Other than where their next meal will come from, perhaps no issue is more elemental to most voters than how safe they feel in their homes and neighborhoods. The perception that a city is dangerous presents a serious problem in attracting new residents and new businesses.
And it doesn’t particularly matter whether the perception of danger is real or not – how safe voters think they are matters as much as how safe they really are. Following the news every day in Philadelphia, with story after story about shootings, stabbings, and other crimes, can certainly make anyone feel unsafe.
In this election, the issue of public safety appears to boil down to one major topic of discussion: access to guns. Are we best served by reducing the number of guns on the street? Or by enforcing existing law more vigorously to make sure law-abiding people can keep their Constitutionally-protected weapons?
As part of Election 2010, our collaborative project with Philly.com, today the Committee of Seventy looks at the issues of gun control and public safety.
- Oct. 13, 2010
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Is crime a big problem for politicians to address this year?
You might not know it from the nightly news, but violent crime dropped by about 5 percent last year. Even in Philadelphia (which is consistently at or near the top of big cities in the murder rate), killings dropped about 10 percent between 2008 and 2009. But that’s still 302 killings in a year. Philadelphia ranked as the 21st “most dangerous” out of 393 cities last year in a survey by CQ Press (Camden was #1. New York City was only 296).
You said candidates are talking about guns?
Yes, though the economy is still tops, of course. A couple of things have kept guns in the news. A report this year, for example, said Pennsylvania ranks high in the list of states illegally exporting guns that are later used in crime. And the Supreme Court has made a couple of historic decisions that strengthen the right of individuals to own guns.
If I live in a safe neighborhood, why does crime matter to me at all?
Even if you are never the victim of a crime, you are still paying for it. Operating the local police, courts, and prisons alone costs Philadelphia taxpayers roughly $1 billion per year, more than a quarter of the city’s budget. Statewide, the prison system costs taxpayers almost $2 billion.
So why are guns a big issue this year?
Gun ownership has been a hot topic in the last decade or more. People who want to restrict guns say the flood of weapons on the streets makes crime worse; people who want to protect gun rights say badly-enforced laws and artificial controls on law-abiding gun owners are the problem. Research on the matter is sharply split and hard to analyze.
Is there anything actually happening with local gun laws?
There is a lot going on. Just last week, the Pennsylvania State Assembly voted to give homeowners more right to use deadly force to protect themselves from intruders, but at the same time declined to tighten the rules that allow people to carry concealed weapons using permits from states that have more permissive rules.
Are out-of-state permits a big issue?
Some people think so, and they call this the “Florida loophole.” Even though it has fairly relaxed gun laws, Pennsylvania does make it much harder than Florida to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon. A “reciprocity agreement” between the two states, however, means Pennsylvania honors Florida’s permits. In September, a man accused in a shooting in Philadelphia had lost his Pennsylvania permit, but was legally carrying a concealed gun because he had a Florida permit. Gun control activists want the agreement canceled.
Is there much happening on the Federal level?
During the 2008 election, some people worried that Barack Obama would be a strong advocate for gun control, but as president, he has not made it a priority. Democrats in Congress have failed to renew the Clinton-era ban on certain kinds of semi-automatic weapons, as gun control activists have wanted. If anything, Congress is increasingly friendly to gun rights: in 2009, for example, lawmakers overturned a ban on people carrying loaded weapons in National Parks.
You mentioned that Pennsylvania sends guns out of state?
Yes. A study by a group known as “Mayors Against Illegal Guns” said this month that Pennsylvania is one of the top 10 sources for guns that cross state lines and are used in crimes. Gun control activists say the state should have laws requiring gun owners to report lost or stolen weapons. Critics, however, say the numbers are misleading (if you consider how many people live in Pennsylvania, the state falls to #30 in terms of exporting guns to other states) and that courts need to do better enforcing existing law.
What do they mean by enforcing the law better?
