Philly Mayor Nutter - Appropriately Named

Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter claims the N.R.A. owes an apology to the family of a Philly police officer slain with a Chinese made semi-automatic rifle. You can read the news article in the Daily News here.


"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."


While Nutter wants to ban certain rifles on Philly streets - and no doubt enforce it vigorously to show us he's a "law and order" mayor, when it comes to obeying laws of government, Nutter ignores those that get in his way.


Nutter signed five local anti-gun bills in Philidelphia, including one to outlaw possession and sale of certain semi-automatic rifles (those scary and evil-looking military-style rifles of course). The problem, however, is that his newly signed laws are, themselves illegal. The State, not the city, has jurisdiction over gun laws in Pennsylvania. Nutter should be lobbying Harrisburg to pass any new gun legislation, not issuing dictatorial fiats.


And because the NRA has obtained a temporary restraining order on the grounds that the State, not the city, has jurisdiction over firearms laws, he's blaming the NRA as being partly to blame.


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."


So, Nutter is blaming the N.R.A. for his failure to follow the law and get legislation enacted for his city. It's so very typical of political leaders to push the blame to someone else rather than face up to their own failed policies.


At least one former Philadelphia police officer sees the reality. In an opinion piece Michael P. Tremoglie nails it right from the get-go with the title - Who Freed the Cop Killers? Tremoglie hits it squarely on the head. Each of the three cop killers were repeat offenders and each of them should have been serving out their time in prison. Instead, they were released on parole early, despite records of parole violations in the past.


And now, Nutter has joined with Governor Rendell to issue a joint statement to ask Congress to ban assault weapons again. Of course, he says it's the NRA's fault for opposing useless, ineffective laws that don't stop criminals. In the statement, Nutter claims "The mission of the NRA seems to be to frustrate efforts by legislatures around the United States as they attempt to pass reasonable gun control measures designed to make our streets safer."


Message to Mayor Nutter: It's not the guns, it's the criminals who cause crime.