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Thursday, May 8, 2008
Nutter and Rendell Rage about assault weapons
Mayor Nutter and Governor Rendell just held a press conference where they called for a renewal of the federal assault weapons ban -- which was enacted in 1994 and expired in 2004.

Sgt. Liczbinski was killed with a Chinese-made semi-automatic rifle called the SKS Carbine, which was outfitted with a 30-round magazine.

The 1994 ban did not specifically outlaw the SKS. But a new version of the law, introduced in the House of Representatives, lists "SKS with detachable magazine" among the banned weapons. That bill was introduced in February 2007. U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak this week signed on as a co-sponsor to draw more attention to the legislation. (U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah was already a co-sponsor of the bill.)

Rendell and Nutter spoke vigorously about the need for such legislation. The two have sent a letter to the state's congressional and senatorial delegation calling for support.

"The time has come for politicians to decide," Rendell said. "You have to decide whether you're on their side -- the men and women who wear blue -- or whether you're on the side of the gun lobby."

The pols grew angry when an Inquirer reporter questioned whether the SKS Carbine was a true assault weapon, noting that the National Rifle Association disagreed with the classification and that a search on wikipedia.com would bring up information saying it was not.

Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey then got into the mix.

"I don't care about wikipedia or any other kind of pedias," he said. "It it's not an assault weapon by definition, then add it to the freaking list."

Rendell added, "if there's any ambiguity, we will clear it up."
Posted by Catherine Lucey @ 1:50 PM  Permalink | 2 comments
Comments   
Posted 05:43 AM, 05/09/2008
FJG JR
Commissioner, do you care about the "right to bear arms"? We the people wouldn't need a weapon in our homes and on our person, if the police were fighting harder on crime. I see priorities on the street such as;writing tickets, controlling parade traffic, closing off the East River Drive, excuse me, I think you, as an outsider, know it as Kelly Drive, anyway, do you know how many cops are expended for these type details ? Mucho! I have seen dozens of patrol cars parked outside of restaurant's eating breakfast, and 'bullguanoing' inside, for hours. I have even reported such stuff, against my better judgement. All cops are not lackadaisical commissioner, but their are still those, who are making the force look bad. Cancel parkway events, stop writing traffic tickets, stop your men from eating in restaurant's, let patrol cars patrol,as they should. How many cops are assigned to details every day? Let the merchants, and the hospitals, and the boater's, and the parkway event's, go. Let them get and pay for their own security guard's. At least, until this WAR in the city is over. When you do these thing's, then, and only then, will this citizen, believe. Stop, please, blaming everything on the weapon in the hand of a criminal,start focusing on the criminal himself. I want to carry a gun on the street's of Philly,I feel safer when I do,I have had a gun pointed at my head, and I was scared. Have you? Has Michael? I know Eddie, has told cops not to park too close to his house on Warden Drive, he was afraid "they" would know his house. Does he have a gun inside? He surely don't need one when he goes out, with all the cops he has watching over him. And you, is your gun at your side? Well I want mine next to me too. If you break the constitution this time for assault weapons, your gun, the gov's gun, and mine are next. Now, calm down, and start thinking again, it has been a rough week for everyone.
Posted 10:30 AM, 05/09/2008
K-Romulus
The regular SKS that does not use detachable magazines holds 10 rounds in an internal magazine. The officer was killed with barrage of five shots. Using non-banned rifle would have made him equally dead. That's the rub - bans on so-called "assault weapons" do NOTHING to increase public safety as long as the convicted criminals (generally seen in hard data to be responsible for 80% of all murders) keep being let out on the streets.
2 comments
About Chris Brennan and Catherine Lucey
PhillyClout
Chris Brennan, a native Philadelphian and graduate of Temple University, joined the Daily News in 1999. He has written about SEPTA, the Philadelphia School District, the legalization of casino gambling, state government, the mayor, the governor, City Council and political campaigns.

Catherine Lucey joined the Daily News in 2002. Since then she has written about murderous drug gangs, political protesters and Harry Potter. For the past two years, she covered the 2007 mayoral election. Now that the battle is over, she has moved down to the City Hall bureau where she will report on the Nutter administration.

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Catherine Lucey
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