Gun rights activists say the problem isn’t the weapons themselves, but that there are too many criminals running around in the first place. They point to a Philadelphia Inquirer series last year that exposed problems in the city’s criminal justice system, including the fact that about half of all the people arrested for illegal gun possession never face charges in court, and only 10 percent of suspects charged with using a firearm against someone else are convicted.
Could just passing more gun laws help reduce crime?
There is a lot of debate about this. Some people say that gun laws simply create more bureaucratic headaches for safe and responsible gun owners while criminals can just acquire guns on the illegal black market. They accuse lawmakers who support gun control measures of simply passing laws to garner votes and give the illusion of safety. Others, however, point to countries such as the United Kingdom and Japan, which have very strict gun laws and have lower crime rates than the U.S.
So what are the candidates saying?
The lines tend to be pretty sharp and consistent: Democrats want tighter regulations on guns while Republicans say existing laws are strong enough and just need better enforcement. Both sides, however, are quick to say that they want to preserve the right for law-abiding residents to own guns for personal protection or hunting – in the past few decades, it has become political poison to be seen as opposing gun ownership generally. And the U.S. Supreme Court has been increasingly specific recently that states cannot restrict gun ownership too sharply.
What has the Supreme Court said?
For a long time, the Second Amendment was confusing. It says: “A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” It wasn’t clear whether that was an individual right, applying to all citizens, or a collective right, permitting states to form self-defense militias. The Supreme Court said in 2008 that the amendment applies to the right of each individual to own a gun, and earlier this year it extended the amendment to apply to state laws, not just federal laws.
Will that have any effect in the Philadelphia region?
Not in Pennsylvania, which is generally regarded as having lenient gun laws, but it will in New Jersey, which has tighter gun laws, including requiring handgun buyers to get state-issued permits. The Supreme Court ruling means states with tight laws may face lawsuits claiming the restrictions infringe the Second Amendment.
But isn’t there more to crime than guns?
You bet. In the governor’s race, for example, Democrat Dan Onorato has been touting his success in reducing the jail population without putting more criminals on the street by offering job training, alternative sentencing, and drug treatment. His Republican rival, Tom Corbett, has been running on his record as Attorney General, including aggressively prosecuting another kind of crime: political corruption. He has led a wide-ranging investigation into misuse of public money and resources by legislative leaders of both parties, a case often called “Bonusgate.”
What about crime issues in the Congressional races?
There is a fair bit of talk about guns, but that’s mostly in a general sense: for example, with candidates saying they “respect” the Second Amendment. Interestingly, the main crime-related issue in this year’s elections has been Illegal Immigration. Candidates, particularly Republicans, have been vowing to crack down on illegal immigrants, sending more money to strengthen controls at the border and preventing those in the U.S. without permission from getting government services.
But is illegal immigration really a crime issue?
Yes and no. Mostly, of course, it is an economic issue, with concerns that workers coming into the U.S. illegally are taking jobs away from legal residents, or taking advantage of welfare benefits. Some candidates do, however, say that allowing illegal immigration undermines respect for the law and can let criminals into the country. At the state level, there have also been some moves to enact a law in Pennsylvania similar to Arizona, which earlier this year gave law enforcement officers broader powers to detain persons suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, though that has not been a topic in the local congressional or the gubernatorial campaigns.
Philadelphia is a long way from any border, why should voters here care?
Immigration policy experts calculate that Pennsylvania is home to approximately 100,000 immigrants lacking legal documentation, many in Philadelphia. This population constitutes an important chunk of the state’s workforce, student population, social services recipients, and even perpetrators of crime. And the legal immigrant population is a growing political force in the area, with an increasingly sophisticated immigrant rights community.
How can I learn more about all the candidates’ positions on crime and illegal immigration?
Nobody says it better than the candidates themselves; we have links to their campaign websites here on
our look at some key races. And check out our partnership with
Philly.com known as Election 2010, looking at the issues and what the candidates are saying about them.
And please let us know what you think about this or any “In the Know” feature at
info@seventy.org.