Crowd on Centre Square Calls for Stronger Gun Laws

By Christina Georgiou

Today was "National Day to Demand Action", and Easton's Centre Square was one of about 100 locations around the country where elected officials and citizens gathered to demand federal officials strengthen gun laws, simultaneously as President Barack Obama also called upon Congress to vote in favor of tighter measures, to help prevent future firearms deaths and mass shootings like the massacre that took place last December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.

"Violence in our country is unacceptable, and we must act now," said Gloria McVeigh, of the Hellertown/Lower Saucon Obama Volunteers.

That group, along with Lehigh Valley members of Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), whose membership includes Easton Mayor Sal Panto, Wilson Borough Mayor David Perruso, along with a number of other mayors in the region, organized the press conference and rally, which drew a crowd of about 50 people to the square.


Gloria McVeigh, of the Hellertown/Lower
Saucon Obama Volunteers.

McVeigh praised President Barack Obama for signing an executive endorsement calling for tighter federal gun laws, adding, "None of the executive orders infringe on law abiding citizens' rights to own guns."

Panto, who is not only a member of of MAIG, but was recently featured in a television ad for the group, said he supports the rights of law-abiding citizens to own firearms and noted that he is a gun owner.

"I've made it clear it's about illegal guns," Panto said. "The fact is, we're not about reducing gun ownership for law-abiding citizens."

But loopholes in purchasing laws and a lack of consequences for straw purchases need to be rectified, he said.

"Last year, 6.6 million guns were sold without a background check," Panto said. "Eighty percent of criminals surveyed got their guns illegally. We're asking for the only way we know to stop criminals and domestic abusers. We're asking for commonsense legislation."

Panto said the consequences for buying a gun for someone who can't pass a background check need to be ramped up and federally enforced, as well.

"The law is the same for gun trafficking as for selling illegal live stock. Imagine a cluck-cluck versus a bang-bang," the mayor said. "That straw purchaser needs to be held accountable. When you realize your gun is stolen or lost, you need to report it. That's all we're asking for."

Like MAIG, Panto also supports limiting high-capacity ammunition clips and automatic weapons.
"Tell me why anone needs a clip that's more than 10 rounds," he said. "I don't know the last time someone shot a Bambi with an automatic weapon."

Panto said stronger state and federal laws need to be passed, as municipalities aren't allowed to enact ordinances that effect such changes.

"We don't have the ability to pass a stolen gun law (at the city level)," he said. "We're  asking Congress and the federal government to act. We're here today to demand they take the vote.

"Call your senator. Call your Congressman," Panto urged the crowd. "This is an affluent issue, not just a city issue."


Wilson Borough Mayor David Perruso, center, sits with
Northampton Borough Mayor Tom Rhinehart while
elected officials from Easton and other Lehigh
Valley municipalities speak to the crowd. Left, former
Forks Township Supervisor C. David Howell holds
a "Demand Action" sign in support of stricter gun
laws.

Easton Vice Mayor Ken Brown also urged action towards tighter gun controls.

"We're tired of picking up the paper and finding out another life has been taken by gun violence," he said. "We together are one voice. Thank you for coming out today and speaking with one voice."

Easton Area School Board member Frank Pintabone also supports new legislation, he said.

"It's not about eliminating rights, but expanding responsibility," Pintabone said. "It is our responsibility...to protect each other."

J. William Reynolds, a Bethlehem councilman currently running for mayor in the neighboring city, said, "It's not about taking away gun rights, it's about common sense."

"None of us are here for the photo op. We do this because we feel strongly about it, and we want to protect our young children," said Fountain Hill Borough Mayor Jose Rosado, adding that he promised to protect gun ownership rights. "We have to realize and limit the risk of gun violence to our children. If we don't take action to enact appropriate gun laws, it's not a question of if but when. We're saying it's time to enact responsible gun laws."

The speakers urged the gathered crowd, a number of whom had brought their children to the event, to reach out to elected officials in Washington DC to make their opinions known.

"All of you could speak from the heart about gun violence since those horrible images from Connecticut," McVeigh said, as volunteers passed out petitions for crowd members to circulate in their communities.

The petitions need to be returned to the Hellertown/Lower Saucon Obama Volunteers and/or MAIG by April 4, so they can be sent to Senate members before expected votes on gun reform measures soon after Congress returns from its Easter break on April 8.

"Don't be afraid to call that elite 100," Panto added. "They still answer to you every six Novembers."



