Mayor Nutter Calls For Strengthened Gun Laws in Wake of Colorado Movie Theater Shooting
After a shooting that took place early this morning in Aurora, Colo., in which a gunman killed 12 people in a movie theater, Mayor Nutter has released a statement calling for stronger gun laws.
“My most heartfelt condolences go out to the families and friends of the victims of this terrible act of violence,” begins the statement, which was sent out to media earlier this afternoon. “My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Aurora, and all of Colorado, as they attempt to understand and cope with this horrific act.”
According to reports, alleged shooting suspect James Holmes showed up about 10 minutes into a showing of the Dark Knight Rises and opened fire on the audience, killing 12 and injuring at least 50. He was described as having “a rifle, a handgun and a gas mask when police arrested him.” Both President Obama and Mitt Romney have taken the day off from publicly campaigning and spoke about the tragedies.
And while both candidates have seemingly left their own views on gun laws out of their public statements, Mayor Nutter did not. He continued: “While the attention of the American people is focused on Aurora and the irrational acts of an armed assailant, I am appalled by the pervasive problem of gun violence in our malls and parks and on the streets of our cities and towns. This truly sad moment should be an occasion to strengthen gun-safety laws, to call for national reform and to better ensure the safety of the public.”
Nutter is not alone in exploiting the situation with regard to politics. CNN talking head Piers Morgan took to Twitter, calling for more gun control in the wake of the tragedy. New York City Mayor Bloomberg, noted during a radio interview, “Maybe it’s time the two people who want to be president of the United States stand up and tell us what they’re going to do about it, because this is obviously a problem across the country. And everybody always says, ‘Isn’t it tragic?’”
Similarly, conservative news website Breitbart has been running with a headline noting Holmes “may be” a registered Democrat. Texas GOP Rep. Louie Gohmert ridiculously noted the tragedy is the result of “ongoing attacks on Judeo-Christian beliefs,” for some reason.
Nutter is no stranger to pushing firearms legislation. A member of Mayors Against Illegal Gun, his crackdown on local lost/stolen guns has come under fire by pro-gun enthusiasts in Harrisburg. Nutter has based much of his second term on anti-violence initiatives, including a youth curfew which was a point of controversy last fall. Philadelphia’s murder rate, as the Daily News recently noted, has spiked 23 percent this year.
I absolutely support Mayor Nutter in his call for far stricter gun control laws. There is NO reason for civilians to have access to assault weapons, much less attachments that allow shooters to have arsenal of 100 bullets at the ready. Horrendous! Must be stopped!!
Crazy people do crazy things. So what do the anti-gun people have to say when a NJ cop opens fire in a quite neighborhood in Doylestown. Nothing. He used the same semi-auto rifle this kid used. They both went off the deep end. Fight or flight which person do you want to be. Crazy people and bad guys use guns of all types. The more people who join the millions of concealed carry firearms owners in this country will help to contribute to the safety of themselves and others in all life threatening situations.
Mayor Nutter and other Mayors of large cities can not protect you so the only other way that they can act like they care for your safety is to blame the gun and not the person.
Does Mayor Nutter or any other anti-gun citizen honestly believe that banning semi-auto rifles of this type will stop someone from open firing on defenseless people.
What Mayor Nutter and his friends should do is create a gun free city zone and all the shooting will magically stop. Unless of coarse the bad guys see the gun free zone as a way to insure that law abiding citizens wii not bring guns into those areas.
