City thumbs nose at criminal law
I am the president of Firearms Owners Against Crime and I commissioned the lawsuit against the City of Pittsburgh for openly defying Pennsylvania’s Criminal Code yet again, a nearly three-decades-old legacy of lawlessness (“Pittsburgh Jews react to judge striking down gun laws passed by City Council,” Nov. 8). I commend you for adding the comments of attorney Cliff Zlotnik to your article. His comments were absolutely accurate and to the point.
What is missing from the article is the “ends justify the means” approach by the mayor and City Council in thumbing their nose at criminal law as if they are an elite protected class who cannot be held accountable. That should worry everyone, especially the media!
Just like gun owners exercising the Second Amendment, journalists have a special responsibility to responsibly report the facts. There is a reason the city’s efforts in Harrisburg fall on deaf ears and that is because their advocacy of gun control has been shown to increase violent crime and the legislature knows this.
So do we throw out the Constitution because billionaire-backed anti-gun groups misinform people about gun control and throw out the Constitution for all citizens based on those misinformed positions? What precisely does Article 1, Section 21 and 25 mean? Remember, Article 1, Section 21, of the Pennsylvania Constitution, ends with “Shall Not Be Questioned.” Is this the kind of country we want, to allow one group of citizens to take away the rights of other citizens?
Instead of trashing the constitutional rights of all citizens and ignoring responsible approaches to dealing with violent criminals, the city could have reached out to us prior to taking these actions. Their actions belie their true intent, which is political and not serious about solving the violent crime problem.
Kim Stolfer | FOAC president, Pittsburgh
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