Gun Safety

I COMMEND your editorial recognizing the excellent job done by the NRA promoting gun safety, especially among children. If you were to look a little further, you'd see several tremendously successful programs, all created by the firearms industry through their trade association, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, that are also educating children and gun owners about gun safety. First and foremost, our Project ChildSafe has now distributed more than 25 million free gun locks to gun owners nationwide.

The message was clear and simple: "Gun safety is no accident. " And residents in Gloucester and Camden Counties will be reminded of the message in three public-service announcements that will debut on cable television today. The announcements were produced by Storer Cable. The project, sponsored by the Gloucester County Sheriff's Department, the Board of Freeholders and the County Health Department, was unveiled at a news conference at the Justice Complex yesterday. "We wanted to address the very young.

The 3-year-old West Oak Lane boy took a loaded gun from under his father's pillow, looked into the muzzle and pulled the trigger last June 9. Little Daequan Irvin died of a head wound four days later. Now, his father is going to spend the next several years reliving the tragedy before school and community groups, talking of the dangers of having handguns in the house. Yesterday, Common Pleas Judge Carolyn E. Temin told the distraught father, Kyle Irvin, 28, a barber, that he had to be "punished" for his negligence.

It will take more than the talk therapy proposed by President Obama if gun-safety reforms are ever going to result from the Arizona shooting that left six people dead and 13 wounded, including Tucson-area Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In a commentary article published Sunday in an Arizona newspaper, the president called for "the beginning of a new discussion" on gun-safety measures in the wake of the tragedy. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, stands accused in the January shootings. Before even a day had passed, though, the National Rifle Association snubbed the president's invitation to sit down with gun-control advocates, whom NRA chief Wayne LaPierre described as having spent "a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment.

Charlton Heston promised a more moderate, more mainstream National Rifle Association. But judging by the recent acts of some NRA leaders, the association continues to shamelessly pin bull's eyes on any effort at promoting gun safety. Worse yet, the NRA is getting the help of U.S. senators who should know better - including Pennsylvania Republicans Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. Specter and Santorum, along with 59 other Senate members, voted against an amendment that would require all firearms dealers to sell gun locks with each handgun sold in the United States.

Inside the pistol range, the shooters were armed and ready. In one of the booths, the youngest member of the class, 12-year-old Rocky Mattero of Wallingford, sat wearing safety glasses and a noise-protection headset. About seven yards down the firing range was a target. In his hand he held a .380 PPK Walther automatic pistol loaned to him by his grandmother for class use. "This is what I was waiting for all day," said Rocky, who attends Parkside Elementary School. Nearby, Brian Ewers, 13, of Ridley Park, was waiting with the same quiet excitement as his classmate.

Lower Gwynedd Police Officer Dan Diedel vowed that he would be even more cautious with guns than usual when his daughter, Jamie, arrived 15 months ago. "At some point, the vision popped into my head of my little girl dead," Diedel said, his voice faltering. "It's amazing how your perspective changes. " To help other families keep firearms secure, Diedel is giving out free cable gun locks and training township residents to use them. The first session was June 11, and he will offer a second class in the fall.

Let's face it, guns are a permanent fixture on the American landscape. Fortunately, most American voters believe that substantial responsibilities go hand in hand with the right of law-abiding citizens to own a gun. That includes the voters of New Jersey. Despite this, the debate about gun rights continues to paralyze the search for public-policy solutions to the real issue - gun violence and the guns that make their way into the hands of criminals or, sadly, adults and children who are so troubled that they take out their frustrations and despair on those around them.

The six weeks since the senseless shooting of Florida teen Trayvon Martin by a town-watch volunteer have only served to intensify the scrutiny of reckless self-defense laws - like one on the books in Pennsylvania - that permit citizens to shoot first if they feel threatened. So it's good to hear that State Rep. Ronald G. Waters (D., Phila.) has issued a call for gun-safety reforms and to "not let Trayvon Martin's death go in vain. " The legal defense that, so far, has shielded George Zimmerman from being arrested for the Feb. 26 death of Martin, after an encounter in a gated central Florida community, is one that could be used in Pennsylvania and nearly two-dozen other states with what's known as "stand your ground" laws.

