As Philadelphia is experiencing one of the worst years of gun violence, first-term lawmaker Amen Brown, who represents Philadelphia’s 190th Legislative District, continues his efforts to tackle this devastating issue. Brown, who earlier this year negotiated an agreement with the state’s largest gun show promoter to ban sales of “ghost gun” kits at its shows, has recently announced a Gun Violence Community Survey prepared by his office.
The survey is geared to residents of the 190th District, which encompasses several West Philadelphia neighborhoods, and asks several key questions pertaining to gun violence.
“Gun violence is an epidemic, and our approach to treating it is through systemic measures aimed at de-escalation, community building, good and transparent police work, and partnership-based cooperation,” Brown said in a statement. “At the 190th District Office, we want to know how you feel about gun violence, how to deal with it, and how to hold perpetrators accountable.”
Brown is currently the chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus’ Subcommittee on Gun Violence and Public Safety. He is helping lead the effort to tackle the epidemic of gun violence across Pennsylvania, and in his West Philadelphia home district.
The survey can be found at this link.
July 20th, 2021 at 11:59 am
Gun violence is a devastating problem but Amen Brown’s HB 1587 is a highly questionable “solution”. Mandatory minimum sentencing for unlicensed guns will definitely result in the locking up of a lot of black and brown bodies for a lot of years- that is certain. I know there is a certain voice for this “lock ’em up!” approach but I do not think it is a real solution for our communities.
More than anything, this is demagoguery by a politician haunted by charges of fraud, contract breach, debts, etc. He needs to clean up his own house rather than providing fodder for the reactionary Republicans in Harrisburg who have latched on to his bill. We need remedies but and solutions but his approach is deeply wrong.
July 20th, 2021 at 3:47 pm
@ American Dream There are a lot of bodies that need to be locked up for a lot of years. It has nothing to do with color. The killing won’t be stopped by new laws. Much of the killing is being done by people who shouldn’t be on the streets, already arrested for gun violations. What do you propose?
July 20th, 2021 at 4:04 pm
We should be aiming to significantly reducing the prison population to start. There should be alternatives, most especially for those convicted of non-violent offenses like drug possession, sex work etc. Let’s provide quality drug treatment for everyone who wants it, make housing a human right and ensure that everyone has good food to eat, medical care and all the basics of human life. Let’s stop the redlining of our neighborhoods into poor ghettos and rich enclaves.
All these measures will help a lot in easing the pressure. They will not eliminate the violence and rage, for which there are already laws on the books. Mandatory minimums which take away judicial discretion will never help anyone or anything except the Prison Industrial Complex.
July 21st, 2021 at 10:05 am
Firstly, the inquirer needs to drop the “do not report” policy on crime and show the photographs, name , age , home address of the gun crime perpetrators so we can all see clearly who are handling guns illegally. This would raise awareness in the community, without putting individual community members in danger just because they simply want to know who is terrorizing the community
July 21st, 2021 at 10:08 am
Second, compel the AG to do his job and incarcerate the derranged criminals instead of cowering to the dissilusioned and misguided woke mobs
July 21st, 2021 at 3:52 pm
So the same people who hate on BLM and avoid all talk of gun control are lining up with Amen Brown because they want to “get tough on crime” (long a special code for white nationalists). How weird is that? Amen Brown disavows these people, says it’s out of his control now.
July 23rd, 2021 at 2:21 pm
These sketchy “patriots” support all the gun shows and gun stores which spread these firearms throughout Philadelphia. We can reduce the violence on our communities through spending the same money they want to spend on incarceration and fund violence prevention programs, and other means of addressing community trauma and the stress of living in a racist, hyper-capitalist world that cares more about profit and social control than it does about living, breathing human beings.
July 23rd, 2021 at 9:57 pm
AD seems to have all the answers, though I doubt they have spent any real time west of 52nd St or north of Market St
July 23rd, 2021 at 10:59 pm
Philadelphia is now #1 for shootings, of all the big cities. How can the Right-wing and its obsession with guns be helping? They don’t call this Pennsyltucky for nothing…
July 24th, 2021 at 11:28 am
“Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in between”.
Who would want to be helping he Pennsylvania House Republican Second Amendment Caucus at the expense of the lives of so many people? The politics here is truly twisted!
July 25th, 2021 at 9:21 pm
To all those Trump supporters, science denying anti-vaxxers, Second Amendment fanatics and conspiracy theorists who claim to love freedom: When have you ever walked on a picket line? When have you ever shown the slightest concern when a black person was gunned down by the police? That includes cases such as that of Tamir Rice, a 12 year old black kid who was playing with a toy gun in the park. The police rolled up on him and shot and killed him within 3 seconds of arriving. And that was in an open-carry state. You claim to be so concerned for the right to bear arms, but as the case of Tamir Rice shows, you don’t give a damn when that right doesn’t apply to black people. When have you ever shown the slightest concern for those who fight for freedom around the world?
https://oaklandsocialist.com/2021/07/24/message-to-trump-supporters-and-science-deniers-second-amendmenters-and-conspiracy-theorists/
July 28th, 2021 at 5:15 pm
I completely agree with you. Lets protect our law enforcement and neighborhoods and get tough on guns.
July 28th, 2021 at 8:05 pm
“Getting tough on guns” is anathema to NRA types and those farther right- and therein lies the paradox for those Republicans in Harrisburg who have tabled Amen Brown’s bill, for now. Their constituents who don’t relate to gun control positively may be okay with throwing urban (poor) people of color in jail for long sentences.
July 29th, 2021 at 10:15 am
Hi, I’m Zany Kravitz. It aint over until it’s over for gun violence. Are you going to go my way?
August 3rd, 2021 at 9:19 pm
“It’s a high threshold here, but this may be the worst criminal justice bill that we’ve seen,” said Elizabeth Randol, legislative director for Pennsylvania’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. “We’ve seen a lot of bad bills. This one is astonishingly and terrifyingly awful.”
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, City Councilmember Kendra Brooks, and Molly Gill of the group Families Against Mandatory Minimums were among the speakers.
“This legislation is an absolute outrage,” Krasner said. “There is not one Philadelphia legislator who should support this without paying the price of being voted out of office.”
https://whyy.org/articles/a-west-philly-dem-is-tough-on-crime-progressives-sy-his-bill-is-terrifyingly-awful/
August 6th, 2021 at 1:58 pm
The armchair activist’s plight: if a leftist weeps on their blog post, and no-one cares to read it, does it make any iota of impact on anyone’s lives whatsoever?
August 6th, 2021 at 2:50 pm
Unpacking SB 135: What does the Death By Incarceration bill do?
Here’s what the bill does
The bill currently in the Senate, introduced by Senator Street, essentially abolishes death by incarceration (life without parole sentencing.)
Everyone with a second degree sentence (adults and juveniles over 15) would be eligible for parole after 25 years.
Everyone with a first degree sentence (adults and juveniles over 15) would be eligible for parole after 35 years.
Juveniles under the age of 15 are parole eligible after 20 years for second degree, or 25 years for first degree.
“Cop exception”: People with a first degree conviction for the killing of a police officer can still be sentenced to life without parole. People with a second degree conviction for the killing of a police officer cannot be sentenced to life without parole. This is true for both adults and juveniles of any age.
Just because the person is eligible for parole, doesn’t mean they will necessarily be granted parole by the parole board. It just means they cannot be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.
https://straight-ahead.org/2021/08/02/unpacking-sb135/