.

[JustinR]

Spot on on the sloppiness of the bill directly correlating with the amount of thought/care that actually went into crafting, if you can even use that word, these bills.

I've posted in other threads how these bills are full of errors and omissions to the point that I'd question anything put forward by the Pittsburgh council. Either there's no proofing process, or the person that reviews the bills - be it a clerk, the solicitor, or Joe in the office down the hall- is totally incompetent and needs to be replaced.

It's so full of errors that it's hard to tell what's an error and what's insidious insertions. One of the bills bans pretty much all handguns due to a line in the definition of a machine gun (uses OR can accept a high capacity magazine, not AND) then goes to define "high capacity" as 10.

Another removes LTCF protections through a typo - but if you look up the pertinent ordinance it looks like they intentionally removed LTCF protections, but dropped a digit when referencing the ordinance.

These bills are messes, to the point that nothing in them can be taken in good faith.

[Wilderness 1864]

Spot on on the sloppiness of the bill directly correlating with the amount of thought/care that actually went into crafting, if you can even use that word, these bills.

I've posted in other threads how these bills are full of errors and omissions to the point that I'd question anything put forward by the Pittsburgh council. Either there's no proofing process, or the person that reviews the bills - be it a clerk, the solicitor, or Joe in the office down the hall- is totally incompetent and needs to be replaced.

It's so full of errors that it's hard to tell what's an error and what's insidious insertions. One of the bills bans pretty much all handguns due to a line in the definition of a machine gun (uses OR can accept a high capacity magazine, not AND) then goes to define "high capacity" as 10.

Another removes LTCF protections through a typo - but if you look up the pertinent ordinance it looks like they intentionally removed LTCF protections, but dropped a digit when referencing the ordinance.

These bills are messes, to the point that nothing in them can be taken in good faith.

Good faith has nothing to do with it. It is all down to power politics now. It isn't just in Pittsburgh. It's everywhere and we are soon going to see it on full display in Harrisburg, and, of course, Washington DC. Council's knowing disregard of the law is disturbing. I have to wonder if O'Connor has reason to count on the partisan leftist Democrats on the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. His confidence in proceeding has few other logical explanations. Power politics.