Petri Dishes Some Pro-Gun Pabulum

The Bucks County Courier Times ran the following Guest Opinion from PA Repug House Rep Scott Petri on Saturday in which he hailed the passage of HR 1845. And Scott is fairly bubbling over concerning this bill that adds onto existing after-the-fact penalties for gun crime, though it is missing a vital piece…

I’ll let “law and order” Scott tell you himself…

The Levdansky amendment which failed to pass, did not create…a database of lost and stolen guns. Encouraging the reporting of lost and stolen guns is important, even though local law enforcement indicates that is already done. A local chief of police has said that of the 100 -plus crimes involving lost or stolen guns last year, 100 percent had been reported already.

The sale of handguns by straw purchasers to hardened criminals who have committed violent crimes is a serious problem. That is why I have introduced legislation which requires a mandatory prison sentence of five years for such offenders (House Bill 784). Only when our judiciary begins to enforce stricter and harsher penalties will we be able to reduce the number of handguns getting into the hands of convicted criminals.

Hmm, the Levdansky amendment. Why exactly does that ring a bell?

Oh yeah, I remember now; it’s because Scott and some other cowardly Repugs voted against the amendment here even though it “was backed by law-enforcement agencies, city councils and district attorneys in every region of the state.”

And the issue of whether or not Levdansky created “a database of lost and stolen guns” is utterly irrelevant. The amendment required handgun owners to report, within three days, if their weapons were lost or stolen.

That’s it. And as you noted above, Scott, of the 100-plus crimes involving lost or stolen guns last year, 100 percent had been reported already.

So if reporting a missing gun is pretty much a formality anyway for a law-abiding gun owner in this state, something that they surely can do within three days, WHY THE HELL DID YOU VOTE AGAINST LEVDANSKY??!!

Don’t worry, I know the answer (think NRA, campaign contributions...ka-chiing!). And by the way, here’s some place where we can learn more and try to put a stop to this madness (a tough battle in this state, but definitely one worth fighting).