Phily Gun Control Group Offers Op-Ed Piece

The headline sounded like an April’s Fools joke: “Phila. Gun control program is working.” But that is because Phil Goldsmith, board president of CeaseFirePA, wrote this editorial for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The problem with this editorial is that it offers quotes that support the argument, while offering no counter-point. Yes, it is an editorial and doesn’t need the counterpoint, but it just shows that Goldsmith doesn’t have a strong enough argument to make his case. Worse still is the fact that he notes Philadelphia is safer, yet still calls for “reform of gun laws.”

If the city is already safe, and he says gun control is working, then why reform the gun laws – something that to us would only effect law-abiding gun owners, and clearly not criminals? What is the point? Could it be that this isn’t so much about crime, but rather that CeaseFirePA would like to see a gun-free zone that is much larger than merely the city of brotherly love?

Philly Inquirer Thinks Legal Guns Will Mean Illegal Gun Trafficking

The debate in the Supreme Court this week (McDonald v. Chicago) is one being editorialized in numerous papers, and we must take note of some of the weak arguments made by The Philadelphia Inquirer including:

“A gun-rights decision by the Supreme Court two years ago threatened to make it more dangerous to walk the streets of Washington.”

Is there even any evidence that the streets of Washington are any more dangerous? Worse still, somehow the editors of the Inquirer seem to think that allowing citizens to legally obtain firearms will lead to more illegal guns:

“That will lead to a greater proliferation of handguns – with the inevitable increase in illegal gun trafficking.”

We must ask why criminals will wait for legal handguns, and further ask if anyone really thinks someone would suddenly just buy guns legally, only to sell them illegally?

Philly Inquirer Editorial Calls for Gun Control

Any editorial that offers the opinion: “Another good sign is the 159 cities and towns that have joined the state’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns group,” isn’t going to be one we agree with at all!

This isn’t a good sign, this is a horrible sign for law-abiding gun owners nation-wide, and while The Philadelphia Inquirer in an editorial this past weekend attempted to draw attention to illegal guns, this notion of “getting guns off the street” through legislation is in our opinion completely misguided. It is criminals, those who don’t legally own guns who are responsible for the bulk of crime. Does anyone at the Inquirer really think more laws will get the criminals to fall in line?

Gun “Safety” Story Lacks Strong Counterpoint

Every month there are stories of how those armed were able to protect themselves. Yet any mention of this type of information is missing from Faye Flam’s story for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Instead, it looks at a study that chose various shooting victims to determine whether carrying a gun increases the chances of getting shot, with the results being published in the American Journal of Public Health. Among the “facts” offered:

“Researchers randomly chose 677 of those victims for the study. They came from various occupations – taxi drivers, bartenders, nurses, and drug dealers. Fifty-three percent had criminal records. Six percent had guns with them when they were shot.” Read more