Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
A pair of Philadelphia bills that aim to regulate firearms might have wide support in the city, but state legislators in Harrisburg will have the final vote.
The legislation now moves to the full council for a final vote that could come as soon as next week.
But the state General Assembly must authorize both bills before they can take effect because the state’s "preemption” law prohibits local governments from regulating firearms.
Council President Darrell Clarke, who rarely takes part or comments during committee hearings, knocked state legislators who continue to stymie Philadelphia officials' efforts to “determine our own destiny” when it comes to regulating firearms.
Clarke, the main sponsor behind the bill to ban firearms at recreation centers, also questioned the tactics of local law enforcement officials, who have allowed a few individuals to "wreak havoc" on certain neighborhoods, including along the "Cumberland Street Corridor."
“Some people don’t need to be on the street,” Clarke said, a Democrat from the 5th District. “They should not be able to hold an entire community hostage.”
The city has a long, failed history of passing gun regulations.
As recently as 2013, the City Council passed a bill to prohibit guns and deadly weapons from city-owned facilities. While the legislation remains on the books, the state’s preemption law has rendered it unenforceable. In 1993, city legislators banned assault-style weapons, only to have the courts strike down the ban.
State law prohibits guns from court facilities, which include City Hall and the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice. Guards, X-ray machines and metal detectors greet visitors at the entrances to these facilities.
While the city already had a law to temporarily remove firearms from some individuals (commonly known as a "red flag law"), there was no process for police or the courts to implement it.
The proposed bill recommended by the council’s public safety committee would allow an individual to petition the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas for a gun violence protection order to take firearms from those who pose a threat to themselves or the public.
A Court of Common Pleas judge would determine whether to implement the order and for how long within the limit of one year. The proposal also would establish police procedures for receiving and holding the removed firearms, and allow officers to initiate a criminal investigation if an order is violated.
Violating an order could result in fines up to $2,000 and 90 days in jail.
Councilman Curtis Jones, a Democrat from the 4th District who was the main sponsor of the firearm-removal bill, said gun violence was “changing the fabric of our community.”
“For us to look at these series of ordinances to protect ourselves, literally, to protect ourselves, is what we have to do in spite of what the NRA [National Rifle Association] says we should do,” Jones said.
A spokeswoman for Jones' office said after the hearing that the councilman was confident his proposed bill would overcome a state challenge, based on legal advice from the city's law department.
Philadelphia Police Department officials and community activists backed both bills.
Fran Healy, a Philadelphia Police Inspector and special advisor to Acting Police Commissioner Christine Coulter, described both bills as common sense. The bill that would establish procedures to temporarily remove firearms from individuals, he added, could help prevent mass shootings and suicides.
Kathyrn Ott Lovel, commissioner of Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, said Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration supported the bill to ban firearms from recreation centers.
Identification is not required to enter the city’s 159 recreational facilities, unlike in New York City, and the centers have no guards. There were 14 instances this year when recreation center staff members were held at gunpoint, robbed or assaulted, Lovel said.
“[Staff members] are literally working on the front lines for our city and deserve to feel safe and protected in their workplace,” she said. “And the children we serve need to know that when they come to a recreation center or playground, that they, too, will be safe and free from fear.”
Monyria Harvey, a 13-year-old from North Philadelphia, said during the hearing that the “senseless gun violence in my community has to stop.”
The seventh-grader at Paul L. Dunbar School has frequented Penrose Recreation Center on the 1100 block of West Susquehanna Avenue for years. The center has been like a second home to her, providing a safe place to meet friends, take part in activities, and attend fundraisers.
“However, when I walk out of those doors, I feel afraid,” she said. “I feel like I’m going to be the next person that is gunned down.”