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Gunning for a fight in Lower Chi
They apparently are having some second thoughts in Lower Chichester.
As first reported by our columnist Gil Spencer last week, the township was considering a proposal to require a registry of weapons in homes.
Basically what the proposed ordinance would do is require a buyer, tenant or seller to disclose if there would be any firearms in a residence prior to the sale or lease of the property.
Lower Chi officials simply indicated they were looking out for the safety of township residents.
The gun rights folks saw it another way, saying the move would be illegal, a violation of the state law that cedes all gun legislation to the state government.
The NRA took the city of Philadelphia to court on the same grounds after city council passed a series of gun control measures that were promptly signed into law by Mayor Michael Nutter. A judge issued a preliminary injunction to block the new laws until a full hearing can be held.
Things didn’t get that far in Lower Chi. Commissioners pulled the measure before a packed house last night for more study.
Commissioners President Rocco Gaspari Jr. wasn’t thrilled with some of the depictions of his family and the township in Gil’s column harpooning the measure.
I talked to his father, longtime Lower Chi figure Rocco Gaspari Sr. He believes some of the newspaper’s coverage of things down there in Lower Chi border on being anti-Italian, or at least anti-Gaspari.
I assured him that our coverage of the family was because of their unique stature in the township, not because of their ethnic heritage. I couldn’t be more Irish, nor more proud of it. I’m sure they feel the same way about their ethnicity.
I’ll be honest. I’m not a gun guy. I wouldn’t have a problem with what the township is proposing. If feel the same way about an earlier measure passed by the township to battle the problem of people talking on hand-held cell phones while driving. Whether or not the township has the authority to enact such laws, and whether they’re constitutional, is another matter. I guess that’s why lawyers exist.
On the plus side, the township last night did pass an ordinance to crack down on pedestrians walking in the street when there is a sidewalk available nearby.
Don’t think anybody can find anything unconstitutional about that one.
As first reported by our columnist Gil Spencer last week, the township was considering a proposal to require a registry of weapons in homes.
Basically what the proposed ordinance would do is require a buyer, tenant or seller to disclose if there would be any firearms in a residence prior to the sale or lease of the property.
Lower Chi officials simply indicated they were looking out for the safety of township residents.
The gun rights folks saw it another way, saying the move would be illegal, a violation of the state law that cedes all gun legislation to the state government.
The NRA took the city of Philadelphia to court on the same grounds after city council passed a series of gun control measures that were promptly signed into law by Mayor Michael Nutter. A judge issued a preliminary injunction to block the new laws until a full hearing can be held.
Things didn’t get that far in Lower Chi. Commissioners pulled the measure before a packed house last night for more study.
Commissioners President Rocco Gaspari Jr. wasn’t thrilled with some of the depictions of his family and the township in Gil’s column harpooning the measure.
I talked to his father, longtime Lower Chi figure Rocco Gaspari Sr. He believes some of the newspaper’s coverage of things down there in Lower Chi border on being anti-Italian, or at least anti-Gaspari.
I assured him that our coverage of the family was because of their unique stature in the township, not because of their ethnic heritage. I couldn’t be more Irish, nor more proud of it. I’m sure they feel the same way about their ethnicity.
I’ll be honest. I’m not a gun guy. I wouldn’t have a problem with what the township is proposing. If feel the same way about an earlier measure passed by the township to battle the problem of people talking on hand-held cell phones while driving. Whether or not the township has the authority to enact such laws, and whether they’re constitutional, is another matter. I guess that’s why lawyers exist.
On the plus side, the township last night did pass an ordinance to crack down on pedestrians walking in the street when there is a sidewalk available nearby.
Don’t think anybody can find anything unconstitutional about that one.
posted by Heron's Nest at
7:33 AM
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