This is going to bring out the loonies on both sides. Gun control is not the same as a gun ban. I carry and advocate the right to carry conceal and if you’ve ever gone to the sherrif’s office to pick up your permit and seen the people in line, you know it’s not that hard. There’s really no one stopping anyone from getting their carrying permits, even in Philly. I usually never leave my Kensington home without having my .380 tucked into my pants. It only holds six hollow point rounds, more than enough to stop a crack head mugger who might confront me on my late night walks home along Front street, more than enough to drop 2 or even 3 robbers at point blank range if they rob me at the small shop I own and run. During cooler days, I carry a 9mm Glock with 10 rounds for my work where I handle lots of cash in case I deal with a group of 3 or 4. I’ve been cased out before and know that if I’m robbed, it will be more than one person and they will all be armed. I also have an 8 round .357 revolver as my home protection weapon. I’ve bought a 9 round shotgun for my mother for her home protection since she’s never fired a handgun. Our nation has had a long, long history of being pro gun, with such a thriving black market, it would be impossible to block access to firearms through legislation, it would only bar law abiding citzens from ownership while crazies with money will always find what they want. Still, unlike most, this Colorado crazy bought his weapons LEGALLY at chain stores and I absolutely believe that no civilian has a legitimate reason or right to own a fucking assault rifle, or 30+ round mag, or silencer. Hell, I don’t think any civilian should have a right to own Kevlar armor. So if I had been unfortunate to have been at that theater with my carry conceal weapon, just what damn difference would it have made for me to shoot at a man in full body armor with a fully automatic weapon with my little .380? No one is calling for a gun ban! But you’re an a**hole if you try to justify owning an M-16 with an extended mag, that’s not a self defense weapon, that’s an offensive mass murdering weapon. Sorry, unless you’re some historian or esteemed collector, or someone who lives in an extremely rural area where you can have fun shooting in the woods danger free, there is no way you can justly advocate owning that type of weapon. As far as I’m concerned, if you’re the type of gun nut who puts lazer sights on your .40 and buy an aftermarket 30 round clip and silencer and machine gun, you’re someone who’s inherently attracted to violence, who gets off on the idea of possibly killing others. Also, pulling that trigger and hitting a moving target is a lot harder than it looks in films or plays out in video games. I hate it when gun nuts go on about EVERYONE carry concealing. Been to the local range lately? Most people can’t shoot. It’s like driving a car, it takes lots and lots of practice. The idea of every Joe Sixpack and Mary Sue carrying weapons they don’t know how to use TERRIFIES me, so Mary thinks she’s been followed and the guy behind her looks like a rapist type, she fires off 4 rounds into random homes in fear. Yeah, that sounds great.
To the owner/control advocate, civilians own semi-automatic AR 15 rifles, not assault rifles, which are full automatic weapons, and highly regulated in this country. I have two AR type rifles, and I would be perfectly sane with a 100 round drum magazine, 30 round magazine, or the 15 round limited magazines I use as a law abiding citizen at the range I go to in New Jersey. Yes, that’s one of the states where it is illegal to conceal carry as a civilian. You take the privilege for granted and want to strip away constitutional freedoms of others.
That’s just one of the few rights that have been stripped by the same type of legislation that will eventually strip you of your right to protect your family and defend your store with your pathetic .380 that I wouldn’t trust my life with if put against a motivated drug fiend with a flathead screwdriver. You don’t trust average Joe to carry a weapon, yet you give your mom a shotgun that will likely be manhandled and turned against her.
Your entire argument is flawed and hypocritical. I would sooner trust ten unarmed, motivated civilians with the guts to tackle an active shooter than your 9mm Glock and marksmanship skills in a dark, chaotic movie theatre, so you can forget about the body armor excuse. Furthermore, the mass shooter caused just as many casualties with his shotgun as the “assault rifle” when his 100 round drum magazine jammed. By your logic, we must eventually and inevitably take all guns out of the equation to stop mass shooters. It is not a matter of being outgunned by bad guys, it’s about having a means to defend yourself when and if legally possible, but also not laying down to die willingly at the hands of murderers. That brings me to the reason why we should have the right to own anything we want if we are to truly be free in this country.
We own firearms because it is our constitutional right to own the same type of weaponry that our military carries. An “M16″ is the least our government can allow us the right to because based on the original framework, the right to bare arms could be translated to any type of military grade weaponry to be used in the defense of the commonwealth against a tyrannical government. I know that may sound crazy to you, but in reality, our founding fathers would be considered terrorists by today’s standards.
All I’m saying is that people who live in a free country with a constitution as great as ours should not have their original rights diminished because of the few maniacs who go off the deep end. Violent crimes are committed by violent sociopaths. A black rifle is no more violent than any other rifle just as no motorcycle is any faster or more dangerous to ride than another motorcycle given the discretion of the rider. Timothy McVeigh killed a lot more people than the Aurora shooter and he used fertilizer. So we should ban fertilizer? That’s ridiculous. Next time you walk down the city streets late at night with your sidearm tucked, ask yourself, would you rather live in New Jersey where you don’t even have that right? Gun control IS gun ban. The sooner you get that through your head, the better off all law abiding citizens will be.