Gun Violence

In recent weeks, lively Philadelphia nightclubs have been hit by deadly gun violence. A gun battle erupted among club-goers leaving Dreemz Ultra Lounge in Old City last month, leaving one man dead and another critically wounded. A man fired a gun outside Koko Bongo in University City on Oct. 28, striking a police officer in the leg and grazing a bystander. Police shot and killed the gunman. Police from the University of Pennsylvania killed a man inside Club Wizzards at 38th and Chestnut Streets on Nov. 26 after he shot and critically injured the club's DJ. As the city struggles with a proliferation of illegal guns while trying to promote a thriving night scene, fun has turned into mayhem in neighborhoods otherwise considered safe.

Gov. Rendell signed an executive order yesterday establishing a 21-person commission to investigate the recent surge in gun violence throughout the state. The commission's report, due by May 16, is expected to suggest changes to the law and how money can best be used to curb the bloodshed. Rendell also said he would assign 20 state troopers to a federal task force that deals with interstate gun trafficking. In the last month, incidents in Philadelphia, York and Pittsburgh have brought the issue of gun violence to the forefront.

WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday vowed urgent action against gun violence in America, pledging steps by the Obama administration that he said could "take thousands of people out of harm's way" and improve the safety of millions more. But a day ahead of a meeting with the National Rifle Association, which has sunk past gun-control efforts and is opposing any new ones, Biden signaled that the administration is mindful of political realities that could imperil sweeping gun-control legislation, and is willing to settle for something less.

This time, the shots didn't ring out in a movie theater in Colorado, outside a Safeway in Arizona, at a spa or temple in Wisconsin, or on a Virginia college campus. This time, it was children, elementary school boys and girls in Newtown, their bodies carted out like battlefield casualties. A few days earlier, there was a mass shooting of Christmas shoppers at an Oregon mall. The week before, it was a murder-suicide committed by an NFL player. And every day, there were - and are - less prominent shootings.

IT'S THE FIRST week of summer. As heat and humidity rise, gun deaths and injuries continue to climb in Philly, Camden, Reading, York, Harrisburg and elsewhere. Police and community organizers worry that summer's heat will fuel the fire. Two critical opportunities have arisen during this portentous week for local legislators to step up, show some courage and act to lower the flame of gun violence. Sadly, one such opportunity was missed on Tuesday, as Pennsylvania House Judiciary Committee Chairman Thomas Caltagirone (D-Berks)

Last summer, two Pennsylvania legislators, Andrew Carn and T.J. Rooney, both Democrats, held public hearings on gun violence and gun safety. Hardly anyone came. Last year, Carn and Rooney introduced legislation aimed at toughening gun-safety laws. Hardly anyone listened. Today, however, it's a different story. Mayor Rendell recently went before gun manufacturers and called on them to help stop the violence caused by firearms. The city plans a major anti-gun violence campaign this summer.

ITRULY FEEL the pain of the many parents who have lost an innocent child to gun violence in our once beautiful city, recently turned bloody. But we can't possibly totally understand without being in their position. What I do understand clearly is that there are guns easily available to anyone. But we don't have to use them. This is a choice. There is a mentality in certain individuals who accepted crack when it was first introduced as a means of escape. And it destroyed families.

I VIEWED with sadness and utter disgust the rash of gun violence that has beset our city. When are we as a community and city going to step up and make the fight against the murder of innocents a priority? Losing terrified citizens to the suburbs is but a small consequence. What about the children who never get to grow up and realize their dreams? Or the families destroyed by having their fathers murdered for nothing? Sadly, I don't see an end to this. Those of us with a heart will continue to sympathize from a distance and pray we're not next.

DENVER - A man wounded in the mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater is appearing in a nationwide TV spot aimed at drawing attention to gun violence as part of the upcoming presidential debates. Stephen Barton, 22, of Southbury, Conn., was among the 58 people injured in the July 20 attack in Aurora that also left 12 people dead. Barton was bicycling across the country and staying with a friend the night of the shooting. He now does victim outreach and policy research for Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which helped produce the ad that began airing Monday.

When Philadelphia voters were asked on Tuesday to rally behind a campaign to fight gun violence, thousands stood up to be counted. What a slap in the face to these citizens, then, to see members of Gov. Rendell's special commission on gun violence dive for cover that same day. In a report issued while voters went to the polls for the primary election, the commission ducked a recommendation that would have called for setting a monthly limit...