Replace add “former” in front of “Democrat,” insert, “rich and arrogant”
and you have NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg. “The NRA couldn’t
have made this up. A big-city, liberal Democrat sponsoring the
most extreme gun bill in recent memory.”

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/columnists/bumsted/s

By Brad Bumsted
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER
Sunday, April 22, 2007

HARRISBURG

House Bill 760 is the most famous bill that will never become law.
Call almost any legislative office and they know instantly what this bill is about.

They should.

Thousands of people have been calling or e-mailing their offices to trash it.

It’s the gun registration bill by Rep. Angel Cruz, D-Philadelphia, that would require those owning most weapons to be fingerprinted and pay a $10 per gun tax.

Those denied registration would lose their guns to the state police. Those ignoring the law could be charged with a summary offense.

The law would apply to any gun manufactured since 1898 — with exceptions, certain collector’s items and on-duty law enforcement weapons.

Whether the public’s outrage is purely a grassroots response or has been driven by the National Rifle Association and sportsmen’s clubs, the result is the same: It served as a pre-emptive strike on gun control in the 2007-2008 session.

Cruz’s bill served as the perfect target for Republicans and Democrats alike who support gun rights. They should have been paying Cruz for sponsoring this bill.

The NRA couldn’t have made this up. A big-city, liberal Democrat sponsoring the most extreme gun bill in recent memory. Republicans like Rep. Daryl Metcalfe of Cranberry were using it to claim it’s part of the House Democrats’ agenda.

It’s the far-reaching nature of Cruz’s bill that sparked the reaction; he’d reach right into your home.

The truth is most Ds want no part of it either. Rep. Tom Caltagirone, D-Reading, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he has no plans to let the bill out of his committee. Majority Leader Bill DeWeese, D-Greene, couldn’t have been very happy about the proposal; he probably has as many sportsmen in his district as any other and he didn’t carry his home county last November.

The Democrats control the House by only a one-vote margin.

Part of the reason for the speculation that the bill might move was that you have a Democrat governor, Ed Rendell, of Philadelphia, where people are clamoring for gun control because of the soaring murder rate, and there’s a Democrat House for the first time in 12 years.

But I don’t believe Rendell would sign this bill (he wants to govern). The House Ds don’t want to lose their majority. Rendell will never see it. It should be noted that Rendell would sign a one-gun-per-month bill in a heartbeat.

Here’s my litmus test: Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, a leader in the House for gun-control measures, said he does not support the Cruz bill. It goes too far, he said. Despite his support for some measures, Frankel says he’s not trying to overturn the Second Amendment.

Many would argue with him about the impact of one gun per month and banning assault weapons. But that’s not the point. If Frankel is against this bill, it is clearly not happening.
Arguably, H.B. 760 set back the gun-control movement a few years.

So even in the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy, Pennsylvania isn’t about to adopt a stringent gun-control bill — not even a weak one in the foreseeable future.

That said, all the gun laws in the world wouldn’t have stopped a lunatic like Cho Seung-Hui.
Brad Bumsted is a state Capitol reporter for the Trib.

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !