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Nov 20, 2007 11:00 pm US/Eastern
Lawmakers Reject Rendell's Appeal For Gun Control
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) ―
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Gov. Ed Rendell (File)
CBS
Gov. Ed Rendell made an impassioned plea to state lawmakers Tuesday for four bills he said would curb growing gun violence, but a legislative panel rejected two key measures in less time than he spent making his appeal.
Rendell made his rare appearance before a legislative committee largely in response to gun crimes in Philadelphia, where homicides have been occurring at a rate of more than one a day for three years running and a police officer was fatally shot three weeks ago.
The governor spent 40 minutes in front of the House Judiciary Committee before the panel rejected two bills most urgently sought by Philadelphia leaders. The panel voted 17-12 against a proposal to limit most handgun purchases to one a month and 19-10 against a measure to let local governments enact their own gun controls.
Legislators sat silent as he told them that they have the power to save lives and stop people from buying multiple handguns in stores, selling them on the street to criminals and then claiming the weapons were stolen or lost.
"For 12 pieces of silver, they're selling guns to people they know are going to use them to maim and to kill and to rob and you have to stop it and you have the power to stop some of it," the governor said.
Rendell gestured forcefully as he spoke, his voice occasionally rising, and he slapped his hand on the table to punctuate his speech. At one point, he waved color-coded maps of the state that showed rising gun violence statistics. State police commissioner Col. Jeffrey Miller sat at his side, and he was backed by a row of dark blue uniformed officers in a packed hearing room in the state Capitol.
Republicans on the House committee lead the opposition.
"Public safety has not been a priority for this governor," said Rep. Ronald S. Marsico of Dauphin County, the committee's ranking Republican.
The committee did approve a bill that would set a 20-year minimum prison term for anyone who shoots at a police officer, even if the officer is not wounded.
Legislators postponed action on a fourth bill which would require gun owners to promptly report lost or stolen firearms, although the same committee rejected a similar measure earlier this year.
Pennsylvania, which has nearly 1 million licensed hunters, has always been known as a strong gun rights state. Lawmakers must balance the interests of urban communities concerned about violent crime and rural areas where the hunting tradition runs deep.
Rendell, a Democrat who served as Philadelphia's district attorney and mayor before becoming governor nearly five years ago, has grown increasingly frustrated by the violence that has plagued his home city.
He singled out the Oct. 31 shooting death of Philadelphia Officer Chuck Cassidy -- one of five city officers shot in the line of duty since Oct. 28 -- as a personal turning point.
"I knew I had to do something," he said in explaining his personal appearance before the committee.
Rendell said a deluge of illegal guns was overwhelming efforts by police and prosecutors to deal with gun violence.
"Tougher law enforcement, real tough law enforcement, hasn't stemmed the tide," he said.
He urged lawmakers to consider families torn apart by gun violence, rather than heeding the gun lobby.
A lobbyist for the National Rifle Association, which claims 250,000 dues-paying Pennsylvania members, praised the committee votes.
The lobbyist, John Hohenwarter, said the one-handgun-a-month proposal amounts to "rationing individual liberties," while the bill to allow local gun ordinances would create a crazy quilt of conflicting requirements across the state.
"You could have over 2,000 different gun laws in this state, making it impossible for law-abiding citizens to comply," he said.
Rep. John Myers, a Philadelphia Democrat who sponsored the proposed limit on handgun purchases, said urban Republicans who opposed the bill might regret their decisions if Rendell is correct that polling shows statewide support for his measure.
"They don't want to hear what their constituents have to say," he said outside the hearing room. "They want to hear what the NRA has to say. That's what they believe to be the truth."
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