Kristen Bruck, of Coopersburg, prepares to talk with
a TV news crew after the rally. She attended with her
children, Dana, 4, and Drew, 8.

More about Mayors Against Illegal Guns can be found on the group's website, www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org

More about the MAIG campaign, Demand Action to End Gun Violence, is at www.demandaction.org

A TV ad in which mayor members of MAIG, including Easton Mayor Sal Panto and Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, call upon state officials in key states to support new federal legislation intended to help curb illegal gun ownership, is here.

Mayors Coalition Urges Action on Illegal Guns

"Mayors Against Illegal Guns", a bipartisan group of city mayors across the country today released a letter to President Barack Obama affirming their support for increasing efforts and the passage of new laws to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and mentally unstable individuals.

It also makes specific suggestions of how the groups feels this may be best achieved.

It is cosigned by mayors from more than 750 communities across the country, including Easton Mayor Sal Panto, Wilson Borough Mayor David Perruso, West Easton Mayor Gerald Gross, Tatamy Mayor Luke Duigman and Stockertown Mayor Sherman Metzgar.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan are also members of MAIG and cosigners, along with the mayors of several other Lehigh Valley communities.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto says the actions the coalition suggests are a vital step to making city streets safer and are not in opposition to a Constitutional right to bear arms.

"I get upset that every time we discuss 'gun law reform', NRA members claim we are after their Second Amendment Rights. No one in MAIG is talking about the rights afforded by the Second Amendment. Mayors aren’t talking about gun control – we are talking about reforming the way individuals get guns and the consequences associated with that ownership...We are talking about common sense reforms," he said.

Panto said that a "lost and stolen" gun law that requires firearms owners to report a missing gun when they become aware of it, a "straw purchase" law forbidding individuals from buying guns for those that can't pass a background check, uniform and increased background checks, outlawing large capacity firearm magazines, and forbidding the sale of weapons to those on the federal terror watch list are all essential changes that need to be made.

"These are common sense reforms and do not limit the ownership of guns. It is time for the legislatures in states and Washington to do something proactive," Panto said via email. "It is hypocritical for these lawmakers to show up at a funeral of these victims when they have bowed to political pressure and not acted on common sense reforms."

He added that he feels the NRA needs to "take a leadership role encouraging reform."

"To do nothing is simply wrong. To do nothing does nothing to enhance the quality of life in our country. President Obama should challenge them to take a leadership role in this important issue," Panto said.

The text of the letter follows below:

Dear President Obama,

On Friday, December 14th the entire nation watched as parents stood outside the Sandy Hook Elementary School and waited, desperately hoping to be reunited with their children. That moment will never end for the families of the 20 children and six adults who were murdered that day at the school.

As mayors, we are charged with keeping our communities safe. But too many of us have sat with mothers and fathers of children killed with guns. Twenty-four children enrolled in public schools in your hometown of Chicago were shot to death just last year.


At the moving memorial service on Sunday evening, you said: “If there is even one step we can take to save another child or another parent or another town from the grief that has visited Tucson and Aurora and Oak Creek and Newtown and communities from Columbine to Blacksburg before that – then surely we have an obligation to try.”

Our bipartisan coalition of more than 750 mayors has joined forces with over 700,000 Americans and more than 100 survivors of deadly shootings, including the mass shootings you mentioned in your remarks.

Together, we urge you to put forward an agenda that is rooted in common sense and that will make it harder for dangerous people to possess guns, and easier for police and prosecutors to crack down on them. That agenda should:

· Require every gun buyer to pass a criminal background check: Background checks are the only systematic way to stop felons, domestic abusers and other dangerous people from buying firearms. These checks are instantaneous and highly effective. Since its inception, the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) has blocked firearms purchases at licensed dealerships by millions of individuals who are barred by federal law from owning them. But criminals and other prohibited purchasers avoid these checks by buying firearms, including online and at gun shows, from unlicensed “private sellers” who are not required by federal law to conduct the checks. Millions of gun sales — estimated at more than 40 percent of the U.S. annual total — are conducted through private sellers. The Fix Gun Checks Act (H.R.1781 / S.436) would close this enormous gap in our laws by requiring a criminal background check for every gun sale.

