City of Philadelphia - File #: 110327

• File #: 110327
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 4/28/2011
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 5/5/2011
• Title: Authorizing City Council to retain outside counsel to commence legal proceedings on behalf of the City of Philadelphia seeking action that would provide a reasonable remedy for the prevalence of improperly permitted gun possession in our City and further provide an increased level of public safety and protection for our citizens.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember Rizzo, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Sanchez, Councilmember Krajewski, Councilmember Kelly, Councilmember O'Neill

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
5/5/2011	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED
4/28/2011	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed On Next Week's Final Passage Calendar	Pass

Title
Authorizing City Council to retain outside counsel to commence legal proceedings on behalf of the City of Philadelphia seeking action that would provide a reasonable remedy for the prevalence of improperly permitted gun possession 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, Thousands of people are victims of shootings in the City of Philadelphia each year and the City is being "flooded" with guns as the Police 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; and

WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Attorney General has the statutory authority to grant reciprocity with certain states regarding the permission to carry weapons in public, 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 promote reasonable safety and protection standards related to gun violence a...