Wednesday, April 08, 2009

By Tom Barnes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

HARRISBURG -- Seven Pennsylvania mayors are calling on the state Legislature to take some action that will keep citizens and law enforcement officers safe from "the growing threat of gun violence.''

A group called Mayors Against Illegal Guns issued a statement today saying that the killing of three Pittsburgh Police officers Saturday is just the latest in "a terrible string of fatal law enforcement shootings in Pennsylvania.''

Five Philadelphia police officers have died in the line of duty in the past three years.

The mayors -- Michael Nutter of Philadelphia, Thomas McMahon of Reading, Salvatore Panto Jr. of Easton, John Brenner of York, John Reiley of Pottsville, Ed Pawlowski of Allentown and John Callahan of Bethlehem -- said the problem of gun violence "is a statewide problem that requires statewide solutions. . . . We must work together to prevent it in any way we can.''

The mayors said that the Legislature "has failed to take substantive action to keep the citizens they represent safe.'' The mayors didn't recommend any specific measure the legislators should adopt.

The Legislature has many members from rural, small town and socially conservative areas, where hunting, target practice and gun collecting are popular and gun owners strongly defend their right to own firearms under the Second Amendment.

A bill to require gun owners to report lost or stolen guns within 72 hours to police hasn't made any progress in the Legislature, where the National Rifle Association has great influence.

First published on April 8, 2009 at 3:40 pm