Pittsburgh City Council Member Wants to Ban Exercise of Second Amendment in Parks

A City Council Member wants to ban the exercise of the Second Amendment in Pittsburg City parks. He seems oblivious that he is unconcernedly attempting to ban the exercise of a fundamental, enumerated, Constitutionally protected individual right. He is blind to how insensitive, uncaring, irrational, and ignorant he is appearing. Note a major clue. He equates his desire to control other people to a lack of children’s “need” to see something. From wpxi.com:

“I’m not looking to infringe on rights or take away where hunting may be permitted. I just don’t think 7-year-olds playing little league baseball need to see assault rifles where they play,” Gilman said.

A member of a statewide gun-owners group told TribLIVE that state law prohibits municipalities from enacting gun regulations, pointing to an ordinance in a township near Philadelphia that was overturned by Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court.

Gilman said his No. 1 goal is to keep kids and families safe.

“Parks are the basic area where our children play. We don’t want them breathing cigarette smoke. We don’t want them looking at weapons. We don’t want them to play in any way in a dangerous environment,” Gilman said.

In the United States, City Council Members do not have the authority to decide what other people need. They do not have the authority to gratuitously obliterate the exercise of fundamental rights because of their personal phobias and desires. “Looking at weapons” is hardly a danger to young children. If it were, we would not allow police to walk through schools, or military honor guards to salute veterans at funerals.

Dan Gilman is equates his desire to brainwash children into thinking that possession of weapons by citizens is evil and outside of normality, with a desire to “keep them safe”. It is a common authoritarian tactic. Any authoritarian desire is presented as “for the children”.

Pennsylvania, as with most states, has a preemption statute to prevent this sort of authoritarian impulse from local governments. From the Pennsylvania statutes:

(a)  General rule.–No county, municipality or township may in any manner regulate the lawful ownership, possession, transfer or transportation of firearms, ammunition or ammunition components when carried or transported for purposes not prohibited by the laws of this Commonwealth.

I do not expect Dan Gilman to respect this law. He has already shown disrespect for the Constitution and the rule of law through his proposal.

Perhaps he is merely ignorant and can be educated. I sincerely hope so. The Pennsylvania legislature has passed legislation to hold city councils accountable for such scofflaw actions. Unfortunately, the statute was struck down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the statute for a technicality.

With Democrat Governor  Tom Wolf in office, a re-passage of the bill would almost certainly be vetoed.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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