Philly Mayor: Only cops should have guns

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Over the 4th of July weekend in Philadelphia, two police officers were shot during a holiday concert and fireworks show, sending hundreds of people fleeing. Thankfully, both of the officers survived. Elsewhere in the city, there were dozens of other shootings. When reporters asked Mayor Jim Kenney to comment on the violence, he had plenty to say. He started off by saying that the United States is a “gun country” and blamed the Second Amendment and the Supreme Court for all of these problems. He then went on to wistfully recount a recent trip he made to Canada where he didn’t even think about problems of gun violence. (Breitbart)

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Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney (D) reacted to gun violence in his city by suggesting Tuesday morning that only the police should have guns.

FOX News reports that Kenney spoke to reporters after two Philadelphia police officers were wounded by gunshots on July 4.

McKinney reflected on July 4, saying, “It was a chilled back day, beautiful weather. But we live in America where we have the Second Amendment and we have the Supreme Court of the United States telling everybody they can carry a gun wherever they want.”

Kenney described Canada as a place where “the only people I knew who had guns… were police officers. That’s the way it should be here.”

Jim Kenney came into office in Philadelphia promising to empty the jails and defund the police. He quickly appointed a Police Chief (with the ironic surname of “Outlaw”) who supported those same goals. As any person with the common sense God gave a goat could have predicted, crime began rising almost immediately and has continued to do so. Shootings are far more common than they used to be. This has led to a flood of applications for gun permits as citizens seek to protect themselves since the police won’t or can’t. This is particularly common among women.

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Knowing what we know about Jim Kenney, it’s hardly surprising that he would speak admiringly about Canada in this manner. Justin Trudeau is well into the process of trying to disarm his lawful citizens and make it nearly impossible to purchase a firearm. And he has sent people who disagree with him to jail. It’s a socialist autocracy in the making. I’m sure Jim Kenney dreams at night of being able to do things like that. If only it weren’t for our pesky and inconvenient Bill of Rights.

Perhaps someone can pull the Mayor aside for a moment and review a few bits of harsh reality with him. The police in Philadelphia all have guns. An increasing number of law-abiding citizens have armed themselves as well. Those people are not the problem.

The problem is all of the people with records of criminal violence who still easily obtain illegal guns on the black market when they could never pass a background check. Wishing that only the police would be able to carry firearms isn’t going to stop the gangs from accessing them. If you want to envision a better world, how about a world where none of the criminals have guns anymore, but police and law-abiding citizens do have them. That would make committing crimes and killing people on the streets a far more risky proposition. It might even discourage a few of the gang members.

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But you go right on dreaming about Canada as a socialist wonderland, Mayor Kenney. And if the people of Philadelphia don’t wise up and replace you and your Outlaw Police Chief, I have no sympathy for them. They’re getting what they deserve.

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