Title
Authorizing City Council to retain outside counsel to commence legal proceedings on behalf of the City of Philadelphia seeking action that would provide reasonable remedies for lethal conditions of escalating gun-related violence and trafficking in our City and further provide an increased level of public safety and protection for our citizens.
Body
WHEREAS, The City of Philadelphia is besieged by ever rising levels of violent crime involving the ill fated use and illegal sale of guns and currently ranks number one nationally in per-capita homicides amongst the country's ten largest cities with its highest recorded homicide total in seven years; and
WHEREAS, 2,081 people were victims of shootings in the City of Philadelphia in 2004 and the City is experiencing a 17% increase in gun related violent crime in 2005, and, according to our Police Commissioner, the City is being "flooded" with guns as his department confiscates over 5,000 per year of the untold number of weapons flowing through our City streets; and
WHEREAS, In addition to the deadly harm suffered by actual gun crime victims, gun related violence takes a devastating emotional, economic and social toll on their families, friends, and neighborhoods - damage triggered by excessive availability and trafficking of handguns; and
WHEREAS, During this prolonged period of swelling gun related violence and inflated growth of illicit handgun trafficking in our City and State, the Pennsylvania General Assembly has chosen to not even deliberate on measures adopted by other states and municipalities that have proven success in reducing such crimes - such as "One Gun a Month " legislation; and
WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Attorney General has the statutory authority to implement state regulations that apply basic consumer product safety principles to firearms, and pursuant to the powers and duties of its Bureau of Consumer Protection, the Attorney General's Office has a unique ability to promo...
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