The mayor, who supports a set of bills that would ban guns from parks, playgrounds and recreation centers, said mitigating the city’s increase in homicides should take priority over gun rights.
Homicide rates in Philadelphia have been steadily increasing since 2017, the year when 315 people here were killed.
In 2018, the final homicide tally was 353, the highest since 2007. And as of Sunday, June 28th, 185 dead bodies have been counted, marking a five-percent increase over last year.
“There’s something happening here now that’s really un-natural and we’ve somewhat normalized it,” Philadelphia City Councilwoman Cindy Bass said to me last Thursday afternoon, when I ran into her and the mayor outside of City Hall.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney and Councilwoman Bass are among a number of local and state Democrats who support Safe Haven bills, which would ban guns from the city’s parks, playgrounds and recreation centers.
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This year, there were two shootings at city playgrounds: a mass shooting at the Baker Playground in Overbook, which injured seven people, and a Father’s Day shooting at a Southwest Philadelphia playground, which resulted in the death of one man and the wounding of five others.
“I think that for most of us who are supporting this bill, the driver of it is that we need to find a way to address the prevalence of gun violence in our communities that’s affecting our children, that’s traumatizing our neighborhoods … that’s really just out of control,” said the councilwoman.
Last Wednesday, at a playground in the Strawberry Mansion section of the city, State Senator Vincent Hughes called for legislation to ban guns at Philadelphia recreation centers. He and a State Representative are currently drafting such a bill, and have plans to introduce it in September, once, and if, City Council passes a companion legislation.
City Council President Darrell Clarke is a supporter of the Safe Haven concept. So much so, that he’s pledged to introduce similar legislation on the local level, which would carry a penalty of a $2,000 fine and/or up to 90 days in prison.
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An immediate critique of this bill came from Mr. Maj Toure, the founder of Black Guns Matter who’s campaigning for a seat on the Philadelphia City Council as an independent. Mr. Toure has been endorsed by Gun Owners of America, who called him a Second Amendment champion.
“I have tremendous respect for the men and women who are saying that they’re in alignment with this bill, but I would encourage them to really reevaluate … and to read the constitution,” Mr. Toure said on Thursday, when we met for over an hour in the courtyard of City Hall.
Councilwoman Bass said she anticipates a battle over the constitutionality of the Safe Haven bills, but asserted that the city is willing to fight for it in order to save lives.
The Safe Haven bills have earned the support of Mayor Kenney, who said we need more gun control in this country overall.
“I will support any type of activity that will bring attention to this plague that we’re dealing with,” the mayor said.
Mr. Toure totally dismissed the Safe Haven concept, calling the forthcoming bills a “cotton candy solution.”
“We do not just get to throw anything at a problem. It’s a cotton candy solution. Cotton candy is no real substance; it tastes good; it might make you feel good for the moment … you’ll have a sugar high, but it’ll disintegrate on your tongue. There’s no nutritional value … it doesn’t even feed you,” said Mr. Toure.
The guns rights advocate and North Philly native further argued that more rules won’t deter lawless gunmen.
“Overwhelmingly, city and states that respect the right to keep and bear arms have notoriously lower violent crime,” said Mr. Toure, who was citing a 2015 report from the Crime Prevention Research Center, which noted that murder and violent crime rates are lower in the 25 states with the highest gun permit rates than the rest of the country.
Mr. Toure further stated:
“… the Big cities that push more and more of the same thing, have spikes in violent crime. If I’m the bad guy, I do not care about your rule … there’s already a rule against murder!”
To the candidate’s point about rules, a gunman on Sunday shot up a food festival in California, a state with some of the strictest gun laws.
The gunman killed three people and injured at least 15 others at the Gilroy Garlic Festival before police fatally shot him. According to Newsweek, while California already had tight gun laws in place, a number of new restrictions went into effect this year, including a measure barring people under the age of 21 from purchasing firearms.
Mayor Kenney agreed that the “criminal element doesn’t usually follow the rules.” Nonetheless, the mayor believes that the more opportunity Philadelphia has to police itself, and to control the weaponry here, the better off the city will be.
Asked what his message is to those who see these impending bills as infringing on their constitutional right to bear arms, the mayor said: “We have too many homicides and too many shootings in our city. If you have to give up some of those rights to keep everyone else safe, that’s not asking too much.”
CLICK HERE to listen my interviews with the Mayor of Philadelphia, Councilwoman Bass and Mr. Toure.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® and I’m Drumming for Justice!™
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