Title
Authorizing Council to retain counsel to file a lawsuit compelling the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to carry out its obligation to protect the citizens of Pennsylvania by enacting, or authorizing municipalities to enact, commonsense, constitutional legislation that addresses the public health crisis of gun violence.
Body
WHEREAS, Gun violence poses a serious and ongoing threat to public safety and welfare, nationally, across Pennsylvania, and in Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, Gun violence is an atrocity, resulting in the death of innocent human beings of all ages, from infancy to adulthood. Gun violence results in a never-ending cascade of misery for those who survive shootings and those who do not, for their families, their friends, and their communities; and
WHEREAS, The ferocity and sheer volume of gun violence in Philadelphia shocks the conscience of all law-abiding citizens: Three men were shot to death in the first fifteen hours of 2020. On January 15, 2020, five people were shot in less than 30 minutes. On January 21, a triple shooting in a Target parking lot left one man dead. As of January 21, 2020, there have been 31 homicides in 2020, up a shocking 82% from January 2019, according to the Philadelphia Police Department's webpage, www.phillypolice.com/crime-maps-stats/. Last year, 14 children under 18 were shot fatally with guns. The homicide rate in Philadelphia has risen steadily, from 277 in 2016, to 315 in 2017, to 353 in 2018, to 356 in 2019; and
WHEREAS, Gun violence is not confined to one city or state, but rather plagues communities across the country. Today, the public still mourns the tragic loss of life from the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, and decries the General Assembly's refusal to permit Pittsburgh's City Council to use commonsense measures to combat the spread of rampant gun violence. Across the Commonwealth, gun violence claims the lives of more than 1,500 residents each year, according to the Giffor...
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