Amish shootings color House debate on gun violence

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives finished up three days of debate on issues of gun related violence. The shootings in the Amish school house intensified the debate, but did not result in new gun control legislation being written:

Mention of Monday's murders in Lancaster County crept into the debate, the first two days of which have underscored tension between preserving or restricting citizens' rights to buy guns and ammunition. One by one, gun control proposals failed in nonbinding votes after a five-hour "committee of the whole" session Tuesday designed to hear all ideas and find out which could pass.

Today's debate brought sharp focus on gun laws and violence. From the side that favors the constitution comes:

One gun control opponent, Rep. Douglas Reichley, R-Berks, insisted that the killer, Charles Carl Roberts IV, had serious mental problems and that his case had nothing to do with gun laws.

And -

Gun control opponents said limiting access to a weapon would not reduce gun crimes or keep criminals from getting guns, and instead promoted a variety of ways to toughen sentencing and get more police officers on the streets.

The anti's let slip their true agenda. While debating an initiative to limit hand gun purchases to one per month, a representative stated this gem of their true intent:

But Rep. Mike Gerber, D-Montgomery, drew a parallel between the Amish school killings and legislation he supports to limit handgun purchases, saying guns make it easier to kill.

"What if that perpetrator didn't have a gun?" Gerber said. "What would have happened? Would it have been as easy for him to kill? The obvious answer is no."

That is an expression of their true intent. The legislation was to limit handgun purchases to one per month, but the long term intent is to remove all guns.

It just goes downhill from there folks. Remember that these are elected representatives of the people. These are the people who are supposed to be upholding our rights.

Thomas W. Blackwell IV, D-Philadelphia, who argued for the proposal, questioned whether gun control opponents should care more about the constitutional right to bear arms, or human life.

"Yesterday, all those children were killed," Blackwell said. "You're talking about a piece of paper while children are dying? What kind of god do you serve?"

Representative Blackwell wants to just trash the constitution, do away with the second amendment. He wants us to "do it for the children" and even goes so far as to insinuate that owning firearms is un-Christian.

The final quote kind of sums it all up:

Still, Rendell, who attended a police briefing for the news media near the Amish school, said he did not know of any gun control law that could have prevented Roberts from carrying out the killings.

Roberts had no criminal record or history of mental instability that would have prevented him from buying guns legally, Rendell said.

"I think we should all understand, no proposed law, none that I would think of or none that I've seen, could have ruled out this situation," Rendell said.

I have just one quick note of thanks to the representatives that did not let the emotions and events of the day get ahead of doing what was right. Thank you for standing firm and protecting the rights of Pennsylvania gun owners.

Hat tip to The War on Guns for leading me to this article.