· Get high capacity rifles and ammunition magazines off our streets: Military-style weapons and high capacity ammunition magazines have no appropriate civilian or sporting function. They are designed to kill large numbers of people quickly. They are also disproportionately used to kill law enforcement officers; approximately one out of five law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty is killed with assault weapons. The time has come to review the federal assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 and draft a new law that is clear and enforceable and will take these weapons out of our communities.

· Make gun trafficking a federal crime: Today, there is no clear and effective statute making gun trafficking a crime. Prosecutors are instead forced to rely on a weak law prohibiting engaging in the business of selling guns without a federal license, which carries the same punishment as trafficking chicken or livestock. As a result, according to the Justice Department’s Inspector General, U.S. Attorneys decline to prosecute 25 percent of those cases while declining only 9 percent of drug conspiracy cases. Mayors Against Illegal Guns supports proposals to empower law enforcement to investigate and prosecute straw purchasers, gun traffickers, and their entire criminal networks.

Those ideas require action by Congress, but there steps you and your Administration could and should take immediately to curb gun violence:

· Appoint an ATF director: The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), the federal agency responsible for enforcing our gun laws, has gone without a confirmed director for more than six years. During that time, criminals and those with serious mental illness have been able to take advantage of insufficient enforcement of existing federal gun laws, and an estimated 72,000 Americans have been murdered with guns. In 2011, for the first time in over a decade, more police officers were shot to death in the line of duty than were killed in automobile accidents. The need for leadership at the ATF has never been more urgent. The time has come for you to make a recess appointment to fill the vacancy at the top of the ATF.

· Prosecute prohibited purchasers who attempt to buy firearms, ammunition or high-capacity magazines: The Justice Department should vigorously prosecute felons and other prohibited purchasers who fail gun background checks. In 2009, the Federal Bureau of Investigation referred more than 71,000 such cases to ATF, but U.S. Attorneys ultimately prosecuted only 77 of them. Prosecuting these offenders is a goal broadly supported by our coalition and the National Rifle Association. The Department should also develop a mechanism for sharing NICS denial information with local and state law enforcement officials by sending them active alerts; or, at a minimum, posting the information at the National Criminal Information Center so state and local law enforcement officials can access it during investigations.

· Require federal agencies to report records to NICS: The NICS Improvement Act of 2007 requires federal agencies to submit mental health, substance abuse and other records that prohibit a person from owning a gun to NICS. However, few agencies comply. In October 2011, the FBI provided data to MAIG on reporting by 60 federal agencies. Of those 60 agencies, 52 had given zero mental health records to NICS. Although total federal agency reporting of mental health records increased by ten percent between March and October 2011, to 143,579, the vast majority of those records had been submitted by one agency, the Department of Veterans Affairs. Even fewer federal agencies are reporting drug abusers. Only three agencies — the FBI, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Court Services and Offenders Supervision Agency (CSOSA), the probation and parole services agency for the District of Columbia — have submitted any substance abuse records, and the vast majority of federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, have not submitted a single substance abuse record. The president should issue an executive order requiring all federal agency heads to certify twice annually, in writing, to the U.S. Attorney General that their agency has submitted all relevant records to NICS.

· Repeal remaining Tiahrt restrictions: While Mayors Against Illegal Guns and our law enforcement allies have made progress in relaxing the “Tiahrt restrictions,” which are riders to the federal budget that restrict access to federal gun data, some still remain. These remaining restrictions keep the public, particularly researchers and elected officials, in the dark about gun traffickers – specifically, who they are and how they operate. It also requires the FBI to destroy records of approved NICS background checks within 24 hours. That makes it harder to detect law-breaking dealers who fake their records, or to identify straw buyers who undergo the checks on behalf of someone who couldn’t pass. The Tiahrt Amendments also say ATF can’t require dealers to inspect their inventory, which could reduce the tens of thousands of guns that go missing or are stolen each year. Finally, the police and other law enforcement agencies that get trace data can’t use it in license revocation proceedings or in civil litigation. The administration should repeal these restrictions in its next budget.

In the past few days, the American people came together in a national outpouring of grief and sympathy for the families of victims slain in the mass shooting in Newtown. We share in that grief. But our constituents are also outraged and looking for leadership from the White House.

We look forward to working with you to find a solution to gun violence in our country.

Sincerely,

Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of Boston, Coalition Co-Chair

Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City, Coalition Co-chair


More about "Mayors Against Illegal Guns" may be found on the coalition's website, at www.mayorsagainstillegalguns.org

Updated at 5:10 p.m. to add statements from Easton Mayor Sal Panto.