2 arrests were made

In the Market Street shooting on Sunday. This was one of the approximatly 9 shootings over the weekend.

High court builds 2 story speed bump

Well crap. The ruling by the Supreme Court today has helped to strengthen the NRA's argument for weak gun laws.

"Undoubtedly some think that the Second Amendment is outmoded in a society where our standing army is the pride of our nation, where well-trained police forces provide personal security and where gun violence is a serious problem," Scalia wrote. "That is perhaps debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct." _Justice Antonin Scalia

Perhaps the next course of action is to demand safety training compliance when purchasing a handgun. And continue to fight for One Gun a Month laws.

we're an example

Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, left, and Mayor John Hickenlooper appear at a news conference Monday at Denver police headquarters to discuss the shootings over the weekend. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)

Denver is taking a new look at it's gun laws and using the situation here and Michael Nutters attempts to help as a model. If you have time, please write encouraging them to follow through and create the tougher laws. This might help prompt more cities and eventually our ignorant ass state council to do the same.

There were at least 9 shootings over this past weekend. I was trying to put together words about how badly things have to change, but the comments below the stories on the Inquirer's website say it for all of us.

Newlywed Killed at carwash

A robbery ended in the shooting death of a 37 year old newlywed man. No arrests have been made. That last sentence is probably the most published set of words in the Inquirer this year.

I'm sure they were for sporting use

Not so much. Former 76er Aaron Mckie has been arrested and charged with attempting to illegally purchase multiple handguns. It seems the system does have some checks that work.

URGENT SUPPORT NEEDED

Image from Wikipedia.


If you live in Jersey, this is something you need to act on right away. Call your local assembly head and support this legislation! This article is so ignorant and skewed. Here is the contact info to call and voice your support for A339.

"The legislation, sponsored by Assembly Joan Quigley (D-32), would criminalize the purchase of more than one handgun per month by honest citizens, even though they have already been pre-certified by the state as law abiding citizens after passing a comprehensive 13-point background investigation. Multiple handgun permits could not be used during the same 30-day period, and permits that could not be used before their expiration date would become useless."

Tragic

I have to be careful about the use of the word tragic. It could be overused severly in this blog.
I'm sure you've heard by now, but a student from Minnesota was shot and killed here over the weekend. He was here in Philly teaching inner city kids and was walking home from his part time job when someone tried to rob him and shot him in the neck.
Now America's most wanted has joined the effort to find the shooter.

You're a Christian man?

I found this pic on a Japanese blog. Amazing.

Wow, this is a totally ludicrous blog about how disarming the citizenry after Katrina is a form of control so that people couldn't revolt against the oppressor. Uh, what? From what I remember, they disarmed people who were robbing people and looting stores as well as confiscating other guns they came across to prevent harm doers from obtaining them and using them for malice. This guy is totally off his gourd and probably founded a civil war reenactment group somewhere. Playing the South of course.

Summer bloody summer.

Some people think that limiting guns, or the term gun control means that the government would be able to control us, or someone would come over the border and take over.
This is too ridiculous to even give serious thought to. Pro-gun acitivists harp on the second amendment which was penned 200+ years ago in a time when invasion was a serious possibility. Hey, let's harp on something that someone said 200 years ago because it's soooo relevant to today's society.
Come on. On every other front these hypocrites plead for progress and embrace advancements in technology, yet they cling to their fear and the stocks of their rifles. These people should realize that a takeover wouldn't come from the shores, it would come from the bank. We as a society, have advanced too far to rely on guns for strength. Guns pretty much only cause problems nowadays. I don't believe that there should be an all out ban on guns. Hunting is a legitimate sport and a passion of many people. But there's no reason anyone should hunt with a 9mm Baretta or an AK-47 or an AR-15. Keep those in the army, and save citizens lives!

This has been a pretty bloody week regardless of the pre-summer smiles. There was a young man shot just this morning (in the morning??) and 3 other men shot in separate incidents over the past 3 days.
Little progress has been made with the gun purchasing legislation that Michael Nutter enacted earlier this year. The law suit from the asses at the NRA has pretty much put it in a closet, ensuring that many more young men and women will die this year. Not that the legislation would halt this all together, but it would make people think a little more about selling guns on the street and limit access to as many guns.

3 more reasons

I've been out for a little bit. I came back to read that a cop had to wrestle a guy for a gun on a public bus and the man was wearing a bullet proof vest with an armor plate on it. Our troops aren't even that well equipped and there's people running around the streets in Philly with those!? Let's arrest all these guys, take their weapons and cash and send it all to the effort in Iraq. That might help offset that disaster.

This happened last night. Three seperate incidents around the city. Three chances for an innocent child standing nearby to be killed.

what will the sequel to this be?

The state attorney's office has produced a video about why straw purchasing is bad. I'm sure it'll have about as much effect as Reefer Madness did. It'll probably become a cult classic for gang members. Noble effort folks, but unless you got Michael Bae to flim it, that video will be better served as a door stop.

Fantastic

This is great! The illegal gun task force arrested 13 more people connected with buying, and the subsequently selling guns to people on the street. This is why we need reporting laws. It wouldn't eliminate it completely, but it would put a speedbump in their thoughts about doing it. It would also raise the penalty for the crimes therefore keeping these people off the streets. The NRA should be all for these measures since as the crimes get worse, guns will get a worse rap. There will be a time when people finally stand up and say this is ridiculous. And call for an all out ban on guns in homes. Wake up people.

Action can't stop

Photo from Reuters Pictures


People can't stop speaking out, just because the gears of change move slowly. If they had done that during the Civil Rights Movement, where would we be? Our voices have to be heard in order to make a difference and we must be diligent. Otherwise young people will continue to be shot and killed on streets all over this country like they are in Philly.

The heat is up on the street

This proved to be a busy weekend. As there were mulitple incidents as the heat rose and tempers flare. Some even seemed like they might have been done for fun.

Link

Link

Link

The second and third links are for the same story that developed quickly.

Mr Hitler?

I particularly love the term Mr. Hitler in this rant.

Not so Nicetown

This happened on Wednesday. So much for the niceness factor there. I hope that Nicetown (hip hop) has a song condemning violence.

Gonna be a long hot summer

Another woman was killed last night in west Philly.

fear leads to censorship

This photo is from another work called With Us or Against U.S., 2006, ceramic, and plexi.

This is nearly as outrageous as the state council condoning the loose distribution of guns. Local artist Steven Earl Weber has a piece on display at the Art Institute and the administration has covered it so people can't see it. The piece called Glorified features ceramic castings of 9mm pistols in different positions. The work is not unlike the castings by Charles Krafft that has been featured in respected art institutions for decades and the commentary is pretty much the same. Antiviolence, not proviolence like the dean at AI would like to suppose. We need to rally to end this frustration and ignorance of this growing issue. Every year it's the same story because people ignore it after a while. This can't stand.

Here is Weber's website: http://www.inliquid.com/artist/weber_steven_earl/weber.php

Count 2 more

This weekend so far is turning out just as violent as always. The beginning of summer seems to test people's patience and gets anger flaring as the tempurature rises. Two more people were shot so far. One man died, one woman's in intensive care.
I know this is a new blog and there's not many people reading it, but whoever is, please write to your representatives to help stop this.