Anti-Gun Group Renews Its Call Outside Philadelphia City Hall
John Ostapkovich
KYW Newsradio - 05/26/2009
Antiviolence advocates in Philadelphia used the occasion of a civil disobedience trial on Tuesday to point out that their war against illegal guns goes on.
As 12 members of Heeding God's Call, a faith-based antiviolence group, stood trial for trespassing in a Spring Garden Street gun shop in January, those who weren't packing the courtroom in support set up loudspeakers on chilly Dilworth Plaza, in the shadow of City Hall.
Around the plaza was arrayed dozens of t-shirts, each pinned with a red heart bearing the name of a Philadelphia murder victim.
Donna Gittings -- whose mother, son, and son's friend were murdered together -- says the law is lax in making sure that guns sold legally stay legal:
"No longer should people be able to go into a gun shop and buy guns and all of a sudden 'lose' them upon exiting the store."
Bryan Miller of Ceasefire New Jersey says that even what he considers his state's better guns laws aren't bulletproof:
"When people are shot or wounded, or killed in New Jersey, they're generally not shot, wounded, or killed with guns from New Jersey."
Regular demonstrations are held at the gun shop (see related story).
(Photos by KYW's John Ostapkovich)
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Antiviolence advocates in Philadelphia used the occasion of a civil disobedience trial on Tuesday to point out that their war against illegal guns goes on. As 12 members of Heeding God's Call, a faith-based antiviolence group, stood trial for trespassing in a Spring Garden Street gun shop in January, those who weren't packing the courtroom in support set up loudspeakers on chilly Dilworth Plaza, in the shadow of City Hall. "No longer should people be able to go into a gun shop and buy guns and all of a sudden 'lose' them upon exiting the store." Bryan Miller of Ceasefire New Jersey says that even what he considers his state's better guns laws aren't bulletproof: "When people are shot or wounded, or killed in New Jersey, they're generally not shot, wounded, or killed with guns from New Jersey." Regular demonstrations are held at the gun shop (see related story). (Photos by KYW's John Ostapkovich)
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