September 19, 2008

You wouldn't think there would be a need for a law requiring handgun owners to report when one of their guns is lost or stolen.

Yet there was York Mayor John Brenner, traveling to Reading Tuesday for a press conference with six other mayors, all of whom intend to push their cities to adopt a 72-hour reporting requirement.

These mayors realize responsible gun owners are already doing what the law requires. Someone breaks into your home and steals a handgun, what's a responsible gun owner going to do? Report the handgun stolen, of course.

The real target here are individuals who participate in straw purchases, buying a gun on behalf of someone who can't obtain one legally. That's a problem in York, the mayor says. City Police Commissioner Mark Whitman agrees.

Police track down the owner of the gun involved in a crime and are told it was lost or stolen. A reporting requirement and an accompanying fine for those who fail to comply might help discourage some of those straw purchases.

But you can tell by his comments -- "We're most concerned about handguns, not rifles, not shotguns that good York County sportsmen use" -- that Brenner realizes the proposal is likely to meet with opposition...

The mayors who gathered in Reading would be quick to agree a statewide approach would be better. They're pushing the reporting requirement in their cities because a statewide measure along the same lines failed. Police Commissioner Mark Whitman said he thinks "it's ridiculous that local mayors have to take this issue up when it should be a state issue."

But with no action forthcoming from the state Legislature, what are the mayors to do?

As long as these proposals stick strictly to their stated intention -- requiring the reporting of a lost or stolen gun within 72 hours -- they hardly seem objectionable. And they might spur state lawmakers into action.