The headline reads, "Mayors say Pittsburgh shootings show need for new gun laws." In this case, the mayors are "Mayors Against Illegal Guns," an anti-gun front group founded by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Of course, "Pittsburgh shootings" refers to the cold-blooded murder of three Pittsburgh police officers by an apparently delusional individual who, some reports indicated, had been discharged from the armed forces under other than honorable conditions, and had been under a protective order relative to a former girlfriend.
The article, published today in the Allentown, Pa., Morning Call, was written by John L. Micek. Micek reported that in response to the Pittsburgh officers' murders, the mayors urge swift action on gun control, recklessly characterizing the officers' murders as evidence "that gun violence in Pennsylvania is a statewide problem." The mayors previously have supported legislation to limit handgun purchases, and to require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms, Micek noted. However, he added, "It seems unlikely that either action would have prevented the Pittsburgh shootings. The gunman had a variety of weapons, including handguns, a shotgun and an AK-47 assault rifle. His mother told a 911 operator he had legal weapons in the home, but the operator didn't pass that information on to dispatchers, a top police official has said."
Micek included in his report Bethlehem police Sgt. Don Hoffman's statement that "criminals and outlaws break the law regardless of what the law says," a good reminder that many police officers--the people who deal with criminals up close and personal on a daily basis--do not believe that restricting good Americans' rights is the solution to misdeeds by the aberrant few among us.
Micek's straightforward and refreshingly objective article can be seen at www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/state/all-a6_5mayors.6850510apr10,0,6802065.story.
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