Chester, PA - Chester council OKs resolution on guns

[Gunreference1]

Chester council OKs resolution on guns

Published: Thursday, July 29, 2010

By John Kopp, jkopp@delcotimes.com

Chester city council approved a resolution Wednesday calling for the state Legislature to pass a law requiring lost or stolen handguns to be reported missing to police within a reasonable amount of time after the discovery of their disappearance. Council voted, 4-0, in favor of the resolution. Councilperson Marrea Walker-Smith was absent.

Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. said that council also seeks to pass an ordinance that would force Chester residents to do the same. To do so, the ordinance must first be advertised in several publications and undergo two readings at council meetings before council can approve it.

Butler applauded the city’s quick response in passing the resolution just two days after state Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, formally pitched the idea at a press conference Monday.

“We’re dealing with gun violence,” Butler said. “We need to do everything we can to get the proliferation of guns off the streets.”

Kirkland, who spoke during the meeting’s public comment allotment, thanked council for its speedy response and urged it to continue to take measures to eliminate the violence.

“Thank you for putting on the resolution for lost and stolen guns,” Kirkland said. “I think that is a step in the right direction.”

Kirkland also asked the city to consider enacting more seat-belt checkpoints, because it potentially could allow police to catch criminals through probable cause.

City council also swore in its four police chaplains, the Rev. Dr. Bayard Taylor, the Rev. Dr. William Rocky Brown, Lisa Dennis and Leonard Carroll. The chaplains are available to the police department and residents for spiritual counseling.

http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2010/07/29/news/doc4c50ec0335ffb088161880.txt

Steve

[abpt1]

Chester is full of dirtbag politician's .....
http://www.qtl.co.il/img/copy.pnghttp://www.google.com/favicon.ico (http://www.google.com/search?q=The%20judges%20are%20even%20courpt%20)htt p://www.qtl.co.il/img/trans.png

[raxar]

no real news here, they've been saying we need that crap for years, never gets anywhere

[abpt1]

no real news here, they've been saying we need that crap for years, never gets anywhere
Yeah....me too

[aliceinchains]

Fuck chester county and fuck fat ass Rendell along with his taxes.I hope he dies from a coronary .

[Gunreference1]

Chester council passes new gun ordinance

Published: Thursday, August 26, 2010

CHESTER — Chester City Council passed an ordinance requiring firearm owners to report lost or stolen handguns or face possible fines and/or imprisonment Wednesday.

Handgun owners will have 72 hours to report any lost or stolen handgun after discovering it missing. If they fail to do so, they are subject to a maximum fine of $1,000 and/or a maximum prison sentence of 90 days.

Chester officials have touted the legislation as another means of combating the violence the city has suffered throughout the summer. The city has incurred 12 homicides since May 1 and spent more than a month under a state of emergency.

“You’ve seen the violence trends that we’ve had here,” Mayor Wendell N. Butler Jr. said. “Again, it’s just another tool to try get weapons under our control as versus out there in the domain, where anything can happen.

“It’s all hands on deck. We are trying to do everything we can, at least to address the proliferation of guns, along with other strategies to combat this violence.”

State Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-159, of Chester, first pitched the idea for an ordinance and resolution to Butler in July. Kirkland’s Republican opponent for re-election, the Rev. Rocky Brown, has also voiced his support for such actions.

The city passed a resolution calling for the state to adopt a lost or stolen gun law four weeks ago. It took longer to pass the ordinance because they have to be cleared by the city’s solicitors and require two public readings.

Police Chief Floyd Lewis said he was pleased at how quickly the city passed the ordinance, which he hopes will help mitigate straw purchases.

“This may give us a little bit more of a bite into that, where people won’t be buying guns for others,” Lewis said. “Now, they’ll have to be responsible and report a gun in a timely fashion.”

C. Scott Shields, a lawyer in Media and Second Amendment advocate, questioned the city’s decision to adopt such legislation, saying it violates a state law prohibiting municipalities from enacting gun control laws affecting the ownership, protection and transportation of firearms, ammunition and other gun components.

“It’s not good for citizens,” Shields said. “It’s not good for freedom. It violates state law. … They don’t have the authority to pass these types of ordinances and enforce them. The state has not granted them the authority to do this.”

Shields said one of the major reasons the state doesn’t grant such authority is that it would create a patchwork of regulations. He compared it to allowing various municipalities to create their own drivers licenses.

Several other state municipalities have passed similar ordinances, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg. The ordinance passed by Philadelphia was challenged by the National Rifle Association, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the lower courts ruling that the NRA lacked standing.

Shields said gun proponents were looking for other ways to challenge such ordinances and that Chester was provoking a legal battle.

That, he said, could cost the city significant funds in legal fees, which would be money better used to bolster the city’s police department.

“The problem with these types of gun control ordinances,” Shields said, “the guys committing the violence, they don’t care about a lost or stolen ordinance.”

Butler said he anticipated the city potentially facing a lawsuit.

“People are saying we’re trying to take their ability to own a gun and to go to gun ranges,” Butler said. “No, we’re not trying to do that. We’re trying to do everything in our best efforts to prevent the loss of life to gun violence.”

http://delcotimes.com/articles/2010/08/26/news/doc4c75ce56a284e544400277.txt

Steve