The threat of gun violence to Philadelphia-area residents from the so-called Florida loophole could go national - unless U.S. senators such as Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, and many others, do the right thing. Under a bill just rammed through the U.S. House to a tune called by the National Rifle Association, every state that permits residents to carry concealed handguns would have to honor permits held by gun owners from other states. That would scrap the long-established notion that states should have the right to shape their own approach as to who gets to carry a legal weapon.

WASHINGTON - They are fuzzy about some issues, but the Republican presidential candidates leave little doubt about where they stand on gun rights. Rick Perry and Rick Santorum go pheasant hunting and give interviews before heading out. Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain speak to the National Rifle Association convention. Michele Bachmann tells People magazine she wants to teach her daughters how to shoot because women need to be able to protect themselves. Mitt Romney, after backing some gun-control measures in Massachusetts, now presents himself as a strong Second Amendment supporter.

J AMES "BUBBA" STEWART had a heckuva week. On Saturday at Texas Stadium in Dallas, he became the first African-American to win a 250cc THQ World Supercross GP/THQ AMA Supercross Series race. The money he won should come in handy when it comes time to hire a lawyer. Last Monday, you see, he was arrested for impersonating a police officer in Florida. Seems old Bubba, while riding his motorcycle, thought it would be funny to turn on some flashing red and blue lights and pull over a car. Unfortunately, the vehicle he stopped was full of off-duty state troopers.

It will take more than the talk therapy proposed by President Obama if gun-safety reforms are ever going to result from the Arizona shooting that left six people dead and 13 wounded, including Tucson-area Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In a commentary article published Sunday in an Arizona newspaper, the president called for "the beginning of a new discussion" on gun-safety measures in the wake of the tragedy. Jared Lee Loughner, 22, stands accused in the January shootings. Before even a day had passed, though, the National Rifle Association snubbed the president's invitation to sit down with gun-control advocates, whom NRA chief Wayne LaPierre described as having spent "a lifetime trying to destroy the Second Amendment.

The shooting death Thursday of David L. Grove is all the more appalling since he was the first state wildlife conservation officer to be slain on the job in nearly a century. Police have charged an Adams County man, Christopher L. Johnson, 27, whom Grove apparently suspected of poaching. Friends and family of Grove, 31, are right to consider this a senseless shooting. After all, how could any poaching infraction be worth someone's life? But Grove's death had more to do with lax handgun rules and enforcement than any hunting dispute.

While the Supreme Court's conservative majority remains fixated on expanding the right to bear arms, millions of other Americans should be more worried about preserving their right to be free from handgun violence. In a ruling that came as no surprise, the court on Monday effectively outlawed local handgun bans - signaling the end of Chicago's 27-year ban as well as one in a nearby Illinois suburb. Two years ago, the same 5-4 majority scrapped a Washington, D.C., ban. In his majority ruling, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. relied on the same tortured legal reasoning - that the Second Amendment assures individuals the right to arm, not merely state militias.

The wounding of a city police detective yesterday and a 12-year-old West Philadelphia boy's critical shooting on Wednesday offer the latest proof that the struggle to keep guns out of the hands of would-be killers is far from over. That makes a rare victory for gun-control advocates this week all the more sweet. In a convincing, 7-2 decision Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 1996 law written by U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) that bars anyone convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from owning a firearm.

A regional coalition of mayors yesterday announced a joint effort to enact local gun legislation, following the lead of Philadelphia officials. Members of the coalition, PA Mayors for Gun Safety, pledged to introduce legislation in their cities that would require gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons or be subject to possible fines and/or jail time. The announcement was made at a news conference at City Hall here. The group includes Mayor Nutter and the mayors of Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Lancaster, Reading, Pottsville and York.

With several hundred pro-gun activists converging on the Harrisburg Capitol Monday - many wearing Second Amendment T-shirts - it was not the day for Pennsylvania lawmakers to tackle any tough gun measures. Instead, state House members approved several initiatives that bore no resemblance to an actual crackdown on handgun trafficking. In turn, the gun-rights supporters celebrated the defeat last week of a tough anti-trafficking measure. Charlton Heston would be proud. Meanwhile, back on the mean streets of Philadelphia and other cities, the shootings continue.