Monday, May 05, 2008
Nutter Takes On the NRA
Philly's great new Mayor takes on the NRA:
Another recent, high profile gun story involving Philadelphia, here.
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Mayor Nutter this morning said the National Rifle Association owed an apology to the family of slain police officer Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski.Good for him. Philadelphia is a great city, and getting even better, but it really is suffering from major gun problems.
Nutter recently signed five local gun bills into law, including one that would outlaw the possession and sale of certain assault weapons. The NRA immediately sued the city on the grounds that the city does not have the authority to enact local gun control. They obtained a temporary restraining order to keep the city from enforcing the new laws.
Liczbinski was killed with a Chinese-made assault weapon.
"I think it's insane," Nutter said. "The fact that we put forward a piece of legislation to prevent the sale and use and transfer of assault weapons and have a Philadelphia police officer assaulted on the streets with one, I think makes it pretty clear to anyone who is confused about this issue that there's no reason for any citizen, any person other than in law enforcement or in the military to have such a weapon."
He added: "There's no legitimate argument by the NRA, they need to get in the real world where the rest of us live and come to grips with these kinds of issues. They owe an apology to the family for their staunch opposition over many, many years blocking legislative support for these kinds of matters."
We called the NRA for response and will update when we hear back.
Another recent, high profile gun story involving Philadelphia, here.
